Shannen Doherty believed her cancer would have been caught earlier if her ex manager hadn't made 'error' when sorting her insurance.
On Saturday (13 July), the actress died at the age of 53 following a long battle with breast cancer, which she was diagnosed with in March 2015.
But it was the year prior to that that the Beverly Hills, 90210 star claimed in a lawsuit to her former business manager that her 'invasive breast cancer' had spread in 2014 - when she had no medical insurance due to their alleged mistake.
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Doherty was diagnosed with 'invasive breast cancer metastatic to at least one lymph node', and underwent a single mastectomy, chemotherapy and other treatments, two years later the actor revealed she was in remission.
But in 2020, she was informed that her cancer had returned and doctors diagnosed her with stage four breast cancer.
Again, she had treatment, and shared her journey along the way, but last year she discovered her cancer had metastasized to her brain and spread to her bones.
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Later that year she underwent surgery which removed 'almost all' of the tumor from her breast and went on a new infusion plan in early 2024.
But nine years prior to her death the TV star, who died at her home in Malibu, California, reached a settlement in August 2015 with accounting firm Tanner Mainstain Glynn & Johnson.
She alleged the firm and one of its business partners mismanaged her money and allowed her health insurance to lapse in 2014, according to Los Angeles Daily News.
Her lawsuit claimed that if she had insurance she would have been able to catch the cancer earlier and subsequently wouldn't have had to undergo treatments for both mastectomy and chemotherapy.
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Speaking with Entertainment Tonight, the Charmed actress, who was born in Memphis, Tennessee, revealed her cancer had spread in 2016.
“I had breast cancer that spread to the lymph nodes, and from one of my surgeries we discovered that some of the cancer cells might have actually gone out of the lymph nodes.
Adding: “So for that reason, we are doing chemo, and then after chemo, I’ll do radiation.”
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Doherty played a role in Darkness of Man, an action movie that was released this year - and is available to watch on Amazon Prime.
Yesterday, her publicist told People: "It is with a heavy heart that I confirm the passing of actress Shannen Doherty.
"On Saturday, July 13, she lost her battle with cancer after many years of fighting the disease."
Topics: Cancer, Celebrity, Entertainment, Health, Shannen Doherty
Joe Yates