Fans of classic rock are well aware of the accolades accumulated by English band, Foghat over the past four decades. Forming in the early 1970s and rocking their way through several gold and platinum album releases, the group has gone through many lineup changes over the years. However, Foghat has had the pleasure of having Craig MacGregor as its bassist for the majority of the band’s tenure in the world of music.
Sadly, MacGregor has been in the news lately for reasons other than the fact that Foghat has just released their 17th album entitled, Under The Influence. (The fan-funded project features a 40th anniversary remake of their biggest hit “Slow Ride”.) As reported by Samantha Melamed on Philly.com last week, MacGregor has lung cancer. But even worse than his diagnosis is the fact that it took far too long for him to discover he is suffering from the disease.
Melamed reveals that the 66 year-old rocker only came to know of his cancer diagnosis last year. However, during a CAT scan to check for broken ribs after a fall four years ago, a 10 millimetre nodule was found in a radiology report. This information, however, was not given to him at the time and it has since grown 60 times in size and has spread to his brain. And now MacGregor is looking for answers about why this medical mishap took place.
Naturally, he could have sought cancer treatment much earlier had he been made aware of the results of his CAT scan four years ago. Sadly, he is threatened to become part of a very unfortunate growing statistic in the United States. Medical errors, reveals Melamed, is the third-leading cause of death in our country, killing over a quarter of a million people each year. This stat was recently determined by a Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine study.
Instead of joining Foghat on its most recent tour to promote the new Under The Influence album, MacGregor will be spending his time at Philadelphia’s Fox Chase Cancer Center to undergo chemotherapy, CyberKnife surgery and immunotherapy. He is hoping that the medical error that delayed his therapy will be used as further evidence that new legislation needs to be passed to prevent such errors from happening in the future.
Melamed reports that Bucks County state Rep. Marguerite Quinn has introduced the Patient Test Results Information Act in four legislative terms since 2008. And while it continues to get overlooked, the incredibly important law would see to it that patients have their test results expeditiously sent to them. However, “doctors’ organizations have protested, citing logistical and financial barriers and warning that test results might cause patients undue alarm,” Melamed writes.
According to Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine neurologist David Newman-Toker, about 12 million Americans are affected by diagnostic errors every year and about a third of them lead to serious harm such as disability and death. Around 10 percent of these errors are believed to be due to communication failures. “Patients deserve access to their information” he is quoted as saying.
The Allegiant Experts team couldn’t agree more. Patients deserve quick access to information about their health statuses so that they can quickly embark on decisions that may improve them. Both MacGregor and his wife Lisa are suing his doctors and Reading Health System. They want “accountability, and an explanation as to why they weren’t told for three years about the two-page radiology report from 2012,” Melamed explains.
On behalf of the Allegiant Experts team, we wish both the MacGregors and all Americans who have had to endure the suffering caused by medical errors the very best. If you are an attorney who would like any information about our services or our experience with hospital and medical malpractice cases, please don’t hesitate to contact us at 407-217-5831.
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