Across the southeast

Woman wins suit over unnecessary surgery

JACKSONVILLE, FLA. - A Jacksonville lawyer helped a Connecticut woman win more than $10 million for undergoing a hysterectomy after a false cancer diagnosis, taking on Yale University in a case many lawyers declined.

Attorney Rodney Margol won the award from a doctor and the Yale School of Medicine after a seven-week trial.

"I tried to get a lawyer in Connecticut to represent me," Michelle DiLieto said, "but Yale is such a dominant force in the state that lawyers shy away from suing Yale."

Ms. DiLieto, 54, of North Branford, Conn., underwent a hysterectomy and removal of pelvic lymph nodes in 1995 after being told she had a potentially deadly cancer in her uterus. When the surgeons sent samples of removed tissue to the lab, they learned she didn't have cancer but continued to remove her lymph nodes, her court case said. After the surgery, she was told she was "cured" of the cancer, not that she had been misdiagnosed.

The surgery caused nerve damage, which forced her to be bedridden for months.

Remains might be key to mystery of airman

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - A 63-year-old mystery dug from the ice of a Sierra Nevada glacier last month could give a Northeast Florida family the chance to bury a loved one whose fate had been unknown.

The height and dental features of an Army airman found nearly buried on the 13,710-foot Mount Mendel in Kings Canyon National Park, Calif., are similar to those of Cadet Leo Mustonen, who disappeared with three other soldiers when their training plane crashed in 1942, the family said.

Jacksonville's Leane Ross, a niece of Cadet Mustonen, said her uncle stood slightly less than 6 feet tall, and pictures show him with a gap tooth. Some lettering on the body's name tag has been identified but not matched to anyone.

"We were very surprised but very thrilled that we might have some closure as a family," said Ms. Ross, whose mother and sister live in Green Cove Springs. "It could give us a chance to make a decision about a final burial place for him."