The hospital paid the damages after radiologists missed a tumour which was compressing spinal nerves and admitting negligence. 

Bedford Hospital NHS Trust has paid out £1.5 million in damages to a patient after admitting that doctors missed a tumour which was compressing and displacing nerves in an 18-year-old’s lower spine and causing a five-year delay in diagnosis.

Doctors at the hospital’s radiology department failed to spot the tumour on the 18-year-old patient, despite an MRI scan showing a large mass filling the spinal canal.

The patient had been referred for the scan by his GP after suffering back pain for around a year, with painkillers and physio having had no positive impact. For another five years after being told the scan was clear, he continued to suffer from back pain.

Despite attending his GP surgery and the Accident and Emergency Department at Bedford Hospital on numerous occasions, he continued to be prescribed painkillers, sent for physio and told to exercise.

It was only when he complained to his GP of the pain spreading from his lower back, radiating down both legs and leading to numbness all over his left side, that he was referred for a further MRI – almost five years after the first.

The tumour, which was pressing against nerves at the bottom of the spine, was identified in the second scan, and the patient, then aged 23, underwent a 14-hour procedure to remove it.

Neurological dysfunction

The man has now been left suffering from persistent bowel and bladder problems and is incontinent of urine, having no sensation when he wants to pass, requiring the use of incontinence pads all of the time. He also suffers from sexual dysfunction and has occasional incidents of bowel incontinence.

It was alleged that, had surgery been carried out soon after the first scan, the chances of the patient developing urinary, bowel and sexual dysfunction following surgery would have been considerably less.

“This was a case where my client was in significant pain and discomfort for a long period of time and it was only ever treated with painkillers and physio. Maybe this was because of his young age,” said Michelle Tebbutt, senior associate solicitor at Hudgell Solicitors, who led the legal claim of negligence against Bedford Hospital NHS Trust.

“When a scan was eventually carried out, and the tumour was missed, it meant GPs were then working off the wrong information, and the treatment of painkillers and exercise continued as the tumour was present, pressed against the nerves of his lower spine, and left growing for another five years,” she continued. 

The Trust admitted the initial scan had shown a mass in the spinal canal, displacing spinal nerves at the base of the spine to the side, and that to miss it had been a breach of duty, for which the Trust said it was extremely sorry.

It also admitted that, had the tumour been identified, the patient would likely have had surgery for the tumour five years earlier, which would have been less complicated as the tumour would have been smaller in size.