We settled a cancer compensation
claim for Claire following a negligence delay in diagnosing her
with breast cancer. Claire accepted £200,000 compensation from the
Whittington Hospital for the injuries caused by the
negligence.
In June 1994, Claire, then aged 38, discovered two lumps in
her right breast. Her GP referred her to a consultant surgeon at
the Whittington Hospital where she had an ultrasound and a
mammogram. These showed no focal abnormality which suggests that
the lumps were not cancerous.
Claire was reviewed by the consultant surgeon in July and
September. The lumps remained palpable on Claire's right breast and
the surgeon recommended that another ultrasound as a
precaution and this was scheduled for January 1995.
Again there was no focal abnormality in the ultrasound in
January. But when the surgeon reviewed Claire in February he found
lumpiness in her right breast. He scheduled a 3 month review and
Claire attended her appointment on 5 May 1995 where she was seen by
a locum registrar. Claire maintains she was not offered a biopsy at
this point, although the hospital dispute this claim.
Two months later Claire saw the consultant surgeon again and he
advised that she didn't need any further examinations or tests. But
on Claire's insistence he arranged for a further review in 3 months
time and in October examination found lumpiness and a further
ultrasound was carried out in November.
The ultrasound indicated that a biopsy was required and this was
carried out on 8 December 1995. The biopsy indicated that Claire
had an invasive lobular carcinoma, which is a cancer that began in
the milk producing lobules and spread to the surrounding breast
tissue.
The surgeon advised Claire to undergo a further procedure in the
form of a wide excision and biopsy of the axillary nodes and this
was performed in January 1996. Claire was not advised to undergo
mastectomy.
On 29 January 1996, Claire saw a consultant oncologist who
advised her that she should have had a mastectomy. Also, he
recommended radiotherapy with Tamoxifen and suggested that she
consider undergoing chemotherapy. Claire opted to have six weeks of
radiotherapy.
However, in July 1997, Claire found another lump in her right
breast and a biopsy in November indicated that it the cancer had
returned. Claire underwent a full mastectomy and also had a course
of chemotherapy.
Claire contacted us and asked us to investigate a cancer diagnosis claim for the delay in
diagnosing her breast cancer. We obtained expert evidence which
indicated that Claire's lump should have been investigated sooner
and she should have had a biopsy or had a fine needle aspiration of
the lump as early as 1994.
The experts were also agreed that on the balance of
probabilities, if a biopsy been undertaken in September 1994,
a correct diagnosis of the carcinoma would have been made.
This would have meant that Claire would not need drastic surgery
to remove the cancer and also that the cancer would not have
recurred so Claire would have avoided a full mastectomy and would
not have needed chemotherapy either.
Our experts indicated that Claire would have had an excellent
prognosis if her cancer had been detected earlier.
The defendant denied liability until we exchanged expert
evidence. At this point, the defendant admitted breach of duty,
however, no admission of causation was made.
The defendant made an offer to settle the claim and Claire
accepted £200,000 damages for the delay in diagnosing her with
breast cancer.
For further information or if you have a cancer claim or a delayed diagnosis claim, please call Paul McNeil on 020 7861 4019 or
email paul.mcneil@ffw.com
You can discuss your cancer claim or
a delayed diagnosis claim with
any member of our medical negligence
team on freephone 0800 358 3848, email
personalinjury@ffw.com
or complete our short enquiry form.