Care home worker cancer misdiagnosis

A care home worker who was wrongly diagnosed with cancer said she thought it was a "cruel joke" when she was told doctors had made a mistake and she did not have cancer at all.

Mum-of-four Janice Johnston said her "world crumbled" when she learned she had a rare form of blood cancer at Kent and Canterbury Hospital in 2017.

She had 18 months of oral chemotherapy treatment, during which she experienced weight loss, nausea and bone pain, and had to give up her job as an auxiliary nurse. When the treatment did not appear to be working, she says, medics upped the dosage.

In 2018, she sought alternative treatment at Guy's Hospital in London. It was there a specialist told her she did not have cancer at all but a different condition.

Mrs Johnston was awarded £75,950 in damages after East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust admitted liability. Staff at the hospital had failed to do the necessary ultrasound scan and bone marrow biopsy before diagnosing her.

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Source:  BBC News, 25 January 2021