Dying woman gets payout from surgery after GPs misdiagnosed her terminal bone cancer as muscle pain
Tina Hammonds, 45, was prescribed increasing numbers of anti-inflammatory drugs for neck and shoulder pain
A DYING woman has got an undisclosed payout from a surgery after its GPs repeatedly misdiagnosed her bone cancer as muscle pain.
Tina Hammonds, 45, was prescribed increasing numbers of anti-inflammatory drugs for neck and shoulder pain.
At one stage she was on 21 prescription painkillers a day.
After two years Tina, of Coalville, Leics, paid for a private MRI scan which revealed she had terminal cancer.
Ms Hammonds, who has terminal cancer of the spine, said she had been "utterly failed"; by her GP surgery.
She said: "The surgery kept upping my dosage of pain relief medication, but I felt I was getting nowhere.
"At one point I was taking 21 tablets a day to alleviate the pain, but they still didn't help.
"The surgery believed my symptoms to be muscular and as a result had prescribed physiotherapy.
"When attending the sessions, it felt like my bones were going to break and I knew something was seriously wrong.
"I asked for an MRI scan, but was told I didn't need one.
"I have always been reasonably fit and healthy and rarely visited my doctor during my previous working years, so I would have thought my symptoms would have indicated something was very wrong."
Danielle Young, from Nelsons Solicitors which represented Ms Hammonds, said a report showed a severe red flag should have prompted a quicker diagnosis.
She said: "This is a case in which basic warning signs were missed which could have resulted in an earlier diagnosis.
"This could have saved Ms Hammonds from life-threatening surgery and shortened the considerable pain she was in for more than six months."