£375,000 for Father of Two After Hospital Blunder

The claimant took his case to our Shrewsbury office and instructed a specialist who accompanied him in the High Court in Liverpool, following the death of his wife in March 1998.

A representative from Lanyon Bowdler said ‘Obviously the death of our client’s wife was devastating to all the family and close friends. We have fought long and hard and received an apology from East Kent Health Authority and I am happy to see that both he and his family will find some comfort in the award’.

Our client’s wife died at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital in March 1998 after being diagnosed with cervical cancer five years earlier.

It was only after her death, when our client started looking into her medical history, that he realised the results of a smear test in the 1980s had gone unnoticed.

He said: ‘My wife went for a smear test in 1989. It was a routine smear. At the time she was carrying our eldest child. ‘The test went to Shrewsbury Hospital and they were busy so it went down to East Kent. It was reported on as being negative when in actual fact it was found that it was covered in cancerous cells.’

And now medical experts say that if she had been properly treated in the early 1990s there is a 90 per cent chance she would have been completely cured and that she would not have developed the invasive cervical cancer which wracked her body and stole her from her husband and children.

It was only after the birth of the couple’s second child that a lump was found on her cervix and she was diagnosed with cancer.

She underwent chemotherapy and, for a few brief months seemed to improve, but the following July an inoperable six-centimetre tumour was found.

She became weaker and weaker and finally died the next March. East Kent Health Authority has admitted liability and apologised. He and the children have been awarded £375,000 compensation.

Our client said: ‘It will never bring her back but if I can at least try and stop it happening again I will be pleased. This would never have come out if we hadn’t delved into her medical records. It makes me very angry. It really does. Obviously the children have lost their mother at such a young age. For a mistake like this to have been made is terrible. The money will never make up for the loss of their mother but at least they will be financially secure and, more importantly, will grow up knowing that someone was sorry for the mistake.’

If you or a family member has been affected by cervical cancer misdiagnosis contact the medical negligence solicitors at Lanyon Bowdler, our team are ready to help you.