Investigation begins into suspected mistaken cancer diagnosis
The Mid-Western Regional Hospital is checking the medical records of a woman who had to have a cancerous breast partially removed, two years after she was given the all-clear by the hospital.
Breda Flanagan said when she had a mastectomy in 2005, she was told by the hospital that an abnormality had shown up in a previous mammogram carried out in 2003. Ms Flanagan, who lives at Ballina near Killaloe, is a neighbour of Rebecca O’Malley whose cancer was missed in tests carried out at Cork University Hospital.
She also attended the Mid-Western Regional Hospital which sent on a biopsy to Cork for examination.
Ms Flanagan said yesterday she wanted a full investigation into her case.
Ms Flanagan, aged 57, said: “I want to see all my medical files and find out who is to blame.”
Ms Flanagan first got cancer in 1998 and had a melanoma removed from her leg.
Following another medical scare in 1999 she had a mammogram taken of her left breast at the Mid Western Regional Hospital in Limerick.
She said: “This was done as there was a lesion in my left breast. I did not hear anything and took it was clear.”
Following more ill-health she had another mammogram in 2003 on her left breast, but it was only after another mammogram in 2005 that cancer showed.
Ms Flanagan said she learned in 2005 that something did show up in the 2003 mammogram.
She said yesterday: “I was shocked when I was told this in 2005. I didn’t make an issue of it and was fobbed off. They said that ‘we would go from here’. That was in 2005. But it was only when I heard of the Rebecca O’Malley story that I decided to take it up with them.”
As a result of the 2005 mammogram, a biopsy was taken. She said: “I was found with full-blown cancer in the left breast. I had to have a partial mastectomy and undergo radiotherapy treatment which left me badly burned and I was all black. I also had lymph nodes removed in that operation. I am now on very strong medication to keep the cancer at bay and I attend the breast clinic at the hospital every few months.”
She said the breast clinic at the hospital had been in contact with her last week and informed her it will take two weeks to check her charts since 1999.
Ms Flanagan said after the 2003 mammogram she was still very ill with severe pain under her arm.
She said: “I was afraid at night I would not wake up in the morning. I was so sick and losing weight and perspiring a lot. I was in so much pain all those years. I want to know the truth. The 2003 mammogram was abnormal but nobody followed it up until 2005. I was operated six weeks after the biopsy. I have asked to see everything and have asked to meet the consultants. I want to know what happened at the earlier stages. If the cancer was spotted in 2003 I might not be the way I am today.”
A spokeswoman for the HSE (Mid-West) said it was having a case conference yesterday in relation to a patient.
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