Boyes Turner’s cancer negligence specialists secured an early admission of liability and an apology for a client after a hospital misdiagnosis left her unaware that she had melanoma (skin cancer) for six years. Malignant melanoma misdiagnosed as a normal mole The 53-year-old woman found a mole on her lower leg. She was referred to hospital where she underwent a punch biopsy procedure, in which a small, circular, full thickness piece of skin tissue was removed and sent for analysis by a pathologist. She was informed that the biopsy revealed a normal mole. Nearly five and a half years later, she found a lump in the same area. She consulted her GP and was advised to watch and wait, owing to the lump’s small size. Further biopsy reveals spread of malignant skin cancer She returned to her GP six months later, when she started to notice that the lump was becoming visible through the skin. The GP referred her to a skin specialist at the hospital and she underwent a further biopsy. The biopsy results confirmed that she had a Stage 3B malignant melanoma. Following her diagnosis, the previous biopsy from six years earlier was reviewed and was found to have shown a Stage 1B malignant melanoma. She was informed that it had been misdiagnosed. Our client needed wide local excision surgery to remove the melanoma, with a split skin graft owing to the extensive area of the wound. After the surgery she received immunotherapy treatment to remove any remaining cancer cells and reduce her risk of further spread or recurrence. She has been left with unsightly scarring and suffered psychological symptoms as a result of her injury. Claim results in apology and admission of liability We sent a letter of notification to the NHS trust that was responsible for our client’s hospital care, advising them that we had been instructed to pursue a claim. They responded admitting the negligent failure to diagnose malignant melanoma from the biopsy six years earlier, which should have resulted in further investigation and wide local excision surgery. They accepted that timely diagnosis would have avoided the subsequent development of the lump, the surgery needed to remove it, and her immunotherapy treatment, and would have resulted in the complete removal of our client’s melanoma. However, they argued that our client would have needed a skin graft following wide local excision surgery in any event, and has benefitted from immunotherapy treatment, which would not have been available to her at the time of the first biopsy. We are now working with our client and our experts to value the claim in preparation for settlement negotiations. If you have suffered severe injury as a result of medical negligence or have been contacted by HSSIB, MNSI or NHS Resolution, you can talk to a solicitor, free and confidentially, for advice about how to respond or make a claim by contacting us.
