Boyle said Drake mailed Nicholaysen a mammogramreferral. But Boyle said Nicholaysen, bothreassured and made to feel embarrassed to harp onthe point by Drake, never went for the mammogram.

Over the next 18 months, Nicholaysen returnedto UHS several more times to receive treatment forminor illnesses, but Drake never asked for theresults of the mammogram, according to Meyer.

By May 1994, the lump had grown, andNicholaysen asked for emergency treatment at UHS,which called in specialists to examine her.

Nicholaysen went through a mastectomy,radiation therapy and chemotherapy to attempt tocure the cancer, but she is now terminally ill.

"She's not going to beat this thing. She'sfighting it, but it's not a positive prognosis,"Boyle said.

Before the case was closed, Drake returned toKentucky. She had worked at UHS from July 1985 toOctober 1996.

Her defense attorney, Paul McTague, said sheleft Harvard to be with her elderly father. "Herleaving had nothing to do with this case," hesaid