Suing the hospital for telling me I had cancer?

[MoralityPondering]

Can I? Should I? Family and friends are telling me to. I was diagnosed 2 months ago at a private hospital after MRI & biopsy. 3 surgeries later and now last week I've been told it isn't cancer at all. They had it looked at 3 times to decide it wasn't cancer so it doesn't seem to be a straight forward decision. I'm not sure it's the right thing to do anyway. I just feel how I did when I was diagnosed - like my life has been ripped apart again.

@ThursdayWeld
She did look into suing, but no solicitor would touch it because although there was an admin error, the hospital "did not cause her cancer".

OP - I read your thread yesterday and haven't been able to stop thinking about it. I am so sorry that you have been through all this. I was diagnosed with BC last summer and had a lumpectomy, SNB and radiotherapy. Nobody can understand the full terror/horror of receiving a cancer diagnosis until it happens to them. People can think they can imagine what it would be like but they really have no idea. Being told you don't have cancer after all that isn't going to magic away the trauma.

Likewise people who have never had BC surgery cannot appreciate the long term impact. All those posters who have said you should just be grateful you don't have cancer are ignorant. I also don't like the tone of some posters criticising you for going private! I didn't hesitate to use my private health insurance. My surgeon and oncologist also work as consultants in the NHS and they both discussed my case in multidisciplinary team meetings.

Any pathology report mistakes aside, your treatment sounds very aggressive. I think that even if your pathology report had confirmed your original biopsy result, your surgeon should still have some explaining to do regarding the full node clearance. Why on earth did he do that? I only had a few removed and it has been the hardest part of my surgery to recover from.

It would not be remotely unreasonable to seek specialist legal advice with a view to suing. As previous posters have said there is no immediate rush to do this (although if it is the only way to get answers I'd probably do it sooner). Looking after your mental and physical well being is a priority. I highly recommend the charity Penny Brohn for counselling. Have you been referred to a physio for the cording? If not and your surgeon is not responding to you I would speak to your insurer about switching to another one for your follow up care. Take care

I think when people see sue they just react to the sort of litigious blame culture it is associated with. This wasn’t just a misdiagnosis it involved invasive treatment with long term repercussions. The fact that they are ‘cagey’ is a massive red flag. I’d request a copy of all your notes and definitely get legal advice. They’re not being completely open and fobbing you off isn’t good enough. Of course you’re glad not to have cancer but that isn’t the point here. Please do take this further not least to compensate for the life changing repercussions. With private health care they are very clearly a profit making business and should be just as accountable as the NHS. They have insurance for this sort of thing too it’s hardly like you are going to see the surgeon destitute and quick honestly If it’s reputation they’re trying to protect the lack of transparency should be a blight on their reputation. There are medicolegal teams for cases exactly like this! Don’t put the fault with yourself - yes counselling etc will be good as well but they can fund that.

I'm so sorry for the absolute nightmare experience you've been through. Both physical and mental.

I cried reading what you've been through. I can't even imagine the complex emotions you're feeling, not to mention your loved ones. You've all suffered so much. Please don't ignore the anger and negative feelings - it's normal.
Despite what the keyboard warriors here would have you believe, nobody who's been through what you have would be able to shrug it off with a jolly "I'm so grateful it's not cancer." Of course you are grateful it's not cancer, but that doesn't take away all the pain and confusion and anger. Your emotions are bound to be extremely complex and difficult to work through.

I hope you have found the responses on seeking redress helpful, and they have helped you plan a path forward.

I have no advice or anecdotes and can only offer I hope you find someone to help you process this. I get the feeling you don't want to lean on friends/family

@kirinm. Nothing to do with the thread, but you’re right about Leigh Day being involved in some high profile cases recently. They were the firm who represented disabled benefit claimants who were wrongly taken off legacy benefits. They’ve also represented the families of disabled claimants who have died after benefit sanctions were imposed - think that’s still ongoing. I believe they did a lot of the work pro bono too.

Even if a care provider has not caused physical harm there may be a substantial psychiatric claim and this should be looked into.

I am not going to go openly advising about or advertising individual solictors firms, but if anyone wants to PM me I can tell you the names of firms that are good in specific types of cases. You have to be very careful as there are certainly some cowboys out there in the field of personal injury...I am sure most PI solicitors would wholeheartedly agree!

You shouldn’t of posted in here .... for some reason most people on mumsnet defend the nhs no matter what. They can be shit and they can mess up , that sounds absolutely awful. Get in touch with a solicitor and see if you have a case.

I thinks it's highly fucking disrespectful to plop onto a thread like this, not read it all in particular all of the OPS posts - really not bloody difficult - and add a patronising response devoid of any empathy.

Seriously if you've not got the time to read fully whilst sipping your Costa then maybe stick to a weather or seasonal sandals thread.

@theDudesmummy

I am not going to go openly advising about or advertising individual solictors firms, but if anyone wants to PM me I can tell you the names of firms that are good in specific types of cases. You have to be very careful as there are certainly some cowboys out there in the field of personal injury...I am sure most PI solicitors would wholeheartedly agree!

OP needs a specialist clinical negligence solicitor - not an injury solicitor.

@User574664

You shouldn’t of posted in here .... for some reason most people on mumsnet defend the nhs no matter what. They can be shit and they can mess up , that sounds absolutely awful. Get in touch with a solicitor and see if you have a case.

It’s nothing to do with the NHS. RTFT.

@User574664

You shouldn’t of posted in here .... for some reason most people on mumsnet defend the nhs no matter what. They can be shit and they can mess up , that sounds absolutely awful. Get in touch with a solicitor and see if you have a case.

You shouldn't have posted. Your post is irrelevant.

I would get cast iron (in writing) promises about payment for further treatment.

