J.B. was depressed after losing her brother to COVID-19. Her menstrual cycle was out of whack, and while she assumed that was from stress and grief, her husband worried it might be something else and wanted her to see her nurse practitioner about the bleeding.
At the time, Dr. Ryan Cole ran one of the laboratories used by women’s health practices in the Boise area. That’s where J.B.’s nurse practitioner sent a biopsy taken from her body on July 6, 2021.
Cole gave a diagnosis: a rare and aggressive form of endometrial cancer.
“I felt like I died already” upon hearing the diagnosis, J.B. told the Idaho Capital Sun in an interview. “You know, you know. It was scary,” she said, beginning to cry. “Oh, sorry. I don’t want to even, like, remember it.”
The Sun agreed to use only J.B.’s initials to protect her medical privacy.
It wasn’t until after she underwent major surgery that J.B. learned she didn’t have cancer after all.
On Wednesday, J.B. filed a medical malpractice lawsuit in Ada County that accuses Cole of negligence and other harms. The Sun contacted Cole and his representatives by email and phone Thursday, but they could not be reached for comment.
What she didn’t know at the time of her cancer diagnosis was that Cole, a local pathologist, had just begun to make a name for himself based on a stance against COVID-19 vaccines, including false claims that they cause cancer.
There is no evidence that COVID-19 vaccines can raise, or lower, a person’s risk of cancer. There is...
A short video circulating widely on social media claims that US Representative Ilhan Omar referred to World War II as “World War 11” while discussing the Alien Enemies Act. The clip has been share...