Man diagnosed with terminal cancer blows life’s savings

posted at 4:11 pm on May 7, 2007 by Allahpundit

You know the punchline.

The 62-year-old said he was told by doctors at the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Treliske that he only had a short time left to live.

So he quit his job and stopped paying his mortgage, instead splashing out on a lavish lifestyle of hotels, restaurants and holidays.

Then the hospital told him that he was actually suffering from non-fatal pancreatitis.

Mr Brandrick said that in the year he thought he was dying he spent everything and now he faces losing his house.

He’s suing, naturally. The hospital insists there was no negligence, that when he was diagnosed it looked like pancreatic cancer.

Expect a modest settlement here, not because he has a case (he probably doesn’t) but because the bad publicity of not only a misdiagnosis but a misdiagnosis that ends up putting an old man out on the street would be horrendous for the hospital. They’ll probably pay off the mortgage payments he missed so that he can keep his house and then he’ll make up some of the rest in charity from people who read about him and want to help him out. Either that or he’ll end up in a cardboard box consoling himself with a bottle of whiskey and the fact that at least his pancreas is robust.

Obvious exit question: Should he win the suit? He’s got a potential action in equity, but he can’t show that the hospital knew (let alone intended or induced) that he’d go out and crack his nest egg. I think he’s looking at a little bit of jack and a whole lot of squat.

Update: I’m thinking this story is going to turn up on Red Eye tonight, and I’m also thinking that Rachel’s going to take the hardline “jack squat” position. Who wants to bet me?

Breaking on Hot Air

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Too bad for him but I think is sounds like a great idea. If, heaven forbid, I am diagnosed with a terminal disease I am going to follow suit. Blow it all having a grand time.

bopbottle on May 7, 2007 at 4:14 PM

I think the book/movie rights should be a strong fallback position for him.

Heck, he could hit the motivational speaker circuit. Live every day like it could be your last, blah blah. Just don’t blow your wad like every day could be your last.

TexasDan on May 7, 2007 at 4:22 PM

the most relieved poor man on earth

jp on May 7, 2007 at 4:23 PM

TONIGHT ON REDEYE!

Rachel will say the misdiagnosis is due to the fact that British National Health Service is run by liberals. Then Bill will roll his eyes at her and say something gay to Greg.

At the Halftime Report, Andrew Levy will knock Rachel down a peg with a brilliant one-liner. Rachel will waste 7 seconds of the segment to give a boring defense of her position to which Andrew will politely wait until she’s done talking, pause for a half-second and say: “Okay.”

ScottMcC on May 7, 2007 at 4:23 PM

Redeye should be working on the mastercard “priceless” commercial as we speak.

TexasDan on May 7, 2007 at 4:24 PM

I had a bet that you would use the words “jack squat” and Rachel’s name in the same sentence. WooHoo!

Bill C on May 7, 2007 at 4:24 PM

ScottMcC on May 7, 2007 at 4:23 PM

Spot on, dude. Although Rachel might throw us a curve by accusing Andy of having his mom make his dinner for him. To which Andy will reply, “Okay, crazy lady.”

Allahpundit on May 7, 2007 at 4:26 PM

We’re all going to die eventually. Shouldn’t we make the most of every day?

JohnJ on May 7, 2007 at 4:26 PM

Interesting that the hospital’s attorneys are focused on negligence rather than causation.

SWLiP on May 7, 2007 at 4:31 PM

Heh, I’d wager this’ll be on RedEye, and for the over/under on what happens: Scott at 75% likelyhood and Allah at 25%.

Bad Candy on May 7, 2007 at 4:39 PM

My only problem is this: the only guarantee in medicine is that the doctors and hospital will get paid. They take no responsibility for errors, don’t guarantee accuracy, and overcharge insanely for services (especially surgeries). If they would just get off their high horses and offer refunds for erroneous diagnoses, or gratis follow-up for honest errors, I think the amount of litigation would drop precipitously.

stonemeister on May 7, 2007 at 4:41 PM

If this were a private hospital, with private money at stake, the hospital might settle quietly with him. But this is the British government, and they’re going to tell him to pound sand.

Sydney Carton on May 7, 2007 at 4:42 PM

If this were a private hospital, with private money at stake, the hospital might settle quietly with him. But this is the British government, and they’re going to tell him to pound sand.

Sydney Carton on May 7, 2007 at 4:42 PM

In England, if you tell someone to “pound sand,” they issue a fatwa against you.

