On October 30, 2025, a Maine medical malpractice jury awarded $15 million to the mother of a 15-year-old who died due to the failure of a physician to diagnose her leukemia.
The teenager began feeling sick on July 14, 2021 and was brought to a doctor. The initial diagnosis was pneumonia. Later, the diagnosis changed to gynecomastia. Eighteen days after she first felt sick, she died from cardiac arrest. It was later determined that she had been suffering from acute lymphoblastic leukemia, which is curable if timely diagnosed and properly treated. The cardiac arrest was due to the buildup of fluid that was associated with her leukemia.
The mother’s Maine medical malpractice lawsuit alleged that the physicians and defendant medical group failed to perform an adequate physical examination by failing to obtain complete vital signs, they failed to properly review the teenager’s medical history, and they breached the standard of care by failing to provide appropriate medical care. The defense reportedly argued to the jury that doctors have to make many medical decisions every day and should not be held responsible if they are occasionally incorrect in their diagnoses. The defense also tried to place some blame on the teenager’s primary care physician.
Diagnosis Of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia
Acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL), also known as acute lymphoblastic leukemia, is a cancer that originates in the bone marrow. It starts in early (immature) forms of lymphocytes, which are a type of white blood cell. It can progress quickly and usually needs to be treated right away. It is more common in children and teenagers than in adults.
The American Cancer Society’s estimates for acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) in the United States for 2025 (including both children and adults) are:
- About 6,100 new cases of ALL (3,450 in males and 2,650 in females)
- About 1,400 deaths from ALL (720 in males and 680 in females)
The risk of developing ALL is highest in children younger than 5 years of age.
Risk declines slowly until the mid-20s and begins to rise again slowly after age 50. Overall, a little less than half of all cases of ALL are in adults.
ALL is not common:
- It accounts for less than half of 1% of all cancers in the United States.
- The average person’s lifetime risk of getting ALL is about 1 in 1,000.
- The risk is slightly higher in males than females and higher in White people than Black people.
Most cases of ALL occur in children, but most deaths from ALL occur in adults.
Children seem to do better than adults because of differences in the nature of childhood ALL and adult ALL, and because of differences in treatment. Children tend to get (and to tolerate) more aggressive treatment than adults.
If you or a loved one may have been injured as a result of medical negligence in Maine, you should promptly find a Maine medical malpractice lawyer who may investigate your medical malpractice claim for you and represent you or your loved one in a Maine medical malpractice case, if appropriate.
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