Mum Files Lawsuit Vs Doctors And Nurse For Unnecessary Hysterectomy and Double Mastectomy

A mother is suing her healthcare providers, claiming that doctors and nurses performed unnecessary hysterectomy and double mastectomy.

Mum-of-two Elisha Cooke-Moore, 36, from Gold Beach, Oregon in the US, has filed a lawsuit for $1.8 million on Thursday, claiming that both of her breasts and her uterus, ovaries and fallopian tubes were removed unnecessarily.

She said that she has a family history of breast cancer (her mother and grandmother both had breast cancer) and decided with her doctors to undergo genetic testing to see if she had inherited the disease or any type of cancer, and thought she was making a proactive approach to her own health.

She got tested for BRCA1 – the so-called ‘Jolie gene’ that led Angelina Jolie to undergo a preventative double mastectomy and hysterectomy – BRCA2, and MLH1.

In her lawsuit, Ms Cooke-Moore claimed that Lori Johns, a nurse, told her she carried mutations of the genes that put her at higher risk for cancers. Johns then passed that information along to Dr William Fitts, the doctor she referred Ms Cooke-Moore.

Dr Fitts reiterated those results and told Ms Cooke-Moore she was at high risk for breast and uterine cancer, so he recommended that she let him perform a hysterectomy to remove her uterus in August 2016.

In October 2016, Ms Cooke-Moore was sent to another doctor, Dr Jessica Carlson, to have a double mastectomy, removing all of the tissue from both of her breasts and placing implants, in order to prevent cancers from developing.

However, after both operations, Ms Cooke-Moore found out that her own medical charts revealed that her tests had been negative for the genetic indicators of cancers, the Oregonian reports.

It is unclear how Johns, and later Dr Fitts, misinterpreted the results.

Now, Ms Cooke-Moore alleges that she was left with a botched breast reconstruction that needed a number of follow-up surgeries to repair and she is now coping with forced early menopause.

“As a woman, they took what God gave me. I don’t even feel like I am one at times,” Ms Cooke-Moore told the Oregonian.

Now, Ms Cooke-Moore is suing her doctors for medical malpractice and $1.8 million in personal damages, the maximum amount she can under Oregon tort law.

Daily Mail Online reached out to the other parties involved in the lawsuit, but did not receive responses

Source: Dailymail.co.uk