Doctors missed cancer in Birmingham woman given just weeks to live

Sep 8 2010 by Alison Dayani, Birmingham Mail

A MUM-of-three claims that TEN A&E doctors and her GP missed tell-tale signs of cancer over the past five months – and now she has only weeks to live.

Distraught Angela Skeffington said an A&E doctor at Heartlands Hospital, in Bordesley Green, advised her to “eat more bananas”.

Mrs Skeffington, 43, of Kestrel Avenue, Yardley, claimed she had made repeated cries for help to medics at Heartlands A&E and her GP, Dr Atta Shah, at the Khyber Surgery in Saltley, since April.

She said was suffering with severe stabbing pains to the stomach, blood in her vomit and stools, plus a loss of appetite.

But she said no specialist CT scan was done until a week ago, when stomach cancer was finally spotted. The cancer has now spread to Mrs Skeffington’s liver and lymph nodes and she said there was little hope of recovery.

Mrs Skeffington’s medical records show she was seen by ten doctors during 12 visits to A&E but she underwent a series of misdiagnoses including anorexia, depression, indigestion and even period pain, with medics prescribing her paracetamol but never admitting her for more tests until last week.

“I was made to feel like a nuisance by all the doctors because I kept going back telling them I was still in pain,” said Mrs Skeffington, a former warehouse worker at Connect Distribution in Bordesley Green.

“I knew something was terribly wrong and needed help. After a while, my GP told me there was nothing wrong with me and said the staff in A&E were very busy people and I shouldn’t keep going there. A doctor at A&E advised me to eat more bananas.

“Now I find out my body is riddled with tumours and the cancer is terminal.