A Brunswick doctor who has been criticized by medical malpractice lawyers for not ordering an X-ray days before a teenage patient died testified Tuesday that her actions were being taken out of context.

Dr. Danielle Salhany, a gynecologist for Mid Coast Medical Group, was one of the last doctors to assess 15-year-old Jasmine Vincent in late July 2021. For weeks, Vincent had complained to another doctor in southern Maine of fatigue, stomach aches, and difficulty breathing, according to lawyers.

A week after being diagnosed with pneumonia and prescribed prednisone, a type of steroid, Vincent developed abnormally swollen breasts and neck veins. She was then referred to the gynecology office at Mid Coast, where Salhany was on call.

Tragically, Vincent died less than a week after that visit. It was later discovered that she had an acute form of pediatric leukemia, a diagnosis she never received while alive.

Vincent’s mother, Lyndsey Sutherland, filed a lawsuit against Mid Coast Medical Group under the Maine Wrongful Death Act in 2023. She is seeking damages to be determined by a jury, should they find Mid Coast liable. Sutherland is scheduled to testify later this week.

During opening statements in the civil trial on Monday, Sutherland’s lawyers criticized Dr. Salhany for not ordering an X-ray, for failing to review Vincent’s previous medical records, and for diagnosing the girl with gynecomastia—a condition more commonly seen in adult men using anabolic steroids.

Salhany testified that she believed at the time that the prednisone could have been the cause, although she was not aware of other cases where the medication led to gynecomastia in teenage girls. She also admitted that she did not review any medical literature on the condition before reaching her diagnosis.

On Tuesday, Sutherland’s legal team called two expert witnesses who testified that an X-ray scan would have likely revealed the girl’s cancer and that with earlier treatment, she could have survived.

Salhany, who is not personally being sued, stated she only met with Vincent once and had a limited understanding of the broader spectrum of symptoms that other doctors at Martin’s Point, another health care provider where Vincent received primary care, had addressed.

Sutherland had initially sued Martin’s Point but dropped the health care provider from the case before trial, according to a stipulation filed on October 17. The record does not state the reason for dropping Martin’s Point. Representatives from Martin’s Point declined to comment on Monday and did not respond to follow-up questions on Tuesday.

“There’s no way I would have been able to predict the future, that this kid had a very rare form of pediatric cancer,” Salhany said during her testimony. She added that she did not question Vincent’s 2021 pneumonia diagnosis, despite it being incorrect, because she had no reason to believe Martin’s Point had not conducted a thorough investigation into Vincent’s symptoms.

Salhany spent nearly two and a half hours on the witness stand. She recalled that when she met Vincent, the girl seemed relatively healthy, was able to speak in complete sentences despite wearing a face mask, and was sitting upright without assistance.

Sutherland’s attorney, Benjamin Gideon, questioned Salhany on why she did not order further imaging or tests, especially given that an X-ray machine was available on the same Brunswick campus. He also asked why Salhany never reviewed Vincent’s medical records from Martin’s Point.

Salhany testified that she never received those records. However, a Martin’s Point employee testified Tuesday that they had faxed the paperwork to Salhany following a request from her nurse.

Salhany responded by saying that, as a gynecologist, many of the steps suggested by Gideon were “not within the scope of my practice.”
https://www.centralmaine.com/2025/10/28/doctor-testifies-during-new-gloucester-mothers-case-against-mid-coast-medical-provider/