Stephen Jay Gould's widow has filed a malpractice suit

against the doctor who once saved his life in 1982. The AP reports:

"Gould had a long-standing relationship with Mayer dating to 1982, when Gould was diagnosed with another form of cancer, peritoneal mesothelioma [which is frequently caused by asbestos, leading to lots of litigation], according to the lawsuit. Gould was cured of that illness and saw Mayer a number of times a year for cancer screenings, the lawsuit said.

"Although Gould's original cancer was unrelated to the lung cancer that ultimately killed him, because of Gould's cancer history, doctors "would have a heightened duty to look for lung cancers," [lawyer] MacDonald said. Gould's cancer history "was a literal flashing red light warning," according to the lawsuit. "That warning was inexplicably, negligently and ... grossly negligently ignored by the three defendants...

"The lawsuit does not specify the damages being sought, but says that Dr. Gould earned $300,000 a year from speaking engagements alone, that "a seven-figure income was his norm" and that when he died he was about to enter into a book contract for more than $2 million."

Gould was very brave to survive mesothelioma in 1982, when he was only given 8 months to live after his diagnosis. Here's the essay he wrote about his cancer, which I found encouraging when I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 1996.

My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer