Breast cancer could well be considered an epidemic in America: One out of nine woman is diagnosed with the disease during her lifetime. And although many women now know more about-and do more about-detecting breast cancer early, sometimes that is not always enough.

RGG&L partner Michael Glass recently secured a $1.2 million settlement for a 46-year old woman who took every reasonable step to monitor for breast cancer, including self-exams and annual mammograms. Unfortunately, for two years in a row, her radiologist completely missed a suspicious breast lesion when he interpreted her mammograms, permitting that cancer to grow and invade several of her lymph nodes. Fortunately, with aggressive treatment, the woman has been cancer-free for a number of years, but the mistake placed her at a significantly increased risk of recurrence and the need for highly invasive measures to arrest the further development of the cancer.