A woman who was wrongly told that she was suffering with breast cancer after doctors mixed up her medical notes with those of another patient has been speaking out about her ordeal.
39-year-old Elizabeth Davies underwent extensive surgery after having a right breast biopsy which revealed that she had Grade 3 invasive cancer that required immediate treatment.
doctors advised her to have a double mastectomy but she refused, opting instead for surgery to remove the tumour and lymph nodes from her armpit. She went in for the operation at Wolverhampton’s New Cross hospital in 2013.
The mother-of-one, who also worked at the hospital at the time, was then told four days later that there had been a mix-up with the medical notes of three patients containing biopsy results. Her own test had actually come back negative.
“I am absolutely appalled at what I have been through and am still struggling to comprehend how this could even happen,” Mrs Dawes said.
“To be told you are facing aggressive cancer in your 30s is devastating and of course, I feared the worst and began making plans for my child and getting finances in order.”
After the surgery, she was left with extensive scarring and reduced sensation in both of her breasts and was so traumatised that she left her job as a breast cancer nurse at the hospital.
Now working at a nursing home in Stafford, Mrs Dawes said: “I was willing to undergo whatever treatment it took to fight the cancer so when I was told I needed surgery, I didn’t think twice.
“The doctor also told me I would need a bilateral breast lift to cosmetically improve the shape of my breasts, as otherwise, after having the cancer surgery I would be left deformed.
“I was very sore after the operation and shocked by the extensive scaring, so to be recalled four days later to be told none of it was necessary was truly horrendous.
“I am still in pain now, have lost a lot of sensation in my breasts and the scarring has not improved which hugely affects my self-confidence.
“Nothing can make up for what has happened but I am determined to see justice done and feel I at least deserve an official apology from the Trust given the huge impact this has had on my life.”
A spokesperson for the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust said it had issued an apology to Mrs Dawes for its “terrible error” and had carried out a full investigation into the mistake. An admission of liability has been secured from the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust for Mrs Dawes’ misdiagnosis and the unnecessary surgery that she went through.
“The incident is now part of an ongoing legal claim with which the trust is co-operating fully,” the spokesperson said.