Pages On: Negligent Cancer Diagnosis
Cancer is one of the most prevalent diseases in the world and affects around one in three people. Not all cancer is lethal, but people have every reason to be wary of it and to look for signs to combat it. Whilst often treatable, the problem with cancer is it is very hard to find, and the symptoms can be very vague. If left too long, cancer can become malignant and spread across the body. This means that people have to put a lot of trust in medical professionals to quickly diagnose what is happening in their own body. However, cancer can be easily misdiagnosed or diagnosed too late to leave sufferers with a chance to fight it. If you’ve suffered a late cancer diagnosis, or had cancer misdiagnosed as something else, your chances of survival are at risk, and doctors can be seen to be liable for that. If this has happened to you or a loved one, you may be entitled to claim medical negligence compensation.
47-year-old dies as a result of undiagnosis
Posted: 9 February 2016
Posted in: Medical Negligence, Negligent Cancer Diagnosis, Wrongful & Accidental Death
A coroner’s inquest into the death of 47-year-old Jeanette Scully heard that she had made 58 medical visits in the five months leading up to her death. Ms Scully died from an aggressive form of cancer and was in extreme pain due to the rare malignant tumour that spread throughout her pelvis and abdomen. The hearing in Sunderland Civic Centre was told that Ms Scully had first approached her GP in 2012 suffering from abdominal pain and rectal bleeding. She was also experiencing pain in her back, hip and thighs. Diagnosed…
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Cancer diagnosis variation ‘unacceptable’
Posted: 28 October 2015
Posted in: Medical Negligence, Negligent Cancer Diagnosis
Following a study carried out between 2012 and 2013 by Cancer Research UK, it is claimed that around 20,000 cases of cancer could have been detected earlier if cancer care was as good as the best demonstrated practice in England. They described the “unacceptable variations” as causing concern throughout the regions, with the worst area for early diagnosis being Merseyside where half of all cancers detected were discovered in the late stages. Areas in the south of England, such as Bath, Swindon, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire were found to be the…
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Teenager’s bone cancer misdiagnosed as sports injury
Posted: 21 August 2015
Posted in: Medical Negligence, Negligent Cancer Diagnosis, Sporting Injuries
A 16-year-old girl was told by her GP on ten separate occasions that the pain she was experiencing was simply a sports injury. Melissa Sutton, from Rochdale in Lancashire, was a keen trampoliner when she first visited her GP with pain in her ribs. However, after being sent away and told to rest, the pain continued to increase and she started to experience difficulty breathing. When her mother began to suspect that something was wrong, she returned to the GP but was told that it was a pulled muscle ten…
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Cancer Misdiagnosis leaves mother with days to live
Posted: 20 July 2015
Posted in: Hip Injuries, Leg Injuries, Medical Negligence, Negligent Cancer Diagnosis
33-year-old Kaley Fitzsimmons has issued an appeal after doctors blamed the symptoms of her cancer on ‘over-exercising’ after giving birth. Ms Fitzsimmons gave birth to her daughter in April of last year, after years of thinking she would be unable to have a baby due to kidney failure. She finally underwent a successful kidney transplant at the age of 15. Ms Fitzsimmons said: “I had always wanted to be a mother and was grateful that my transplant had made that possible. We were over the moon.” Ms Fitzsimmons, a fitness…
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Cancer delays are a “serious concern”
Posted: 23 March 2015
Posted in: Medical Negligence, Negligent Cancer Diagnosis
Following a widespread review of the Isle of Man’s health services, its most recent phrase highlighted some “serious concerns” about delays in cancer diagnosis. The West Midlands Quality Review Service (WMQRS) found that the current practice was delaying diagnosis “by up to a year” for some patients. October of this year saw the fourth phase of the £200,000 review, commissioned by the Manx government, carried out, which looked specifically at the Isle of Man’s cancer services. The review identified “widespread” problems in the referral system, with the report stating: “Some…
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“Missed opportunities” in cancer treatment
Posted: 14 October 2014
Posted in: Medical Negligence, Negligent Cancer Diagnosis
Recent research has revealed that doctors across the country are missing the early signs of lung cancer. With lung cancer killing more than 35,000 people a year – being the biggest cause of cancer death in the UK – researchers have revealed that more could be done to catch it in its early stages. Scientists working at the University of Nottingham carried out an investigation into why fewer people in the UK with lung cancer survive than in other countries. It was found that in Britain only around 30% of…
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Hospital apologises for ‘failure’
Posted: 20 August 2014
Posted in: Medical Negligence, Negligent Cancer Diagnosis
A hospital in Nottingham has apologised to the family of a man with cancer who died after being sent home with pneumonia. 60-year-old Richard Sharp from Bilborough died about an hour after being sent home from Nottingham City Hospital with clear symptoms of pneumonia. He died with his wife Kim by his side in March 2013. Mr Sharp, who was already fighting lung cancer, had been attending a pre-operative clinic at Nottingham City Hospital when he started to show signs of pneumonia. Despite the symptoms being very clear, hospital staff…
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Cancer surgery team “dysfunctional”
Posted: 17 May 2014
Posted in: Medical Negligence, Negligent Cancer Diagnosis, Wrongful & Accidental Death
A recent report into the deaths of five cancer patients at a hospital in Kent has found that the surgery team was “dysfunctional”. The review of the cancer unit at Maidstone Hospital – carried out by the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) – actually took place in October, but has only now been made public due to pressure from victim’s families. Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust finally agreed to make the report public, with the dynamics of the surgery team described as “dangerous”. The review found that the upper-gastrointestinal…
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