State of Wisconsin/Circuit Court/Kenosha County

In late October of 2022, Mark Budzinski obtained a defense verdict in a case involving a urological oncologist accused of malpractice in his management of a kidney mass.  The mass was initially found incidentally on a CT scan done to evaluate some ongoing GI problems.  The mass itself had characteristics of a benign cystic mass and surveillance with imaging was recommended to follow the mass.  For the next roughly 2 years and over multiple CT scans the mass demonstrated no enhancement and no change, consistent with a benign cystic mass.  However, during a follow up scan in 2018, it was discovered the patient had developed extensive metastatic kidney cancer.  Plaintiff claimed that the physician was negligent in assessing the mass as having a low risk of malignancy, and that he was negligent in failing to properly inform the patient about the risk of malignancy and options for treatment.  Following a 6 day trial, the jury returned a verdict in approximately 35 minutes finding in favor of the physician on all counts.