A British mother died of stage IV cervical cancer after her doctors wrongly marked an abnormal Pap smear and biopsy as clear.
Kerry Pugh, 48, passed away in June 2022 after being told her results were normal, despite experiencing bleeding.
“I can’t begin to describe the anguish and exhaustion Kerry went through,” her husband Steven said, according to the BBC. “She was a beautiful and loving person and a great mother. Watching her health deteriorate as the cancer took hold was heartbreaking.”
The mother of three underwent checks after she started experiencing bleeding after sex around 2017 and had a decade-long history of abnormal cells in her cervix, according to the BBC.
In 2018, he had a routine Pap test and was told it came back normal, but after his death in June 2022, the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital audited his documentation and found that was not the case.
Doctors at the hospital had not been able to find the definitive cause of her bleeding the previous year, but they marked her as high risk for HPV and later biopsied her and she had pain at the base of her spine.
Kerry Pugh, 48, underwent checks after she started experiencing bleeding after sex around 2017 and had a decade-long history of abnormal cells in her cervix. Irwin Mitchell / SWNS In 2018, he had a routine Pap test and was told it came back normal, but after his death in June 2022, the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital audited his documentation and found that was not the case. Irwin Mitchell/SWNS
He was diagnosed with stage IV cancer and an MRI found a large tumor the size of a tennis ball.
He underwent surgery and began receiving radiation and chemotherapy, but later succumbed to the disease in June 2022.
After her death, an audit found that her cervical cancer test had shown signs of severe cellular changes.
This led her husband to hire medical malpractice attorney Irwin Mitchell to see if the hospital could have diagnosed her cancer sooner.
Doctors at the hospital had been unable to find the definitive cause of his bleeding the previous year. Irwin Mitchell / SWNS Months later, her bleeding worsened and she began to feel pain in her tailbone. Irwin Mitchell/SWNS
Steven is also considering legal action and is now urging women to be aware of the signs of cervical cancer, which is often diagnosed in late stages.
He said his wife, despite her illness, always put her family first and that she was “absolutely everything to me and we all miss her every day.”
Pugh leaves behind three children: Morgan, 24; Lily, 14; and Freddie, 11, according to The Sun.
The hospital and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, which assisted with the audit, offered their condolences to the family.
“We continue to support Mr. Pugh with any questions related to his wife’s care,” chief medical officer Dr. John Jones said in a statement.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn