$988,000 Awarded in Malpractice
The Star Ledger - Newark
October 18, 1988

A 35-year-old cancer patient and her family received a $988,000 settlement yesterday in a medical malpractice case in which she accused two Montclair doctors of failing to treat cancerous cysts in her breast.

Carol Geyer, her husband and three children were awarded $375,000 in lump sum payments, with the remainder to be paid over 30 years.

Geyer's chances for survival are poor, a doctor testified during the civil trial in Passaic County Superior Court.

The woman could not testify because cancer has afflicted her vertebrae and she is confined to bed.

Attorneys had videotaped her testimony, but it was not played to the jury because the case was settled after several days of testimony by medical experts.

Geyer accused Drs. Richard DeMarsico and Gary DeGrande of repeatedly failing to treat three lumps she discovered in her left breast.

DeMarsico and DeGrande at the time were associates in the Greater Montclair Obstetrics-Gynecology Group, which is now defunct.

According to testimony, Geyer found three lumps in her left breast in March 1985 and notified DeMarsico, the doctor who was treating her during her pregnancy.

In a deposition, she said DeMarsico told her that the cysts were benign and that she should not be concerned.

DeMarsico and DeGrande failed to conduct a biopsy or mammography over the next 14 months, according to testimony. A New York doctor performed breast removal surgery on Geyer in July 1986.

In the settlement, the Geyers' children - Garret, 7, Matthew, 6, and Megan, 3 - will receive from $20,000 to $25,000 when they turn 18, in addition to other incremental payments.