The Greenbrier Clinic is already being sued in federal court over its public acknowledgement of unreliable mammograms over more than two years.
The federal class action lawsuit alleges that more than 1,000 patients underwent unreliable screenings through deficient mammography services.
The attorneys who filed the lawsuit wrote that the lead plaintiff “went from having every reason to believe she was not at risk for breast cancer, to having no reason at all to believe that she was not at risk for breast cancer.”
On March 23, The Greenbrier Clinic formally notified patients about significant doubt over the quality of breast imaging services performed there over a period of more than two years, late 2023 to early 2026.
This week, April 7, a lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia. It’s been assigned to U.S. District Judge Frank Volk.
The lawsuit seeks damages for breach of contract, fraudulent representation, and the emotional distress caused by inaccurate medical results.
The filing highlights that while the clinic, which is located in The Greenbrier Hotel, marketed itself as a high-end diagnostic center, it failed to deliver the accurate healthcare promised to its national clientele.
“The guests of the Greenbrier Resort and the patients of Defendant are more likely than other given mammography providers to be from out of state than from West Virginia,” wrote lawyers in the class action suit.
“Defendant’s faulty and otherwise worthless mammograms affected a class of patients across the country.”
The lawsuit notes that the website for The Greenbrier facility specifies that the “3D mammography” offered at the Greenbrier Clinic is “one of the latest technological innovations in women’s healthcare” which “improves accuracy and can help detect breast cancer earlier and therefore allow treatment sooner.”
The lawsuit also describes the experiences of the lead plaintiff, Tabitha Martin of Monroe County, who visited The Greenbrier Clinic a few weeks ago, this past Feb. 13, to receive a mammogram.
Following the procedure, she received a report that classified her screening results as “benign” and was assured the results were reliable due to the use of high-resolution real-time ultrasound images.
But more recently she was one of the patients who received a letter from the clinic acknowledging the results are not reliable.
In the lawsuit, she described financial loss because she paid for a service that was “worthless” and has not been reimbursed or refunded for the deficient mammogram.
And she said she has gone through emotional distress because she experienced a false sense of security about her health. She went from believing she was not at risk for breast cancer to having no reliable information about her status, causing her severe distress and concern for her well-being.
Mammograms are critical, low-dose X-ray tools used to detect breast cancer early, often up to three years before symptoms develop.
Regular screening reduces breast cancer mortality by finding tumors when they are most treatable, allowing for less aggressive treatments. Experts recommend screening every two years for women aged 40–74.
This situation developed following an investigation where federal regulators determined that the facility failed to meet essential imaging standards.
In a statement in response to questions from MetroNews, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said under “the Mammography Quality Standards Act, the FDA requires that all mammography facilities meet certain high-quality standards.
“When a facility fails to meet the standards, the FDA requires it to notify affected patients and their referring health care providers that their recent mammograms could have unreliable results.”
In the letter that went out to patients who had received mammograms at the clinic during the period in question, patients were told that the FDA had identified a failure to meet the clinical image quality standards established by the clinic’s accreditation body, the American College of Radiology.
“As a result, the FDA required us to stop performing mammography as of February 26, 2026,” wrote Dr. Henry Setliff, radiologist at the clinic, in the letter to patients.
The letter from the clinic clarified that past results are not definitely incorrect, and medical professionals urged patients to have their previous scans professionally re-evaluated to determine if a new exam is necessary.
Furthermore, the clinic’s administration expressed its intent to rectify the clinical failures and eventually regain accreditation from the American College of Radiology.
“You need to talk with your healthcare provider as soon as possible about the mammogram(s) you had here between October 28, 2023, and February 26, 2026, and your medical followup,” the clinic wrote to patients.