ROCKVILLE, Md. (CN) – Kaiser was slow to diagnose a woman’s breast cancer, she claims in Montgomery County Circuit Court.

     Jacqueline Johnson-Eaton sued Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Mid-Atlantic States, Inc. and Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group, P.C. for medical negligence and lack of informed consent.

     According to the lawsuit, Johnson-Eaton had a series of screening and diagnostic mammograms from April 2012 to June 2014 which revealed dense breast tissue and “scattered micro-califications,” which Kaiser staff told her were “probably benign.”

     In Dec. 2014, Johnson-Eaton found a lump in her left breast, according to the complaint. This was followed by more testing over the next three months, and ultimately a diagnosis of breast cancer, it says.

     “On or about April 8, 2015, plaintiff Jacqueline Johnson-Eaton was informed by the defendants that she would not be offered the option of surgery if her breast cancer was metastatic,” (Pg. 6, No. 23) the complaint states.

     An MRI and biopsy of Johnson-Eaton’s spine confirmed that the cancer was metastatic. Over the next two years, she was treated with hormone therapy, tamoxifen, Zometa, Letrozole, an aromatase inhibitor, a total hysterectomy and an oophorectomy, it says.

     “Had the defendant Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Mid-Atlantic States, Inc. and defendant Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group, P.C., adhered to the applicable standards of care, plaintiff Jacqueline Johnson-Eaton’s condition would have been appreciated, appropriate measures would have been taken, her breast cancer would have been diagnosed earlier, the hormonal treatments and extensive, painful surgery and post-surgery treatments would have been avoided and her probability of survival would have been improved,” the complaint states.

     Jacqueline Johnson-Eaton seeks compensatory damages, interest, costs and a jury trial. She is represented by Sandra H. Robinson of The Cochran Firm in Washington, D.C.