{"id":50756,"date":"2024-05-30T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-05-30T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2024\/05\/30\/soldiers-posthumous-breast-cancer-lawsuit-survives-another-legal-hurd\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T04:21:35","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T04:21:35","slug":"soldiers-posthumous-breast-cancer-lawsuit-survives-another-legal-hurd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2024\/05\/30\/soldiers-posthumous-breast-cancer-lawsuit-survives-another-legal-hurd\/","title":{"rendered":"Court orders Army to review claim that soldier died due to malpractice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The lawsuit of a 26-year-old Army specialist who died of a preventable breast cancer will be evaluated on its merits by an Army claims board after clearing another legal hurdle earlier this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The attorneys representing the family of Spc. Maria Martinez say they\u2019ve redoubled efforts to bullet-proof the case with new expert testimony and endorsement in an effort not only to achieve a victory for her, but also to pave the way for reform of a system they say is opaque and unaccountable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Martinez died in December 2021 after a two-year battle with advanced breast cancer. According to her family and legal documents, she had requested \u2014 and was denied by military providers \u2014 a medical screening for breast cancer in January 2019. Even though Martinez possessed the BRCA2 gene mutation, which is a strong indicator for breast cancer and had a family history of cancer that included her mother, according to documents, her TRICARE military medical insurance would not cover a diagnostic MRI screening, saying she didn\u2019t meet necessary criteria. In follow-up appointments over the spring and summer, she was diagnosed with exercise-induced asthma to explain symptoms that included nausea and vomiting. Admitted to the emergency room at Fort Bliss, Texas that October with shortness of breath, providers found the cancer, which by then had progressed to Stage IV. Martinez, with the support of her father, Army Lt. Col. Eduardo Larumbe, filed a medical malpractice claim the month before she died. But the Army Tort Claims Division, which evaluates these kinds of complaints, found the statute of limitations had rendered the claim invalid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The soldier\u2019s case saw a major victory last October<\/a>, when a judge for U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia denied the Army\u2019s motion to dismiss, saying Martinez\u2019s status as an active-duty service member \u201ctolled\u201d the statute of limitations, and thus pauses the clock, per the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, a law intended to protect troops from certain financial and legal liabilities incurred during service. In late February, the case was dealt another win, when the same judge, Rudolph Contreras, ordered the case be resubmitted to the Army Claims Service rather than remaining in district court. For Martinez\u2019s family, this means the Army will be forced, for the first time, to evaluate the young soldier\u2019s case on its merits and render a decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked for comment about this case, Defense Department officials have said the department does not comment on pending litigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\t