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Salon
Salon
Science
Phil Galewitz

The cost of public clinic malpractice

(Getty/AlexStar)

Silvia Garcia's 14-year-old son was left permanently disabled and in a wheelchair after a community health center doctor in New Mexico failed to diagnose his appendicitis despite his complaint of severe stomach pain. The teenager's appendix ruptured before he could get to a hospital, and complications led to septic shock.

Akimbee Burns had a Pap smear at a community health center in Georgia that showed abnormal cells. But she was not told of the results. About eight months later, she was diagnosed with cervical cancer that had spread to her lymph nodes. She died within two years, at age 38.

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