£42,000 obtained for failure to diagnose cancer

Posted 18/07/2013

Julie Crossley, a medical injury specialist at Ashtons Legal solicitors, has obtained £42,000 for Mrs L, the widow of a man who died of cancer. Mr L, who was in his late 70s, had x-rays taken after he sustained some injuries during a fall in his garden. The obvious injuries to his hip were treated effectively but no feedback was given on his chest x-ray. Just over nine months later he was diagnosed with cancer which, having started in his lung, had already begun to spread and was incurable. Julie comments: “This is a classic case of ‘failure to diagnose’. Early evidence of cancer was visible on Mr L’s chest x-ray in 2010. If this had been acted upon promptly rather than being overlooked, medical experts believe that he could have had surgery and related treatment which would have given him somewhere between a 56% and 86% chance of surviving for at least five years – so it is highly likely that he would still be with his family today. It is vital that we work with the NHS to highlight this sort of totally unnecessary error and help to improve the system in order to save lives.”