São Paulo — The São Paulo court ordered a health plan to pay R$200,000 in compensation to a 67-year-old woman who treated a non-existent cancer for six years with chemotherapy, due to a misdiagnosis. The case took place in São Bernardo do Campo, in ABC São Paulo.
According to the process, the patient was diagnosed with malignant neoplasm (cancer) in the right breast and underwent a mastectomy (breast removal) in October 2010, when she was 54 years old. The following year, she was informed that she had bone metastasis (tumor in the bones) and began chemotherapy treatment.
The diagnosis was made when she had the Amico Saúde plan, which was now ordered to compensate her by the 9th Chamber of Private Law of the Court of Justice of São Paulo (TJSP), confirming the decision of the first instance judge.
The error was only discovered six years later, when the patient had already changed plans and the doctor accredited by the new health provider suspected the diagnosis.
In 2017, new tests found that she never had a tumor in her bones. In the lawsuit filed against the plan, the patient’s defense said that she was subjected to “heavy and painful” chemotherapy treatment, using medication that “brought countless negative consequences” to her life, “both in the psychological aspect and in the physicist”.
Side effects of the medications include hair loss, teething, pain, nausea and fatigue. “Each chemotherapy session became a real torment for the author because the medication is very strong and has numerous side effects, such as bone wear and intense fatigue,” said the defense.
In the decision that condemned Amico Saúde, judge Edson Luiz de Queiroz highlighted that “the patient was subjected to suffering that could have been avoided or alleviated, imposing the duty of reparation for moral and material damages, highlighting that the loss was proven of bone mass, mobility and teething by the patient”.
In December 2023, Amico Saúde reached an agreement with the patient and paid the compensation amount.