A man has died from cancer after a scan showing his tumour was lost by a hospital – which allowed the tumour to grow untreated for 10 years.
Michael Lane, 50, died in May last year just five months after being diagnosed with kidney cancer despite a CT scan revealing the disease a decade earlier.
The father of three first went to Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital in 2010 with symptoms and a suspicious mass was detected in his right kidney.
However, his radiology report was printed and filed without being sent to his consultant urologist or his GP, so the tumour went untreated.
Lane was diagnosed with metastatic kidney cancer in December 2020.
An investigation report carried out by the NHS trust in May last year concluded had Michael’s tumour been seen and operated on earlier he may have survived.
Lane’s family subsequently took legal action against Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust to ensure that steps have been taken to prevent similar mistakes from happening again.
Lane’s brother Mark Lane said: “Mike was a very private person and never wanted any fuss, but one of his regrets was trusting the doctors and assuming everything was OK.
“Now that our case has settled, I can’t help but worry that this isn’t a one-off and that there are other people out there who have been failed like Mike, and had crucial scan results go missing at this Trust.
“Whilst a formal apology from the Trust has been requested, this has not yet been received by the family which continues to cause great upset.”
In an internal investigation by the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust they found other incidents relating to abnormal scan results in other departments “where paper reports have been filed without being actioned, and harm has come to other patients as a result of this process”.
Richard Steyn, co-medical director at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, said: “I want to offer our sincere apologies and condolences to the family of Mr Lane for failing to report the discovery of a tumour on an earlier scan.
“We carried out a thorough investigation into this case to learn lessons and are planning to introduce trust-wide electronic record systems, designed to safeguard patients from similar errors with paper-based records.”
Additional reporting by SWNS
