A 24-year-old woman who had her right breast removed has sued St Vincent's Hospital in Dublin over its alleged failure to diagnose and promptly treat her for breast cancer after she was referred by a doctor to the hospital with a lump in her right breast.
Jenna Brandon, who was a public patient at the hospital, claims its alleged failures and delays have reduced her life expectancy significantly and allowed her cancer develop to such a point that her right breast had to be removed. She says she also feels angry and alienated that no one at the hospital has admitted to any mistake in her case.
She claims the hospital failed to diagnose her cancer, to carry out a needle biopsy or to review her condition when she was scanned at its breast clinic in August 2005. She claims there was a subsequent eight-month delay in diagnosing breast cancer and further delays in treating it. She claims these alleged failures resulted in the cancer becoming well-developed and her having to undergo aggressive anti-cancer treatment and a mastectomy.
She also claims she underwent an unnecessary splenectomy because it was mistakenly believed there was secondary cancers in her spleen.
Ms Brandon, from Co Wicklow, claims the failure of the hospital, at Elm Park, Dublin, to carry out a needle biopsy or to review her case after an alleged abnormality was noted in an ultrasound scan in August 2005 allowed her condition to deteriorate to a point where her right breast had to be removed in December 2006.
She claims she was told, flowing the scan of August 2005, that the lump she had felt was probably a cyst or cluster of cysts and there was nothing to worry about. However, after Christmas 2005, she noted the lump had grown to the size of a golf ball and it turned out to be cancerous.
Ms Brandon has initiated a High Court action alleging negligence against the hospital. The full case is expected to come before the court early next year.
In its defence, the hospital has admitted that it failed to review the results of Ms Brandon's ultrasound examination of August 2005 and also failed to take appropriate steps to ensure she re-attend the hospital. It also admits that Ms Brandon's condition worsened between the date of the ultrasound exam and when she re-attended at the hospital's breast clinic in February 2006.
However, the hospital rejects claims that Ms Brandon's life expectancy has been significantly reduced and has pleaded that, subject to the admitted failures, Ms Brandon was treated with all due skill, care and diligence.
