Indiana Couple Awarded $8.1 Million in Failure to Diagnose Cancer Case

A jury awarded an Indiana couple $8.1 million in a medical malpractice lawsuit. Eric and Renee Flora of New Carlisle, Indiana filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against podiatrist Dr. W. Douglas Kolmodin for failing to diagnose cancer in Renee Flora.

In early 2004, Renee Flora went to Dr. Kolmodin's office to have a growth removed from her big toe and tested for cancer. Flora believed herself to be in good health until the growth resurfaced a year later and she consequently was diagnosed with malignant melanoma. Now in stage three cancer, Flora has only a 17% chance of living longer than 12 years, according to her attorney Rob Gonderman.

Both in court and in sworn affidavits, the Floras testified that they saw Dr. Kolmodin's place the lesion into a container to be sent out for testing. But that was the last day Dr. Kolmodin practiced in that office, as he was in the process of moving his office to a new location. Gonderman said it was during the moving process that Flora's specimen was lost.

According to court records, Dr. Kolmodin denies that the specimen was lost. He said the specimen had disintegrated upon removal from its container and that there was nothing left to test.

But the three podiatrists who reviewed the case for the Indiana Department of Insurance agreed that there should have been enough tissue to conduct a test, Gonderman said.

Upon conclusion of the five-day trial, the St. Joseph Superior Court jury found Dr. Kolmodin liable for medical malpractice after coming to the conclusion that Flora's odds at overcoming the cancer were significantly reduced because he failed to test the tissue for cancer.

Although the Floras declined to comment on the verdict, Gonderman said he was pleased with the verdict.

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