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In 2008, a young woman featured in the news telling her brave story of bone cancer survival. Unfortunately, she lost her leg to osteosarcoma and made the decision to sue for medical negligence.
Her story echoed many other cases and testimonials of young people who have been diagnosed with malignant tumours of the bone, but who might have avoided the terrible consequences of cancers, such as Ewing's sarcoma, primitive neuroectodermal tumour (PNET) and osteosarcoma, that predominantly affect young people.
This particular woman suffered knee pain for seven months before she was diagnosed properly.
At the age of 25, she spent three months visiting her doctor and began to feel like a hypochondriac. She asked for referral to a specialist, but was refused; her doctor offered her physiotherapy for ligament damage. When treatment failed to alleviate the pain, the practitioner referred her to a rheumatologist who asked for an X-ray.
Finally, the X-ray revealed a problem and she was given a biopsy. She was diagnosed with osteosarcoma and offered aggressive chemotherapy treatment. Unfortunately, due to the advanced nature of the tumour, the chemotherapy failed and there was no option but to amputate. As many young female cancer sufferers are, she was also left with the fear she would be infertile.
Dr Ian Lewis, oncologist at St James's University hospital in Leeds, commented that young people may well be subjected to late diagnoses for bone cancer because there is a systemic problem within the NHS.
He said, "There's an unpredictable variation in primary care, and no uniform standard of doctors. GPs make decisions on the likelihood of things happening. This might be more economical generally, but when it goes wrong, the results can be tragic."
According to a Cancer Research spokesperson bone cancer is one of the rarer forms of the disease; 1850 cases a year, constituting 0.7 percent of all cancers. Its symptoms - including tenderness, swelling and problems with movement - are also similar to many less serious complaints like strains and sprains.
In many young adults these symptoms are thought to be the result of sporting injuries and are sometimes misdiagnosed.
The woman who suffered amputation of her lower leg has decided to take her case to court.
Her lawyer said, "Time is of the essence when you have an aggressive tumour and the delay meant she could not be considered for limb-sparing surgery. The result was a very high level amputation. Unfortunately [she] is not alone. We have and are working for a number of young clients who have suffered life changing surgery due to late diagnosis."
YouClaim and medical negligence compensation
If you feel a late diagnosis of any disease has caused you to suffer personal injury, our medical negligence solicitors may be able to help you make a compensation claim.
Whilst the complexities of medical negligence law preclude us from stating that you will not be charged any legal fees, we assure you that we will advise you of any charges before you commit to them and in a won case we will always reimburse you.
If you wish to discuss a medical negligence compensation claim, please call our confidential helpline now on 0800 10 757 95 or you can request a more convenient time when we can call you back. Alternatively, fill in the online claim form and we will look into your compensation claim before we call you to discuss it further. Above all, at YouClaim we are here to help.
