Scarbrough v. Alabama Cancer Care LLC

On January 27, 2026, James Scarbrough filed a medical malpractice suit in Alabama state court against Alabama Cancer Care LLC and its personnel. The plaintiff alleged that from early 2024 to mid-2025, the defendants negligently misread CT scans and dismissed persistent symptoms, delaying a biopsy that would have revealed stage II lung cancer. By the time diagnosis was made in late 2025, the disease had metastasized to stage IV. Scarbrough sought damages for physical pain, emotional distress, and reduced life expectancy, claiming the delay directly caused his condition to become terminal. The case hinged on expert testimony comparing the defendants’ actions to the accepted standard of oncological care.

In April 2026, a jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff, awarding $3.8 million in compensatory damages. The court denied the defendants' post-trial motions for a new trial, and the parties subsequently reached a confidential settlement pending appeal.

Whether the defendants' failure to timely order and interpret diagnostic tests fell below the applicable standard of care, and whether that failure was a proximate cause of the cancer's progression from a treatable to an incurable stage.

The case triggered statewide scrutiny of follow-up protocols in oncology practices, leading several Alabama cancer centers to implement mandatory peer review of imaging. It amplified patient advocacy discussions about diagnostic delays and prompted the state medical board to issue updated guidelines on incidental finding management, while also reigniting debate over medical malpractice damage caps.