Medicolegal Considerations In the Treatment of Mammary Lumps

Abstract

IN MAY 1970, a 20-year-old woman visited her family physician's office, complaining of a lump in her left breast. She indicated that the lump had been increasing and decreasing in size over the past several weeks. The doctor described the lump as being the size of a pullet egg and discerned that the patient was due to have her next menstrual period in approximately ten days. He directed her to return in two weeks. At the end of two weeks, the patient called the physician and told him that the lump had disappeared and asked whether it was necessary for her to return. He replied that it was not. In September 1970, the woman visited a second physician, again with the complaint of a lump in the breast. An attempt to aspirate the lesion with a needle was not productive of any fluid, and a biopsy was suggested. Examination of