Do we have a case?
My (28 F, California) mom (62 F) passed from lung cancer last Aug 2025. She was perfectly healthy, hiked weekly and went to the gym 2x a week (more than me even) Relatively healthy diet, doesn't enjoy junk food, and never smoked. Drank a beer at a party like twice a year. My whole family and I believe my mom's death was due to negligence from her doctor. It started with a cough in october 2024 and we made d*mn near 15 appointments for her with her PCP in the span of 2 months (kaiser). Her doctor was so convinced it was GERD and kept prescribing prilosec (omepreazole). She was given cough meds, even the controlled ones like promethazine w/ codeine and none of it worked. Cough got really severe around dec 2024. It took like 5 more appts to finally get the PCP to make a referral to the ENT dept. They gave her an inhaler but it didn't help In fact it just made her go into a coughing fit bc she would have to inhale deeply. We went back to PCP for a couple more appts and my brother went with her for one of them and the pcp literally said "im not sure what to do next". Cough is progressively getting worse -- My mom had to take leave from work bc she would go into a coughing fit for 5 minutes and not be able to catch her breath. My brother, sister, and I have been emailing her PCP nonstop. She responded sooo slowly. Just when we decide to change her PCP, she gets a referral to a pulmonologist in February 2025, and the pulmonologist FINALLY orders the correct scans, I forget if its PET or CAT scan. Then she is diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer late March 2025. It took them SO LONG to diagnose her and her doctor did a poor job at trying to diagnose her. She could have had a diagnosis by the end of 2024. By the time they found it, her right lung came up nearly black in the contrast scan, meaning there was almost nothing there -- her right lung was just riddled with cancer cells. She declined quickly and we lost our beautiful, healthy mom in August 2025. My siblings and I have all of her medical records and proof of her many appts before they found the cancer. Does any lawyer out there think we can sue for negligence or malpractice or something?? Again, we are in CA! Thank you so much in advance, I really appreciate it !!
Posted Jun 4, 2026, 1:01 AM UTC