Attila (Pillage Idiot) on May 7, 2007 at 4:48 PM

This guy did it all wrong. He should have gone out and got a buch of credit cards and run those bad boys all the way up and then filed BK! Party on someone else’s dime!

VikingGoneWild on May 7, 2007 at 4:51 PM

“Bad news, you’re not dying”

Dash on May 7, 2007 at 4:51 PM

Is the implication that ‘second opinions’ are not included in the NHS coverage?

Limerick on May 7, 2007 at 4:52 PM

“I’m really pleased I’ve got a second chance in life. But if you haven’t got any money – it was my fault, I spent it all – they should pay something back.”

And here you though cognitive dissonance was just a river in Africa…

Blacklake on May 7, 2007 at 5:05 PM

Pound sand….fatwa….

work in a “Priceless” commercial….

YOU GUYS ARE BRILLIANT.

HOTAIR readers are the smartest on the Web.

seejanemom on May 7, 2007 at 5:16 PM

I don’t see how you could misdiagnose pancreatic cancer with a biopsy. If they diagnosed and prognosed him a death sentence without doing the proper tests then I would say they are somewhat liable. Telling someone they are going to die without evidence is pretty emotionally traumatic. What if he had committed suicide instead of just spending all his money?

frreal on May 7, 2007 at 5:19 PM

Socialized medicine? Hmmmm?

robblefarian on May 7, 2007 at 5:21 PM

I don’t care; Rachel Marsden is hot. Yes, I know she’s crazy as a loon. I don’t care.

Kensington on May 7, 2007 at 5:31 PM

always get a second opinion. probably got a diagnosis that he wanted to hear just so that he could have an excuse to live it up

mfnorman on May 7, 2007 at 5:31 PM

This might be on Hot Air tonight, if Gutfeld runs out of stories on animals and/or strippers.

Jim Treacher on May 7, 2007 at 5:34 PM

I’m thinking this story is going to turn up on Red Eye tonight, and I’m also thinking that Rachel’s going to take the hardline “jack squat” position.

Further, she’ll blame this guy’s sense of entitlement on Bill Clinton.

Enrique on May 7, 2007 at 5:41 PM

I don’t care; Rachel Marsden is hot. Yes, I know she’s crazy as a loon. I don’t care.

Kensington on May 7, 2007 at 5:31 PM

Hm, if you say so. Check, please!

Spirit of 1776 on May 7, 2007 at 5:48 PM

[H]e can’t show that the hospital knew (let alone intended or induced) that he’d go out and crack his nest egg

Hmm … Is that required in most states? In mine, medical malpractice requires only duty, breach, injury and causation. The forseeability of the injury is irrelevant.

Thus, if the doctor (1) assumed the duty of care (he did, by providing any diagnosis at all), and (2) breached that duty of care (by blowing the diagnosis, as judged by the standard of a “reasonably prudent” physician); and then (3) the patient incurred injury (including financial injury); and (4) the jury buys that the injury was caused by the breach of care (by finding it was reasonable for the patient to blow all his money becuase he thought he was going to die; contrast with the unrelated requirement that the doctor find such action “reasonably foreeseeable”), then the doctor may well be screwed.

Blacksheep on May 7, 2007 at 5:55 PM

Mr Brandrick, who confirmed he had been given paperwork which said he had a short time to live, added: “I gave all my clothes away to the charity shop.

“I only kept summer wear because that was all I’d got left to live.

“I kept a suit, a tie, a shirt and a pair of shoes to be buried in because I arranged all my own funeral.”
This guy sounds like a great candidate for employment. If he can get here to Florida I’m looking for a salesman.

sonnyspats1 on May 7, 2007 at 6:00 PM

This might be on Red Eye tonight, if Gutfeld runs out of stories on animals and/or strippers.

Jim Treacher on May 7, 2007 at 5:34 PM

New prediction: Gutfeld draws a unicorn offering to donate her pancreas to the disembodied head of John Brandrick while Fluffy McNutter stares pensively into the distance.

ScottMcC on May 7, 2007 at 6:00 PM

We’re all going to die eventually. Shouldn’t we make the most of every day?
JohnJ on May 7, 2007 at 4:26 PM

OK, who lost their 60’s flower child?…we just found him. /s

shooter on May 7, 2007 at 6:08 PM

Odds are pretty good if this had happened in the U.S. he’d win. I’m not terribly familiar with the British civil court system, are their barristers as prone to chase ambulances as ours?

commonsensehoosier on May 7, 2007 at 6:08 PM

I hardly consider 62 old. Ahem.

