Decision Report 201306175

Summary

Since 2010, Mrs C had been attending her medical practice complaining of stomach and breast pain. She said that she was incorrectly treated for thyroid problems and an ulcer and complained that the extent of her pain was never recognised and that she was not referred for tests. More recently Mrs C was diagnosed with a carcinoid tumour in her liver (a rare cancer). She felt that as a fit and healthy patient attending the doctor a lot, with symptoms that were not resolving, the practice should have sent her for tests and sought specialist help.

We took independent advice from one of our medical advisers and, after considering this, we did not uphold the complaint. Our investigation showed that over the period of time concerned, Mrs C was treated correctly in accordance with her symptoms. Amongst other things, she had symptoms suggestive of an underactive thyroid and an ulcer, for which she was treated appropriately. She also had a breast scan that showed a breast lump, but this was benign. It was only in late 2013 after an emergency admission to hospital and extensive investigations, including an ultrasound scan (a scan that uses sound waves to create images of organs and structures inside the body) and a scan of her abdomen, that Mrs C was diagnosed with the tumour, which was noted to be extremely rare. Our adviser said that until then doctors had always provided reasonable diagnoses to explain Mrs C's symptoms.