Anne Shaw, 68, developed terminal cancer after doctors failed to spot a golf ball-sized ovarian tumor clearly visible in a routine scan in 2019, then dismissed for two years of her requests for further tests and intervention as the cancer spread.
The situation became so complicated that Anne Shaw was finally diagnosed in the fall of 2021, requiring life-changing surgery. Unfortunately, it was too late to remove the cancer and he was given a terminal diagnosis.
He was told that if the tumor had been detected by doctors at St James’s University Hospital, Leeds at the time, it could have been treated simply with chemotherapy and monitoring, without the need for invasive surgery.
The patient wants her experience known to protect other patients who may face a similar situation
Anne Shaw wants to discuss what happened in her case and what could be changed with staff at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the hospital, to protect other patients in the future.
But the institution’s representatives repeatedly refused to see her, despite promising to arrange a meeting after dailymail.co.uk reported on the case in February this year.
The patient said: “All I want is to talk to someone and have a cup of tea and talk about all of this – but the fact that the Trust has yet to get in touch says a lot.” “I’m angry that they think they don’t have a responsibility to learn from the experience of others and implement those lessons. They sentenced me to death and they don’t have the decency to come and say, OK, what can we do to make your life a little easier?”
Anne Shaw had previously survived breast and ovarian cancer
Anne Shaw is devastated that she has to live with a stoma for the rest of her life, and that she developed a hernia as a complication of the operation. Thus, they must wear loose clothing and follow a severely restricted diet.
“I’m living a life that has nothing to do with the life that my husband and I expected after retirement,” she added. “They took so much from me and don’t even have the decency to talk about it with me.”
Anne Shaw had previously survived breast and ovarian cancer, so she was at a higher risk of developing cancer again.
He is now campaigning for the scans of patients with suspected cancer or a history of cancer to be reviewed by two experts.
Some studies suggest that diagnostic errors are responsible for up to one in ten deaths of patients who arrive at a hospital.
“If I can stop even one patient from being misdiagnosed, that would be my legacy,” she added.
Photo credit: Shutterstock
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