Compensation for Delayed Diagnosis of Bowel Cancer
Deborah Nadel secured £1million in a hard-fought claim for her client Mark who is being treated for terminal bowel cancer after several GPs dismissed his symptoms.
If proper investigations had been carried out when Mark first told GPs of a change in his bowel habit, the cancer would have been diagnosed and treated just with surgery. Instead, his cancer progressed and spread causing bowel obstruction, metastases to the lung and adrenal glands and a terminal diagnosis.
Mark contacted his GP surgery three times in 2017 and despite raising concerns about the change in his bowel habit, he was reassured, and further investigations were not undertaken. In 2018 he again raised concerns, and further investigations were undertaken but not followed up. His bowel cancer was eventually diagnosed in June 2019.
He has endured chemoradiotherapy, a bowel obstruction resulting in a stoma (life-long), metastases in his lung and adrenal glands and surgery to remove part of his lung and both adrenal glands. He was initially given 9-12 months to live but after undergoing a two-year trial of immunotherapy, which works by helping the immune system to recognise and attack cancer cells, his cancer is likely to be permanently in remission.
Mark also developed several hernias due to the surgeries one of which was the size of a melon. Attempts to repair the largest of these failed. Living with a stoma has had a significant impact on his personal life. In addition, removal of his adrenal glands necessitates replacement medication several times a time in an attempt to replace the lost hormones the glands produce.
Mark, who is in his early 60s, is self-employed. The cancer and all the treatment he has had to endure has had a significant impact on his income with his stopping work early. He instructed Deborah in a medical negligence claim against four GPs at the surgery who failed to take appropriate action or make an urgent referral via the cancer pathway.
The defendants initially denied liability and a preliminary trial date was set. Shortly before it was scheduled to start one of the doctors finally agreed to accept liability and judgment was entered for damages to be assessed.
Deborah enlisted a specialist oncology expert to give advice on the complex circumstances arising from the breakthrough immunotherapy treatment as this treatment had not been long established in bowel cancer. Understanding Mark's prognosis was key to valuing the claim and there was little published data to go on.
The expert considered Mark had an 85% chance of a cure following the immunotherapy as he is one of the fortunate patients that has responded well to the treatment.
Deborah secured £1million for Mark despite this positive prognosis. Mark commented that it was a huge relief to have the claim finalised and that Deborah and the barrister she had chosen, Julian Matthews, had done a fantastic job. Mark is now looking forward to enjoying the rest of his life with the security of this financial settlement.
Contact us
For further information about cancer misdiagnosis claims or GP negligence claims, please call Deborah Nadel on 03304606750 or email deborah.nadel@fieldfisher.com.
Alternatively
- You can speak to our medical negligence solicitors on freephone 0800 358 3848
- email us: personalinjury@fieldfisher.com
- Complete the short online enquiry form
All enquiries are completely free of charge and we will investigate all funding options for you including no win no fee. Find out more about no win no fee claims.
