Lauren E Fabian

The mishandling of my mother's diagnostic visit by Dr. Purcell and Lauren E. Fabian, PA-C ("PA") this morning was not on...ly incompetent, unprofessional, and near negligent or negligent, it was so insensitive that it was almost ghoulish.

My mother came to the meeting expecting that she would meet with Dr. Purcell to find out her diagnosis for pancreatic cancer. She went to the meeting, and we awaited results, believing that this was a matter of life or death. Depending on whether the tumor was malignant, the size of the tumor, the stage of the cancer, and the treatment options, we would be able to form some rough estimate of her possible prognosis.



Depending on that diagnostic information (malignancy, type of cancer, size of tumor, stage and spread), my mother, her husband, my sister, and I would be able to estimate whether my mother has years to live or months.

Instead, the meeting with Dr. Purcell never happened. Instead PA Lauren Fabian handled the meeting in his absence. This passing of the buck by Dr. Purcell would be acceptable if Dr. Purcell has made sure that PA Fabian was well informed and capable of handling the meeting.

She wasn't.

She not only didn't have answers to many of the important questions my mother asked regarding her diagnosis (for example, she didn't know the stage of the cancer), some of the information she conveyed conflicted with earlier information we received. For example, my mother was told previously that her cancer hadn't spread, but Fabian told her that it had spread to her lymph nodes.

PA Fabian wasn't able to answer most of the questions my mother had - e.g., the cancer's stage. This isn't a trivial matter. If example, the PA had told my mother she was Stage 1A, we might have expected something like a 14% chance that she would live 5 years. But if she had told my mother she was Stage 4C, we might have expected something like a 1% chance she would live 5 years. PA Fabian didn't have any information on this important issue.

Knowing the cancer's stage not only has medical implications regarding issues like treatment, it would have all sorts of personal implications. If Stage 1A, my mother might believe we have may have some time together and time to get all of her affairs in order before she dies. If Stage 4C we basically need to plan for her imminent death.

The failure of Dr. Purcell as a supervisory physician to insure that PA Fabian had this information shows great emotional insensitivity to my mother and her family and is, at the very least, unprofessional if not negligent and actionable.

But worst by far, was PA Fabian's mishandling of the issue of operability. At this morning's meeting, she told my mother her cancer was "inoperable." Then later, she called back and apologized, saying she didn't have all the information, made a mistake, and that the cancer was operable.

Think of the implications of this mistake by PA Fabian. Telling someone who has a pancreatic cancer diagnosis that their cancer is inoperable is virtually a "death sentence" - it indicates, statistically, that the patient will likely be dead very soon. Weeks or months. Imagine the emotional impact of this on my mother and her husband in the meeting. Hearing that, mother and her husband reasonably concluded she will soon be dead.

Then, Fabian calls back and says it is operable. Imagine the reverse emotional effect. Having been given the most dire news earlier, should my mother now think that there is hope? Should she believe that an operation can be performed that extend her life beyond the earlier expectation.

But because this entire was handled so unprofessionally,destroying any credibility Dr. Purcell, PA Fabian, and the practice had, we can't believe anything that you say or do. If you handled this meeting so unprofessionally, we can't reasonably expect you handled anything else competently.

Later, when my sister called the office, she was told by the office manager Chris, that she was under the impression that "everything was resolved" after the PA called my mother and apologized. This matter isn't even close to being "resolved." We not only haven't received a full professional diagnosis from Dr. Purcell, a simple apology by the PA doesn't come close to making this right.


This wasn't a simple run of the mill mistake that one resolves by saying sorry. Between the incompetence and poor supervision of Dr. Purcell, the mistakes and lack of information of PA Fabian, my was told she has inporerable pancreatic cancer, then told it was operable, and never given most of the information she should have been given. The amount of fear, uncertainty, and worry these mistakes have created is enormous.

A simple "oops sorry" doesn't remedy this.

Dr. Purcell and PA Fabian botched this matter creating enormous emotional distress, uncertainty, and additional worry for my mother, her husband and her family. more details