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Hospital admits negligence after Norfolk nurse dies of cancer |
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24 August 2007 |
A hospital has admitted responsibility for the death of a nurse after doctors failed to diagnose her bowel cancer.
Glynis Pearson (age50) of Fakenham began a legal action for negligence against the Norwich and Norfolk hospital, and the claim has been pursued after her death by her children.
A hospital has admitted responsibility for the death of a nurse after doctors failed to diagnose her bowel cancer.
Glynis Pearson (age50) of Fakenham began a legal action for negligence against the Norwich and Norfolk hospital, and the claim has been pursued after her death by her children. The hospital has now acknowledged that they were negligent in failing to make further investigations into her illness.
In 2002 Mrs Pearson began suffering from stomach pain and bleeding after going to the toilet. Her GP first treated her for irritable bowel syndrome and then referred her to the Norfolk and Norwich hospital, where she was diagnosed with haemorrhoids.
But she became increasingly ill and was admitted to the Norfolk and Norwich hospital in May 2003 with extreme abdominal pains. This time the diagnosis was appendicitis and her appendix was removed. However, tests showed the appendix was not at fault.
Owing to an administrative error she was not seen by the hospital again until August, and was not examined internally until October. The examination showed a bowel obstruction, and she underwent surgery to have a large part of her bowel removed.
Tests then showed she had cancer and that the cancer had perforated and spread to her lungs. She underwent radiotherapy, but died in July 2005. She had worked as a psychiatric nurse at the Queen Elizabeth hospital in Kings Lynn.
The family's legal case has been managed by Sarah Coles, a specialist in cases involving intestinal injuries at Kester Cunningham John.
'Our case was that the hospital was negligent in failing to refer Glynis for urgent investigations in February 2003, which would have led to an earlier diagnosis of cancer,' Sarah Coles says.
'Had they done so, the cancer wouldn't have perforated and in all probability would have been alive today. The hospital originally denied liability, but they have now formally accepted that they were at fault and in their admission of liability they accept that Mrs Pearson would have lived for at least another 5 to 10 years.
'We are about to enter judgment with the court and hope the assessment of damages will be agreed as quickly as possible.'
The fight for justice for their mother has been carried on by her sons, Lee (34), Wayne (26) and Jon (23). In an emotional statement, they say:
'It was our mother's dying wish that we carry on this case to ensure, as much as our power allows us, that this preventable pain, fear, tears and loss never happens to another family and beloved mother.
'So it is with extremely heavy hearts that we receive an apology in the post from the NHS trust at this late stage, particularly when one wasn't forthcoming while the suffering went on.
'Our continuing hope is that this case can stand for more than just one lost mother, but can stand for the reversal of the loss of trust that, sadly, we all seem to have examples of these days, in an organisation that holds the very lives of this country in it hands. We need to know it cares enough to get it right.
'So, what would it take to stop this thing happening again, another family's pain or another? We were told that the doctor and surgeons involved 'will never make that mistake again'. We hope that to be true. At the same time these are just words - we know that the NHS has been placed under enormous pressure by a target driven culture that seems to put utmost value on meeting statistics and cutting costs over actually treating the illness.
'We don't wish to point the accusing finger directly at particulars. We have been taught to trust this organisation that our mother served with distinction for years, but do hope upon hope that somehow it becomes more than just the doctors and surgeons - that these working people, like all of us in the work place, have to follow protocols that make it, some day, impossible for this thing to happen again.
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