(LEX 18) — A Fleming County jury awarded a woman more than $7 million this week in a lawsuit that alleged a missed diagnosis had cost her precious time.
Kimberly Johnson has battled stage four breast cancer for more than eight years.
But in 2015, she got a letter from the Fleming County Hospital saying that her mammogram results showed she was cancer-free. She learned ten months later that the letter was not correct – the test had actually shown she needed to return for a biopsy, according to her 2016 lawsuit.
Johnson’s lawsuit said that in the months it took for the mistake to get caught, her cancer had metastasized.
She told LEX 18’s Leigh Searcy in 2021 that the disease runs in her family and had spread to her bones and other parts of her body.
At the trial, attorneys for the radiologist and family practitioner named in the lawsuit argued that they weren’t at fault and questioned Johnson on why she didn’t seek treatment if her symptoms persisted.
One of the attorneys quoted a deposition of Johnson in his questioning.
“‘Did you see anyone about the fact you continued to have this red area, this tender area, this hard area in your right breast?’ and your answer was, ‘No I did not’,” the attorney said while questioning Johnson at trial.
Johnson responded that if she had known she needed a biopsy, she would have gotten one.
The jury ultimately awarded Johnson $7,568,452.
Johnson’s attorneys said that her health has continued to worsen. She has said all along that, for her, this case is about right and wrong.
“I feel like I'm helping people,” she told LEX 18 two years ago. “I feel like I had to do this, I prayed about it before I did and I feel like this is going to help people … that people need to know this is going on.”
