Academic Urology, physician sued for failure to detect malignant tumor in patient’s abdomen

A New Jersey woman has filed a medical malpractice and personal injury

claim against a Pennsylvania healthcare facility and one of its physicians over claims that the defendants failed to detect a large malignant tumor growing inside of her abdomen despite the fact that she had had surgery in that region of her body just months prior.

Lynette Jones, who resides in Laurel Springs, N.J., is suing Rosemont, Pa.-based Academic Urology, The Bryn Mawr Urology Group and doctor Ilia S. Zeltser over injuries she allegedly sustained as a result of the defendants’ combined negligence.

The complaint says that Jones went to Zeltser for treatment of a mass on the upper pole of her left kidney in the spring of 2011.

The woman subsequently underwent laparoscopic surgery to treat the condition on May 26 of that year, and had a follow-up with the physician less than a month later on June 10.

During the consultation, Zeltser informed Jones that the pathology report for her surgery was benign and that she should return for another follow-visit in six month’s time.

When she returned to the doctor’s office on Dec. 12, Jones was told that an ultrasound performed two days earlier came back negative and that her condition remained benign.

Just over two months later, in mid-February 2012, Jones began experiencing abdominal pain and went to The Hospital of the University of Virginia, which is where she attended college.

Testing ultimately revealed that Jones had a large abdominal mass growing inside of her.

She underwent surgery that same day, and when doctors opened her up, they discovered that she had a large malignant tumor, according to the lawsuit.

Prior to that day, the complaint alleges, Jones had no means to know or discover that she had a large metastatic mass growing in her abdomen.

The lawsuit says that Zeltser, the physician, deviated from the standard of care and was negligent in rendering treatment to Jones by failing to properly perform surgery and conduct follow-up care for his patient.

Zeltser also deviated from the standard of care and was negligent in failing to properly advise the plaintiff of the true nature of her abdominal condition following the surgery he initially performed on her, the suit states.

As a result of the doctor’s alleged negligence, cancer was allowed to grow and metastasize inside of the plaintiff’s body, the complaint says.

Jones has sustained serious injuries including an increased risk of cancer and an “actual occurrence and growth of cancerous tumors, which have resulted in her need for extensive medical care and incurring extensive medical costs,” the lawsuit states.

Jones seeks unspecified compensatory damages as well as costs and delay damages.

She is being represented by Philadelphia attorney Thomas J. Duffy of the firm Duffy & Partners.

 

The federal case number is 2:14-cv-00736-JP.