Hospital trusts admit negligence over cancer death

7:10am Thursday 10th December 2009

By Corey Ross

A WOMAN whose partner died after hospitals in Salisbury and Winchester misdiagnosed and mistreated her ovarian cancer over several years is urging others to be informed and make sure it doesn’t happen to them.

Tina Lane was just 42 when she lost her battle with cancer on February 7 this year, just a week after the Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust and Winchester & Eastleigh NHS Trust admitted negligence and liability.

Her partner Liz Austin has now secured substantial damages from the trusts and the NHS Litigation Authority has accepted that Tina ‘would have had a high prospect of being cured of her disease’ if she had been treated with appropriate care.

Miss Lane first went to her GP in December 2005 with abdominal pain and was referred to Salisbury District Hospital (SDH). She was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection and a scan was arranged, but not until April 2006.

The scan revealed a cyst on one of her ovaries but, despite being told there was ‘a real possibility of occult malignancy, the operation was not scheduled until March 2007 and was not moved forward even when another scan revealed the cyst had grown significantly.

Miss Austin said: “Obviously when you get the letter and it says ‘a real possibility of an occult malignancy’ you think ‘oh help’, but if the doctors are not worried about it enough to do anything you think it must be all right.”

Miss Lane was then admitted to SDH on February 22, 2007, with severe abdominal pain. The cyst was removed but it had ruptured, allowing the cancer to spread.

Despite a hysterectomy and five courses of chemotherapy, Miss Lane’s condition deteriorated and nothing more could be done to save her. She died a week after the two trusts involved in her treatment admitted negligence.

Miss Austin said: “We just had this appalling sense of loss and sadness because it didn’t need to happen. It would almost have been better if they’d found that they weren’t negligent.”

Now Miss Austin hopes that others will learn from their experience. She said: “Find out everything you can. Contact charities like Ovacome, they have all the facts at their fingertips.

“Don’t be afraid to go back to your GP, ours was a fantastic advocate for Tina, but we didn’t know we could go back to him and get him to fight for us. He could have and would have done, but we didn’t know. It’s about taking responsibility for your own treatment - be informed and ask for help. The help is out there but it doesn’t always come to you, so keep going back until they do something.”

The litigation authority said both trusts accepted that shortcomings in Miss Lane’s care had an adverse effect on her prognosis and formally apologised to her partner. They said they appreciate that no award can compensate for the loss of her life or the impact of her death on her family.

A statement said: “Each trust has investigated this matter extensively with a view to ensuring that the quality of their healthcare services continually improve so as to avoid similar tragic cases. Both trusts would like to take this opportunity to reiterate their sincere apologies and condolences to the civil partner and family of Miss Lane.”