A hospital has admitted a breach of duty in caring for a patient, but a court has upheld that this did not lead to a delay in her cancer diagnosis and treatment.
Faten Alrifai took the ACT government to court seeking damages for medical negligence arising from an alleged delay in her pancreatic cancer diagnosis at Canberra Hospital.
On Friday, Chief Justice Lucy McCallum, Justice Patrick O'Sullivan, Justice Verity McWilliam dismissed Mrs Alrifai's appeal of a previous decision which ruled against the patient.
In an ACT Court of Appeal decision published on Friday, the judges upheld that, on the balance of probabilities, the patient would not have avoided her injuries had a surgeon been involved in her treatment earlier.
The hospital had previously admitted Mrs Alrifai's treating clinicians had failed to obtain a surgical opinion during a meeting in May 2018, resulting in a breach of care.
Leading up to her cancer diagnosis, Mrs Alrifai attended the hospital on numerous occasions in 2018 with various complaints including nausea and intense pain in the chest, abdomen and flank.
It was alleged that the hospital was negligent in making or properly considering a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer and involving a surgeon in her care. This claim has been dismissed.
Between the beginning of 2018 and the end of April that year, Mrs Alrifai underwent CT scans, an endoscopic ultrasound and had cell samples taken from her pancreas.
The hospital's response to the results of these tests formed the central basis of Mrs Alrifai's claim for medical negligence.
The hospital's admission related to failing to obtain a surgeon's opinion during a multidisciplinary team meeting on May 1, 2018, following these test results.
After this meeting Mrs Alrifai was diagnosed with pancreatitis, and splenic vein thrombosis, before she was discharged from the hospital.
It was recommended her general practitioner continue two anticoagulant medications for the next six months.
Over the next few months, Mrs Alrifai continued to present to the hospital numerous times.
However, on one occasion she left after receiving pain medication, and left on another before she had been reviewed by the gastroenterology team.
On November 8, 2018, she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer after a mass in her pancreas, initially thought to be benign, "appeared suspicious".
Before the end of that month, Mrs Alrifai had surgery to remove sections of her pancreas and spleen to which the cancer had spread.
She then underwent chemotherapy before this was ceased at her request.
In March 2021, Mrs Alrifai was referred for palliative treatment at the hospital.
