Woman Sues Over Breast Disfigurement

Closing arguments expected today

Her grandmother died from breast cancer, she explained. Her mother, aunt and one of her sisters also were diagnosed with the disease.

To protect herself, the 46-year-old mother of two went to a series of doctors in 2008 before ultimately electing to have preventive surgery.

She wanted a double mastectomy and breast implants. At least, she said, as long as she could keep her own nipples.

But when the Stevensville woman went to Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis on March 23, 2009, there was a mix-up in the operating room - and doctors removed her nipples.

"I just broke down, went outside and cried," the woman, now 49, said earlier this week in county Circuit Court, recalling what she did after learning from a nurse her nipples were gone. She said her breasts no longer look or feel right.

"It looks mutilated. It doesn't look like any woman's breast," she said.

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