Settlement obtained for family of a man who died following undiagnosed bowel cancer

Posted 14/10/2014

Tom Cook, a medical injury specialist at Ashtons Legal, has succeeding in obtaining a substantial settlement for the family of a man in his 40s who died unnecessarily because his early symptoms of bowel cancer were not investigated fully.

Mr T went to see his GP on more than one occasion over a three year period reporting symptoms which might potentially have been consistent with the early stages of bowel cancer. In spite of telling his GP that his father had been diagnosed with bowel cancer in his 40s, the GP did not refer him at this stage for further investigations having noted that he thought fissure bleeds were the most likely cause of the symptoms. When Mr T returned to the surgery several years later he was referred for investigations but by then it was too late. Medical experts in the case believe that if his symptoms had been fully investigated following his earlier visits to his GP then the removal of what would at that point have been a benign polyp would have been followed by a full recovery.

Tom Cook comments: “Sadly, as medical negligence lawyers, we see too many cases where cancer diagnoses are not made promptly and lives are lost needlessly. If there is anyone reading this who feels that their GP is not taking possible cancer symptoms seriously, we hope this will give them the confidence to ask to be referred for a second opinion.”

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2792251/family-man-died-bowel-cancer-gp-s-misdiagnosis-seven-years-earlier-awarded-six-figure-pay-out.html