Delaware

Krista Roeper
Middletown, DE

Twenty-one-year-old Krista Roeper was concerned about a problem—she was experiencing rectal bleeding. Over the course of two years, she went to her doctor twelve times and brought up the issue of rectal bleeding in all but one of the visits. Her doctor never referred her for any other tests or to a specialist. Finally, she was diagnosed with colon cancer, but the two year delay in diagnosis made her chances for survival much worse.

Her doctor was found to have committed malpractice. The jury also asked to require the doctor to take a course in medical ethics, and to order that the doctor never be allowed to practice alone because of their concern for his patients' care. The state attorney general was going to bring charges against the doctor, but the case was dropped when their best witness, Krista, died of cancer.

Why Accountability Matters

How Krista's Attorney Exposed a 'Volume Practice' Doctor

Medical Errors: A Silent Killer Still Claims 100,000 Lives Each Year

Updated June 2005