Stephen Jay Gould left, and financier Jay Gould
"Evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould is a distant, not direct, relative."
Posted on 05/20/2005 7:40:19 PM PDT by aculeus
BOSTON (AP) - The family of the late paleontologist and evolutionary scientist Stephen Jay Gould sued two Boston hospitals and three doctors Friday, alleging the famed author would still be alive if they had properly diagnosed his cancer four years ago.
The doctors all failed to recognize a 1-centimeter lesion on a chest X-ray taken of the Harvard professor in February 2001, according to Alex MacDonald, the lawyer for Gould's survivors.
Thirteen months later, when another chest X-ray was taken, the lesion had grown to 3 centimeters and the cancer had spread to Gould's brain, lungs, liver and spleen, MacDonald said.
"All of a sudden, it was like out of the head of Zeus, he's got fourth-stage cancer," Gould's wife, Rhonda Roland Shearer, said in television interviews Friday. Gould, 60, died 10 weeks later, in May 2002.
"We have a film that clearly shows a lesion that was missed by three doctors, and it should not have been," MacDonald said. "If it had been recognized, professor Gould would still be teaching at Harvard College today."
Gould's family is seeking unspecified damages in the lawsuit, which alleges negligence by the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women's Hospital, as well as Drs. Robert Mayer, Rebecca L. Dyson and Salvatore G. Viscomi. It was filed in Middlesex Superior Court in Cambridge.
Dana-Farber, where Mayer is director of the Center for Gastrointestinal Oncology, released a statement saying the charges are "misleading and inaccurate."
"The claims against Dr. Mayer, who is a medical oncologist, are without merit and there is simply no basis for holding him responsible for the alleged failure to diagnose" the cancer, the statement said.
Brigham and Women's, where radiologists Viscomi and Dyson worked, released a statement that said "the legal process is the appropriate forum to respond to the allegations."
Mayer did not immediately return a telephone message left at his office. A telephone number for Viscomi was not in service. A man who answered the telephone at Dyson's home in California said she would have no comment.
Gould had a long-standing relationship with Mayer dating to 1982, when Gould was diagnosed with another form of cancer, peritoneal mesothelioma, according to the lawsuit. Gould was cured of that illness and saw Mayer a number of times a year for cancer screenings, the lawsuit said.
Although Gould's original cancer was unrelated to the lung cancer that ultimately killed him, because of Gould's cancer history, doctors "would have a heightened duty to look for lung cancers," MacDonald said.
Gould's cancer history "was a literal flashing red light warning," according to the lawsuit. "That warning was inexplicably, negligently and ... grossly negligently ignored by the three defendants."
Gould became one of America's most recognizable scientists for his voluminous and accessible writings and his participation in public debates with creationists.
He also was at odds with other evolutionists for his suggestion that evolution proceeds in fits and starts, a pattern dubbed "punctuated equilibrium," rather than slowly over time.
Gould's book "The Mismeasure of Man" won the National Book Critics Award in 1982 and was No. 24 on the Modern Library's list of the 100 greatest English-language nonfiction works of the 20th century. His more recent popular books included "Dinosaur in a Haystack" and "Rocks of Ages: Science and Religion in the Fullness of Life."
Stephen Jay Gould left, and financier Jay Gould
"Evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould is a distant, not direct, relative."
It was a loss to his family and friends. You should respect that, if not the loss of a human life.
"Dear Evolution: ..."
Kinda falls flat.
Perhaps. God's will is difficult to analyze, with our finite minds. But only if Stephen would have granted even that to God..that our minds are finite, and certainly NOT capable of knowing everything through "science". (not that I'm anti-science, mind you, for I am going to med school next yr, and I was an English major! :)
I heard him speak in college in the early '80s. He had a zest for life and science.
I feel sorry for him and his family but this lawsuit is misguided. Lung cancer often metastasizes at a size of 3mm. That's why lung cancer screening is relatively ineffective. The five year survival rate of lung cancer is damn poor. Furthermore, he likely had a genetic prediliction or environmental exposure risk. He was very fortunate to survive peritoneal mesothelioma. It is almost always not resectable and fatal.
LOL
Exactly. Bet there were plenty of good attorneys that turned down this case. Wondering if their attorney has any medical knowledge or is a rookie.
FYI (not evolist) ping
I've always thought his spicy brown mustard was pretty good.
Who knows how it could go, they will try to argue that they should have caught it in the first scan and they could have bought a year or so. The case will probably play better before a jury if the widow will refrain from kooky exclamations like "out of the head of Zeus." (Is that where Zeus hurled his lightning from? I always thought the mythology had him hurling it from his hand.)
Now you've done it. The evos will be in mass mourning for their luminary.
No. it was for PH's personal attention. Did you miss the "(not evolist)" ?
But can ole PH resist the temptation of summoning the pity party. Like she said, out of the head of Zeus.
Understand. Agree. They can argue whatever they wish. And, as stated above, it is well-accepted that general screening for lung cancer is not recommended because it is too late by the time it shows up on a chest x-ray.
Cancer evolved....Gould DIDN'T.
Well yeah, and if it's a bench trial the judge will surely sort through all that calculus with a fine tooth comb. But a jury will quite likely say "11 months and they didn't even try to slow it down because they denied it was even there?" People actually staring death in the face don't care about "5 year survivals" -- they care about months and weeks and days.
LOL.
Understand fully.
And any doctor can make a mistake. Having said that, these doctors at these hospitals are amongst the best in the nation. I think their films are read by students, residents, attendings --- multiple layers. It is easy to see a shadow in hindsight. We only have one side of the story since the doctors are not allowed to comment.
It would be nice if we had pictures good enough for fr.docs. If Mrs. Gould is saying "hey look at that blotch in a whole field of similar blotches -- THAT'S the one which turned into his cancer and aha! we know it because of the next X-ray which did see the cancer in that same place" -- then she deserves to be drummed out of the courtroom. But if it's something unusual that should have had a biopsy and didn't, well.... But I wonder if the docs actually discussed it with Mr. Gould himself and said "if you want, you can have that checked" and he said no.
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