A Brunswick doctor who medical malpractice lawyers have criticized for not ordering an X-ray days before a teenage patient died testified on 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, Jasmine had complained to another doctor in southern Maine of fatigue, stomach aches, and difficulty breathing, lawyers said.
A week after being diagnosed with pneumonia and prescribed prednisone, a kind of steroid, Jasmine developed abnormally swollen breasts and neck veins. She was referred to the gynecology office at Mid Coast, where Salhany was on-call.
Tragically, Jasmine died less than a week after that visit. It was later discovered that she had an acute form of pediatric leukemia, which went undiagnosed while she was alive.
Jasmine’s mother, Lyndsey Sutherland, sued 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 not reviewing Jasmine’s previous medical records, and for diagnosing the girl with gynecomastia—a condition typically seen in adult men using anabolic steroids.
Salhany testified that at the time, she believed the prednisone could have been to blame, though she was unaware of any other cases where the medication had led to gynecomastia in a teenage girl. She also admitted she did not review any medical literature on the condition before reaching her diagnosis.
On Tuesday, Sutherland’s lawyers called two experts who testified that an X-ray would likely have revealed Jasmine’s cancer and that early treatment could have improved her chances of survival.
Salhany, who is not being sued personally, testified that she met with Jasmine only once and had a limited view of the girl’s broader symptoms, which had been addressed by other doctors at Martin’s Point, another healthcare provider where Jasmine received primary care.
Sutherland had also sued Martin’s Point but dropped the health care provider from the case before the trial, according to a stipulation filed on October 17. The record does not state the reason for this decision. Martin’s Point declined to comment on Monday and did not respond to detailed 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. She added that she had not questioned Jasmine’s 2021 pneumonia diagnosis, which had also proven incorrect, because she had no reason at the time to assume Martin’s Point had not conducted a thorough investigation of Jasmine’s symptoms.
Salhany spent nearly two and a half hours on the witness stand, recalling that when she met with Jasmine, the girl seemed relatively healthy. Jasmine 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 about why she did not order further imaging or testing, especially since an X-ray machine was located on the same Brunswick campus. He also asked why Salhany never reviewed Jasmine’s medical records from Martin’s Point.
Salhany stated she never received those records. However, a Martin’s Point employee testified on Tuesday that they had faxed the paperwork to Salhany upon her nurse’s request.
Salhany responded by saying that, as a gynecologist, many of the actions suggested by Gideon were “not within the scope of my practice.”
https://www.pressherald.com/2025/10/28/doctor-testifies-during-new-gloucester-mothers-case-against-mid-coast-medical-provider/