Jeremy Morton-Maxwell was getting ready to solidify a treatment plan for his possible bladder cancer last year. He was seeing a specialist at UW Medicine. His surgery was scheduled, and it went smoothly. Then the hospital lost his tumor.
Now, the 39-year-old is suing UW Medicine, accusing it of medical negligence and violating its standard of care, as he continues to navigate an increasingly complex path of medical uncertainty. While UW Medicine has admitted it hasn't been able to find the sample, it denied most other statements in Morton-Maxwell's lawsuit, filed earlier this summer in King County Superior Court.
Morton-Maxwell, who lives in Seattle, started having painful urinary issues in spring 2022, but it was late summer before he could get an appointment with a specialist, he said in a recent interview.
A UW Medicine urology clinic was the first that could see him, said Morton-Maxwell, who has a family history of bladder cancer, according to the complaint. At the August appointment last year, the urologist spotted a tumor in his bladder that was "likely cancer," the lawsuit says.
"When I finally showed up, they treated it really seriously," Morton-Maxwell said. "Two days later, I went into surgery to remove it."
The procedure, at UW Medical Center Northwest, went well. A pathologic review was still needed to determine the nature of the tumor, he said.
Weeks passed, but no call came with results from the pathology tests. Morton-Maxwell started sending daily messages to his care team on an online patient portal and calling the clinic frequently.
Finally, in September — about a month and a half after the surgery — his urologist called to tell him UW Medicine had lost the tumor before it could be analyzed.
If the tumor were malignant, a pathology report would have detailed how aggressive the cancer was and helped Morton-Maxwell's care team decide between treatments. Instead, few options were available, he said.
His urologist offered preventive chemotherapy, but Morton-Maxwell felt that was "not acceptable treatment," in case surgery had removed any cancer, he said. The alternative choice was to visit the clinic every 60 days for a painful diagnostic procedure to examine the inside of Morton-Maxwell's bladder.
UW Medicine declined to comment on the case while the lawsuit remains ongoing.
"I wish somebody from UW would have come to me and said, 'We're sorry,'" he said. "And really admit fault, and commit to an organizational change to prevent that."
While his urologist was apologetic on the phone, Morton-Maxwell wanted a more formal acknowledgment from the hospital.
He's still following UW Medicine's treatment plan and seeing his urologist every two months for diagnostic procedures. He hasn't had any urinary issues since his surgery.
But because Morton-Maxwell is so physically active — in his work as a remodel carpenter and his hobbies — his health is constantly on his mind, he said.
"This is something I'm going to be dealing with for a while," he said. "Does my stomach hurt from something I ate? Or is the cancer back?"
While he doesn't blame his urology team, Morton-Maxwell is pursuing the lawsuit to "make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else."
The suit seeks monetary damages, to be determined in court, said Austin Neff, Morton-Maxwell's attorney with Osborn Machler, a personal injury firm in Seattle.
"Filing a civil suit against them, it's really kind of a blunt instrument," Morton-Maxwell said. "I wish I had some other way of recourse, but this is what I have. ... I just want them to make this right."
