$25 Million Verdict for Girl, 15, Who Died After Missed Leukemia
After trial: On appeal, not final. The jury returned $25,000,000 on October 30, 2025; the $10,000,000 loss-of-companionship award to the mother was reduced to $750,000 under Maine's cap, making the judgment $15,750,000.
Won by Gideon Asen LLC.
A Cumberland County jury awarded $25 million to the mother of a 15-year-old girl who died five days after a physician at Mid Coast Medical Group misdiagnosed her acute leukemia as a hormonal condition without ordering an X-ray. Maine's cap on wrongful-death companionship damages cut the $10 million half of that award to $750,000, leaving a judgment of $15.75 million. Both sides have appealed.
What happened
In late July 2021, a 15-year-old girl arrived at Mid Coast Medical Group's clinic presenting with swollen, sore breasts, prominent veins across her chest, and respiratory distress. She had been diagnosed with pneumonia and prescribed prednisone just days before. The gynecologist who examined her concluded she had gynecomastia, a condition characterized by enlarged breast tissue that ordinarily affects men. No X-ray was ordered. No vital signs were checked. Medical records sent by fax before the appointment never reached the treating physician, and no medical literature was consulted.
The underlying condition was acute pediatric leukemia. She died five days after that appointment, on August 1, 2021. She was 15 years old.
Her mother, Lyndsey Sutherland, filed a wrongful death and medical malpractice lawsuit against Mid Coast Medical Group. At trial in Cumberland County Superior Court, attorneys Meryl Poulin and Benjamin Gideon of Gideon Asen LLC argued that a basic X-ray would have revealed the cancer and given the teenager a meaningful chance of survival. Expert testimony supported that conclusion. Poulin described the failure as running through a stop sign in an examination room.
The jury deliberated for approximately one hour before returning a verdict of $25 million on October 30, 2025. The award included $15 million for the teenager's conscious pain and suffering and $10 million to Lyndsey Sutherland for loss of companionship. It is the largest medical malpractice verdict in Maine history.
Mid Coast Medical Group moved for a new trial and asked the court to reduce the award. In March 2026, Justice Michael Duddy denied both requests, writing that the verdict had "ample competent evidence" in the record and bore a rational relationship to the evidence presented. Both parties have since filed notices of appeal to Maine's highest court. Sutherland's attorneys plan to challenge Maine's $750,000 statutory cap on certain wrongful death damages, which limits how much of the $25 million judgment she can actually collect.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
- 1.Maine Public Radio: Maine mother wins $25 million wrongful death lawsuit (Oct 31, 2025)·Archived copy
- 2.Bangor Daily News: Jury awards Maine mother $25M in wrongful death lawsuit (Oct 31, 2025)·Archived copy
- 3.Bangor Daily News: Judge denies Mid Coast Medical Group request for new trial (Mar 18, 2026)·Archived copy
- 4.The Maine Wire: Maine Mom Awarded $25 Million For Daughter's Death Following Misdiagnosis (Nov 2025)·Archived copy
- 5.Sun Journal, Nov. 21, 2025·Archived copy
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