I had the opposite issue to you, I was wrongly told mine wasn’t cancer when it was. It wasn’t life threatening but I’ve been left with extensive and avoidable scarring. I didn’t sue but I had a full debrief and all doctors at the practice involved have been through updated training on my condition to enable faster diagnosis and better recognition.

It’s so hard when the consequences of fucking up at work can be so catastrophic and I do relate to the anger but I was also concerned about causing the medical profession to become even more risk averse .

@roobicoobi whereas of course you never mess up ever do you?

@MoralityPondering you’ve had a huge ongoing shock and ongoing trauma. Why the hell should you be grateful (anymore than any of us are):for not having cancer or any other serious illness. You deserve detailed answers about the decisions taken in your case and previous posters gave you fantastic advice.

My case doesn’t remotely compare but I was once given a positive on D-dimer blood test and was told to present at emergency, immediately with a suspected pulmonary embolism. What followed was a day of fear and confusion as they tried to replicate what had caused the original results because theirs showed nothing and they were scared to let me leave if I was going to drop dead. Then after about ten hours and every test imaginable they gave up and set me home with bruises up both arms from all the blood draws but a clean bill of health and a wasted Saturday. No biggie really, especially compared to what you went through. But it messed my mind up. I couldn’t wrap my head around how things had gotten so out of control, did I nearly die when actually there was never anything wrong? I don’t fault my care (they decided in the end that it was a weird unusual false positive). It really upset me for quite a long time.

Anyway, like I said, only one day and a tiny fraction of what you went through and your ongoing care but I wanted to reassure you that feeling all kinds of emotions and just entirely messed up is completely understandable and don’t let people get you with the cancer gratefulness one-upmanship. It’s such a bullshit game. Cancer is terrible. We all agree on that. But if doctors cut your legs off and then it turned out you didn’t have leg cancer after all, people wouldn’t be all ‘well could be worse, be grateful you don’t have cancer!’ 🙄

I hope you’re able to get the answers you need. Take care.

Sorry if this has already been suggested OP, make a subject access request for all your medical records and investigations. I’ve known of a case where vital notes were “missing” when it came to them being requested by a solicitor. Getting copies now, although they can redact parts of them may be worthwhile, they should talk you through them if you ask too.
I’m sorry you’ve been through such a traumatic experience, I hope you can find peace with it eventually x

[quote OldScrappyAndHungry]@roobicoobi whereas of course you never mess up ever do you? [/quote]
Well I don't go round telling people they should not have posted, no. I do however happily admit when I get it wrong and apologise.

@kirinm clinical negligence is a form of personal injury...

Sweet Jesus

Never in my life have I seen such a lack of empathy and human emotion. I am ashamed of some of the responses on here.

I am sorry @MoralityPondering that you have had to read some of this utter tripe when you're already going through so much.

I am also sorry that you lost your wee boobie, a part of you, for no valid reason. My little sister had breast cancer, she mourned her boobs like a lost relative but knew they were removed for a reason.

Thw fact yours was removed for no reason is awful.

I would 100% sue the surgeon/hospital/whoever fucked up. They've left you with scars for life and such a traumatic incident is going to stay there for a long time.

You'll need extensive counselling for the trauma.

Sending you lots of love

@MoralityPondering

One of the surgeries was emergency surgery because of complications caused by the first one. I had to have a blood transfusion and could have died. The surgery was to remove the cancer. Except I didn't need it removing because it never was cancer.

I’m sorry, I’d get legal advice and go from there.

Of course you are glad it’s not cancer, but you’ve been through an awful experience of thinking you have cancer and being treated for it. Must have been so traumatic and as you come to terms with extremely invasive surgery, you find out you never had it. You must be in complete shock.

Of course you are confused. This is a normal reaction to weird circumstances. Have the counselling and debrief xxx

Just coming back to this thread to say that, by coincidence, the very case I am writing an expert report on today is one of (obviously no specific details can be given) a patient who was told that they had incurable cancer, suffered mental health problems as a result of this, and was then a few months later was told it was a mistaken diagnosis and they don't have cancer. No surgical procedures/chemotherapy etc were carried out, they are litigating purely on the basis of the psychiatric damage. It is not an uncommon scenario.

@theDudesmummy

Just coming back to this thread to say that, by coincidence, the very case I am writing an expert report on today is one of (obviously no specific details can be given) a patient who was told that they had incurable cancer, suffered mental health problems as a result of this, and was then a few months later was told it was a mistaken diagnosis and they don't have cancer. No surgical procedures/chemotherapy etc were carried out, they are litigating purely on the basis of the psychiatric damage. It is not an uncommon scenario.

Thank you @theDudesmummy that's interesting to know. Especially knowing that IF there was fault that caused the misdiagnosis (and I appreciate I don't know for sure this bit yet) that it's not just the physical side affects that can be taken into account.

Have you contacted your GP? All consultants (whether in the NHS or private setting) should keep a patient’s GP up to date with diagnosis, treatment plans and response to the treatment. Ask to see all correspondence from the MDT team to your GP -hopefully this will give you some answers.

Hi op. I’m sorry for what you have been through and that some posters are so bloody insensitive.
No doubt you are grateful not to have cancer, anyone would be. But I can assure you that if I’d had body parts removed unnecessarily I would most definitely be wanting some very detailed explanations. And if someone’s fuck up had caused the loss of that body part, particularly my breasts, I would be considering taking legal action.

You have three years (say from date of diagnosis to be on safe side) to begin proceedings for clinical negligence so you don’t need to make a decision immediately. You could get some legal advice in a few months if that’s what you wanted.

I would start off making a complaint to the hospital, to get explanations about what exactly happened. These can be at a meeting where everything is discussed and then followed up in writing