Mum Who Had Aggressive Breast Cancer Surgery Was Given The Most Unexpected News Days After

A nurse and mum of one, Elizabeth Dawes, 39, was diagnosed with breast cancer and had an extensive surgery to beat the disease at the hospital where she worked, she was shocked to be told just days later that hospital staff confused the notes of three patients leading to a mix-up and she’d never had the disease.

Elizabeth had been told she had invasive grade three breast cancer following a biopsy and doctors advised she needed immediate surgery, suggesting a double mastectomy.

Ms Dawes however refused, but did undergo major surgery to remove a ‘cancerous’ tumour from her right breast as well as lymph nodes from her armpit.

She was also told she would need a further procedure to correct ‘deformities’ to her breasts caused by the first operation.

But four days later, Ms Dawes was asked to attend an appointment with her consultant.

There, he revealed there had been a mix-up with her hospital notes and those of two other patients, – and she had, in fact, never had the disease.

She said: ‘I am absolutely appalled at what I have been through and am still struggling to comprehend how this could even happen. To be told you are facing aggressive cancer in your 30s is devastating and of course, I feared the worst and began making plans for my child, and getting my finances in order. I was willing to undergo whatever treatment it took to fight the cancer so when I was told I needed surgery, I didn’t think twice.’

Ms Dawes, who was so traumatised she was forced to give up her job at New Cross Hospital, added: ‘The doctor also told me I would need a bilateral breast lift to cosmetically improve the shape of my breasts, as otherwise, after having the cancer surgery I would be left deformed. I was very sore after the operation and shocked by the extensive scaring, so to be recalled four days later to be told none of it was necessary was truly horrendous. I am still in pain now, have lost a lot of sensation in my breasts and the scarring has not improved, which hugely affects my self-confidence. Nothing can make up for what has happened but I am determined to see justice done and feel I at least deserve an official apology from the Trust given the huge impact this has had on my life.’

Ms Dawes, who has an 18-year-old son, is taking legal action.

The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, which operates the hospital, has admitted liability for the misdiagnosis and the unnecessary surgery performed.

Lawyer Louise Hawkley, of Irwin Mitchell, said: ‘This is a truly shocking case that has left Elizabeth appalled at the unnecessary heartache, and extensive scarring she has suffered as a result of being wrongly told that she had breast cancer. There are also very serious patient safety concerns about the “mix-up” and how the other patients have potentially been affected too.’

Source: MailOnline