Cystic Fibrosis Misdiagnosis Leads to 7 Years of Treatment, $1M Settlement

A physician in Virginia has agreed to a $1 million settlement to resolve allegations that a child, who actually had mild asthma, was misdiagnosed and unnecessarily treated for cystic fibrosis and pancreatic insufficiency for years without undergoing  diagnostic testing, according to a report in the February 2013 Medical Malpractice Verdicts, Settlements, and Experts. At age five, the plaintiff was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis and pancreatic insufficiency and was treated for those diseases for seven and a half years before the diagnoses were reversed by another physician, who instead diagnosed mild persistent asthma. The plaintiff claimed that the diagnoses of cystic fibrosis and pancreatic insufficiency were never confirmed by appropriate testing.