Radiologist fined $750 allowed to keep his license after missing breast cancer in 24 patients

A New Hampshire radiologist who missed a breast cancer diagnosis in 24 women in the state over a three-year period was fined just $750 for his life-threatening mistakes and allowed to keep his medical license.

In one of the cases, Dr. Mark Guilfoyle the same woman three times over three years, but he didn’t notice anything wrong on her mammogram.

He practiced as a radiologist at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and provided radiology services to three small, rural hospitals across the state.

The complaints were filed several years ago, but Guilfoyle’s September 2019 settlement with the New Hampshire Board of Medicine is only recently coming to light, according to reporting by The Boston Globe’s Spotlight Investigation Team.

Guilfoyle’s sanctions only bar him from reading mammograms in the state of New Hampshire, though he is still allowed to interpret x-rays and radiological images.

The disgraced doctor now works in Michigan.

The Boston Globe conducted its own investigation after a former patient of Guilfoyle came forward.

Patricia Eddy was told that her mammograms in 2015, 2016 and 2017, administered under Guilfoyle’s care, were clear of disease.

But on closer examination, she was told that every time there was breast cancer – only the radiologist had not seen it.

Eddy, 66, underwent a double mastectomy after what she believed were doctors’ mistakes. She is furious that he is still allowed to practice and that he was able to keep his driver’s license.

“Personally, I don’t think he should read anything. You have a doctor who harmed innocent patients with his ineptitude, and they do nothing about it.

Eddy alerted the New Hampshire Board of Medicine in August 2017, explaining everything she had gone through, demanding to know why Guilfoyle was still practicing medicine.

It was another eight months before she received a response stating that the doctor had not received any form of “formal disciplinary action” despite her complaint.

It would be another two years before the board came to its own settlement with Guilfoyle.

Another woman, 76-year-old Cheryl Jensen, said Guilfoyle “ruined the rest of my life” by misreading her mammograms.

It saw her breast cancer given time to spread, eventually being diagnosed in early 2018, after which she had to undergo surgery, chemotherapy and radiation.

‘For me it’s mainly about the Medical Council. It’s a lack of action and transparency,” Jensen said.

After hearing Guilfoyle’s sanctions, she pleaded with the board to reopen the case and revoke his license, but the board replied only that it “believes that this matter has been fully investigated.”

“He got a slap on the wrist and I got a slap in the face from that board,” Jensen bluntly told The Globe.

One of Guilfoyle’s superiors, Dr. Rebecca Zuurbier, who was director of breast imaging at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, was also concerned about the doctor’s work.

It led to a review of every mammogram and breast ultrasound that the radiologist interpreted, comprising more than 5,500 patient visits.

It was at that time that the two dozen women with missed breast cancer were found.

Affected patients were informed and further tested and treated if necessary.

“There were 24 patients with known missed breast cancers,” says Zuurbier.

The American Cancer Society says about one in eight cancers are missed on mammograms. Missed diagnoses are a common cause of malpractice against radiologists.

Often small growths are difficult to identify, not least because of the density and complexity of breast tissue.

“I compare it to looking at a Jackson Pollock painting, with all the splashes and smudges and dots,” Zuurbier explained. “If someone puts a new dot in it, do you pick it up? I can go back later and find that new dot, though sometimes it’s hard. But there are basic things you learn that you shouldn’t miss.’

She agrees, Guilfoyle “had a lot of big misses.”

“Dartmouth Health acted immediately and decisively when it was determined there was an alleged irregularity in one of its mammogram measurements,” added Dartmouth spokesperson Audra Burn.

Dartmouth’s concerns were then passed on to the state’s medical board, which investigated the “allegations of professional misconduct” according to the board’s Sept. 10, 2019, settlement agreement with the radiologist.

The board decided that Guilfoyle would pay the meager fine and receive a ‘reprimand’.

“What I wanted from the start was his license. I advocated for myself, but I advocated for any other woman who should get a mammogram,” Eddy said The globe.

Eddy was one of two dozen patients who fell victim to Guilfoyle’s alleged failure to recognize signs of breast cancer on their mammograms or breast ultrasounds.

In 2020, 11 of the women involved reached a malpractice settlement that Guilfoyle’s alleged negligence resulted in a delayed diagnosis of their breast cancer.

The delay had potentially life-threatening consequences. The group eventually split the proceeds of a $4.6 million payout, but neither the alleged errors nor Guilfoyle’s $750 are listed on his doctor’s profile on the New Hampshire Board of Medicine website.

In fact, New Hampshire’s medical board is one of the least transparent in the country, with no easy way for patients to look into their doctor’s past, including whether they’ve been subject to malpractice, hospital disciplinary action, or even criminal charges. convictions.

Guilfoyle’s attorney, Jason Gregoire, referred only to the agreement Guilfoyle reached with the board in 2019, noting how it “speaks for itself,” adding that the doctor has not read a mammogram since he left Dartmouth.

Both Eddy and Jensen were patients at Weeks Medical Center in Lancaster, New Hampshire.

Guilfoyle is still licensed to practice in eight states, including Michigan, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Vermont and Washington, but only in Georgia does it list a $4.6 million malpractice payment.

Dr. Emily Baker, the current president of the New Hampshire Medical Board and a practicing obstetrician and gynecologist at Dartmouth Health, said she was not authorized to speak on behalf of the agency.