Delayed Diagnosis of Ovarian Cancer

Mrs B was diagnosed with widespread cancer in January 2021 and sadly died in February 2021, aged 54.  

Following Mrs B’s death, the Trust carried out an investigation. It identified that, when she had been seen in September 2019 following an abnormal smear, no further investigations were carried out after a colposcopy (an examination to look closely at the cervix) and hysteroscopies (a procedure to look inside the uterus) were reported as “normal” and that this was a failure of care.

The investigation also recorded that the consultant gynaecologist did not have Mrs B’s GP notes and therefore believed that the abnormality was cervical glandular intraepithelial neoplasia (CGIN). The abnormality was in fact non-cervical glandular neoplasia (NCGN), and the treatment of the two conditions is different.  

The investigation concluded that Mrs B should have been diagnosed with stage 1 ovarian cancer in late 2019 and early 2020.  Had the diagnosis been made whilst it was stage 1, she would have been offered surgery to remove both ovaries, fallopian tubes, uterus, omentum and appendix, followed by adjuvant chemotherapy.  This course of treatment, statistically, cures the patient of stage 1 disease, with a subsequent statistical 5-year survival rate of 85%.  

A claim was pursued by Mrs B's husband following her death.

Represented by Hannah Carr, a Specialist Medical Negligence Solicitor at MDS, the case settled following a full liability admission after negotiations with the Defendant.

Hannah said - “No legal claim can change what happened, however it was important that the failure identified were properly scrutinised.  When opportunities to diagnose and treat a life-threatening condition are missed, families should not be left without explanation or a meaningful response.”