‘Karen’, 47

Bryony Doyle, a specialist medical negligence solicitor at JMW, represented a lady in a legal battle over a delayed diagnosis of cervical cancer. The woman was subject to an error in reporting her cervical screening results some years earlier. The error led to Karen not being recalled for a further cervical screening until three years later which was again inaccurately reported as normal. This led to Karen developing cervical cancer and undergoing a hysterectomy. Bryony was able to support and obtain answers for Karen and secured her £75,000 in compensation.

Failure to correctly report screening results 

Karen had always attended cervical screening when requested. She was diagnosed with cervical cancer following a smear test in 2017 and was referred for treatment.

Following her diagnosis, a routine review of Karen’s previous smear tests was carried out which showed that a smear test taken in 2011 was reported as normal when the result should have been reported as borderline. Had Karen’s smear test have been reported as borderline she would have had a repeat smear test in 2011. If her repeat smear test had found cell changes to the cervix, Karen would have undergone treatment to remove the abnormal cells before they could develop into cancer.

It was then found that Karen’s smear test from 2014 was also reported as normal when there was severe dyskaryosis present (high grade cell changes in the cervix). Again, if Karen’s smear test had been reported correctly she would have been referred for treatment to remove the cells and would not have later developed cancer.

The failure to correctly report Karen’s smear test results led to Karen developing cervical cancer and requiring a full hysterectomy. Fortunately Karen did not plan to have anymore children, however, she suffered significant scarring, swelling and the psychological impact of her cancer diagnosis.

Successful medical negligence claim

Although nothing could make up for these incompetent errors and their devastating impact, JMW’s Bryony was able to claim that the hospital had negligently failed to accurately report Karen’s cervical screening results. The hospital fully admitted that Karen’s cancer diagnosis would have been avoided and agreed to pay her £75,000 in compensation for her pain, suffering and the psychological impact of her diagnosis.