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Teenager misdiagnosed with acid reflux becomes youngest person to have oesophageal cancer (12 May 2015)

Date: 12/05/2015
Duncan Lewis, Clinical Negligence Solicitors, Teenager misdiagnosed with acid reflux becomes youngest person to have oesophageal cancer

A 23-year-old teaching assistant who was told she was too young to have cancer of the oesophagus has spoken of how she had to go through two years of pain and illness before being diagnosed.

The Daily Mail reports that Jemma Jones became the youngest person ever to be diagnosed with oesophageal cancer in the UK

Doctors had even blamed her rapid weight loss on an eating disorder and her GP diagnosed gastric acid reflux.

Ms Jones found it more and more difficult to swallow food and begin losing weight from her 13st frame.

The problem started in February 2010 when she was aged 19. Ms Jones had tried to eat her usual breakfast of cereal and milk, but found it painful to swallow.

“The food seemed to be getting stuck and I had pain in my upper gullet,” she said.

“I kept trying to eat, but every time the food went down, it was agony – I thought it was a virus and I was coming down with a sore throat.”

Her GP sent her home with advice to buy some over-the-counter antacids – even though she had never suffered from heartburn.

When the antacids made no different, she went back to her GP and he diagnosed her with Barrett’s oesphopagus – a condition in which there are changes in cells at the end of the oesophagus as a result of exposure to acid damage. The condition is potentially cancerous and usually results in inflammation of the oesophageal tract, but in some people there may be no symptoms.

Honorary consultant physician at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, Professor Rebecca Fitzgerald said:

“We are trying to get the manufacturers of acid suppressants to put a warning on the packet recommending people see their GP if they use this medicine regularly.”

Diagnosis of oesophageal conditions involves an endoscopy, when a tube with a camera is inserted down the throat into the oesophagus. A biopsy is then taken from the oesophageal lining.

The procedure costs the NHS around £200 – and because of the cost Prof Fitzgerald said that some GPs will not refer patients for an endoscopy.

“Heartburn symptoms occur in about 10% of the population and about 5-10% of those have Barrett’s,” she said.

Ms Jones ended up having radical surgery once she had been diagnosed, to prevent the cancer spreading:

“When I came to, the doctor told me they’d not only removed the tumour, but also 24 lymph nodes and three-quarters of my stomach in case it had spread.

“I’d been cut open at the front and back and would be scarred for life.”

She also had half her oesophagus removed and underwent chemotherapy.

“My surgeons told me how lucky I was – normally by the time there is a tumour in the gullet it’s too late,” she said.

“When they removed mine, they found ulcers all over the top of it where I’d kept trying to eat and irritated the top of the tumour.”

Duncan Lewis Clinical Negligence Solicitors – No win no fee Cancer Misdiagnosis Claims

Duncan Lewis no win no fee solicitors can advise NHS patients and private patients who have been misdiagnosed with cancer on how to make a claim for compensation, including claims relating to:

• Delays in cancer referral
• Failure to refer
• Delays in cancer treatment
• Failure to treat
• Unnecessary cancer treatment or surgery
• Wrong cancer treatment.

Claims for cancer misdiagnosis usually have to be made within three years from the date a patient was advised of the error in diagnosis – and children can make cancer misdiagnosis claims up to the age of 21.

For expert legal advice on no win no fee Cancer Misdiagnosis Claims, contact Duncan Lewis Clinical Negligence solicitors on 020 7923 4020.


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