Failure To Diagnose Cancer – Damages Awarded - September 2006

Patrick Mullarkey of this office acted on behalf of the widow of a patient aged 62 years who died as a consequence of lung cancer. The patient originally sought treatment in hospital in and around February 2005. During the course of treatment in respect of his prostate, it became necessary to undertake an x-ray of his chest. The chest x-ray revealed a suspicious lesion. The report of the x-ray recommended further investigation of that suspicious lesion. Notwithstanding that report, no investigation was undertaken. The patient ultimately referred himself to his General Practitioner who in turn directed him to a hospital for investigation of a chest complaint. Ultimately a diagnosis was made of lung cancer in November 2005. Accordingly there had been a delay in diagnosis of his condition of approximately 9 months.

The failure to diagnose his condition did not ultimately change his prognosis. It did however change the length of survival. The expert evidence obtained on behalf of the Plaintiff in this case suggested that had he been diagnosed in and around February/March 2005, the patient would have survived for an additional year. In the event he died in March 2006. For the purposes of negotiations, the representatives of the hospital admitted that a mistake had been made in respect of the interpretation of the x-ray. Negotiations were arranged, before the issue of proceedings. Those negotiations took place in September 2006. As a consequence of those negotiations, the case settled for a payment in the sum of £25,000 to the widow of the deceased.