Compensation for failure to follow up a biopsy

Posted 31/05/2012

Julie Crossley, a medical injury specialist at Ashtons Legal, has obtained compensation for a Norfolk woman whose biopsy results revealing that she had a cancerous lesion were not followed up appropriately.

Mrs H had a biopsy taken from a lesion on her eyelid but was not given any treatment for what was believed to be a papilloma, a benign tumour. When her eye became sore two years later, she went to the hospital and it soon became apparent that she had never been given the results of her biopsy two years earlier which revealed that the lesion was cancerous. She has since had the lesion removed, had a reconstruction and skin graft, and a had a minor trim of her conjunctivia. There is every reason to believe that her cancer has been cured and will not recur, but the fact remains that she should have been made aware of it, and had it treated, two years earlier. The delay in diagnosis caused her unnecessary and avoidable distress and she is now prone to becoming overly concerned and anxious about minor ailments.