Patients Wins Lawsuit against VA for Terminal Misdiagnosis

Sometimes, one is delighted to find out that one's physician has made an error.  That is what happened to Mark Templin.  Clinicians at the Montana VA misdiagnosed him with brain cancer.  They prescribed two drugs and ordered hospice care.





Templin believed he was dying.  So, he quit his job, sold his pickup truck, celebrated a "last" birthday, and bought a prearranged funeral service.  He even contemplated suicide. Templin testified that he cried often and considered shooting himself so his family wouldn't have to watch him wither away.



But Templin then started feeling better.  He terminated hospice care. Additional testing showed multiple small strokes, but no brain cancer.



The U.S. District Court for the District of Montana awarded Templin $60,000.  The judge explained:  "It is difficult to put a price tag on the anguish of a man wrongly convinced of his impending death. . . .  Mr. Templin lived for 148 days ... under the mistaken impression that he was dying of metastatic brain cancer."  The judge awarded $500 per day for the initial period of severe mental and emotional distress and $300 per day for the latter period until Templin received his new diagnosis. He also ordered the VA to repay Templin for the cost of the birthday party and funeral. 



This type of case is rare.  But it certainly fosters end-of-life conflict, because it illustrates the limits of prognostication.  "Why should I accept your recommendation for CMO?  Maybe I am another Mark Templin."  This type of case also fosters opposition to AID.  Oddly, Templin considered "shooting" himself, even though, in Montana, AID is legal.  But through either mechanism he would have proceeded on a false assumption.