Journalist Georgie Anne Geyer sues over cancer

Journalist Georgie Anne Geyer has filed a medical malpractice suit accusing two dentists of failing to diagnose her cancer. The suit states that Geyer went to Jeffrey Taugner's Chicago office in August 2006 with a painful white lesion on the side of her tongue. According to the suit, he referred Geyer to Daniel I. Chin, Jr., with practices in Chicago and Hoffman Estates. The suit said Chin performed a biopsy of her cheek, which a pathology lab reported was a common skin disease. Geyer's symptoms worsened, and in fall 2007 a biopsy on her tongue identified stage T3 squamous cell carcinoma, which spread to her lymph nodes. She seeks in excess of $50,000 from each defendant. Chin said he had not seen the lawsuit and declined to comment. Taugner did not return a phone call. Geyer, 74, was born and worked in Chicago, but writes a syndicated column in Washington, D.C. Her attorney, Keith Hebeisen, said she had extensive surgery to remove the cancer and now speaks with great difficulty.