Apology for patient told she had cancer

THE Mater Hospital has apologised to the mother of a patients’ rights campaigner after she was incorrectly told she needed her stomach removed due to cancer.

In a meeting with the Byrne family last week, hospital management admitted a pathology mistake was made and assured them they would take steps to ensure it wouldn’t happen again.

For nearly eight months, 75-year-old Kathleen Byrne had been led to believe she had the illness. Doctors at the Dublin hospital told her of the diagnosis last October, saying they wanted to carry out a gastrectomy (surgical removal of all or part of the stomach) immediately — before the results of a second biopsy.

The Byrnes expressed surprise at the time of the diagnosis, given that their mother did not have symptoms of the disease. The operation was cancelled when a Mater surgeon refused to perform it due to allegations made about the hospital by Kathleen’s daughter Janette in her book If It Were Only Cancer. The book chronicled the Patients Together’s spokeswoman’s own battle with the disease.

Five months after her mother’s diagnosis, and after up to eight more biopsies and a prolonged postponement of the operation, the Byrnes were told pathology results from Britain showed she did not have stomach cancer. They did not receive an apology at that time.

They say that at one point their legal team was told the operation hadn’t taken place due to “the pressure felt by medical and nursing teams about undertaking major surgery on your client involving a significant mortality risk with the prospect of media analysis should anything go wrong”.

Yesterday, Janette said the past eight months caused her parents Brendan and Kathleen “indescribable pain and anguish”.

“Her six children, brothers and sisters and 18 grandchildren were all devastated by the diagnosis. One of her sisters travelled from Australia with a view to spending time with our mother at the hospital and during her recovery. We just can’t believe we weren’t informed that the doctors had doubts themselves. We should have been informed. We are all still afraid to believe the confusing outcome.

“We are delighted at the result but we are angry at the way we have been treated. We were expected by those involved to be happy with the results and to move on and stop moaning but we refused to be brushed off without as much as an explanation.”

A spokesman for the Mater confirmed the meeting had taken place but said they would not divulge what had been discussed.