/still a ways to go, but I ain’t gonna be old when I’m 62, fer shure

Bob's Kid on May 7, 2007 at 6:12 PM

“He’s suing, naturally.”

If he lived in the USA, he could hire John Edwards, and Edwards would then “channel” his pancreas to the court, which would tell the jury how much it suffered when it was told it had incurable cancer.

The guy would win a $100,000,000 award, Edwards’ cut would be $35 million that he would add to his warchest and he’d beat Obama and Hillary for the nomination.

I bet Edwards has already been on the phone to him trying to convince him to sue in Marion County, IL. ;^)

georgej on May 7, 2007 at 6:18 PM

I bet Edwards has already been on the phone to him trying to convince him to sue in Marion County, IL. ;^)

georgej on May 7, 2007 at 6:18 PM

Or Wisconsin, now that the Jim Doyle-packed state Supreme Court threw out Wisconsin’s limits on malpractice damages.

I’d give him the USFL dollar in damages.

steveegg on May 7, 2007 at 6:33 PM

If the hospital flubbed his diagnosis because of a freak weather storm lost his sample, they could escape liability by saying it was an act of God. In this case they could just say Praise Jesus! his cancer is gone.

pedestrian on May 7, 2007 at 6:36 PM

What if he had committed suicide instead of just spending all his money?

frreal on May 7, 2007 at 5:19 PM

Then he wouldn’t have a case….

ScottG on May 7, 2007 at 6:56 PM

This speaks to the guy’s heart. Why didn’t he give the money to charity? Where your treasure is, that’s where your heart is.

Mojave Mark on May 7, 2007 at 6:57 PM

Mr Brandrick said that in the year he thought he was dying he spent everything and now he faces losing his house.

Doesn’t that mean he was spending his life savings as well as money that he owed others?

Kevin M on May 7, 2007 at 7:36 PM

So he quit his job and stopped paying his mortgage, instead splashing out on a lavish lifestyle of hotels, restaurants and holidays.

That knocked the ol’ sympathy meter back a few notches.

John from WuzzaDem on May 7, 2007 at 7:43 PM

We’re all going to die eventually. Shouldn’t we make the most of every day?

JohnJ on May 7, 2007 at 4:26 PM

Sure, JohnJ. Just do it responsibly and pay your bills.

BacaDog on May 7, 2007 at 8:20 PM

This speaks to the guy’s heart. Why didn’t he give the money to charity? Where your treasure is, that’s where your heart is.

If I have a terminal disease, I think a little ‘me time’ is in order..

Reaps on May 7, 2007 at 8:24 PM

And here you though cognitive dissonance was just a river in Africa…

Blacklake on May 7, 2007 at 5:05 PM

Extremely well put.

mikeyboss on May 7, 2007 at 8:27 PM

He’ll get money cuz it’ll cost the hospital more in legal fees/reputation than to just pay him out.
I think he’s an idiot, but that’s just me. Always get a second opinion.

SuperManGreenLantern on May 7, 2007 at 8:57 PM

I think he’s an idiot, but that’s just me. Always get a second opinion.

SuperManGreenLantern on May 7, 2007 at 8:57 PM

I think you just gave him one.

James on May 8, 2007 at 8:51 AM

He has a case, but no damages.

It’s called “responsibility to minimize damage.” For instance, if Bill Gates sprays gasoline on you by accident and you scream “JACKPOT!!” and purposely set yourself on fire, you don’t get damages for being on fire.

TallDave on May 8, 2007 at 11:11 AM

This speaks to the guy’s heart. Why didn’t he give the money to charity? Where your treasure is, that’s where your heart is.

Mojave Mark on May 7, 2007 at 6:57 PM

He might not be a leftie.

Entelechy on May 8, 2007 at 1:44 PM

We’re all going to die eventually. Shouldn’t we make the most of every day?

JohnJ on May 7, 2007 at 4:26 PM

I don’t think that “making the most of every day” means spending the most that you possibly can. Apparently, this guy must’ve led a pretty pathetic life if he wasn’t worried about leaving anything to his (presumptive) heirs.

gryphon202 on May 8, 2007 at 5:07 PM