HSE defends cancer report omission

THE Health Service Executive has defended its decision to omit details of misdiagnoses made by a number of radiologists from the report on the work of a Scottish locum consultant last year.

A review of the work of radiologist Dr James Murray, who worked in two north-eastern hospitals, uncovered mistakes made by other radiologists including one doctor who missed the same cancerous lesion on five occasions.

The final report, published last November, found that nine patients had their lung cancer diagnosis delayed by between five weeks to 14 months because of errors made by Dr Murray. Eight of the nine misdiagnosed patients have died.