Graham Lord's hospital horror after being misdiagnosed with aggressive stomach cancer

• Man told he has stomach cancer
• Doctors remove 80 per cent of stomach
• Tests show he never had cancer

 

Graham Lord has been left with a fraction of his stomach after a being misdiagnosed with cancer.

Picture: Rohan Kelly Source: The Sunday Telegraph

But the 59-year-old was determined to fight it. He endured seven gruelling sessions of chemotherapy, before undergoing surgery to remove 80 per cent of his gut.

Then he was given the devastating news: he never had cancer in the first place.

An alleged bungle at a pathology lab at Gosford Hospital led to his misdiagnosis and Mr Lord is now suing the Central Coast Local Health District. He has shed 20kg. He can't eat sitting down. And he suffers anxiety and depression.

"They told me I had cancer. I went through chemotherapy and they cut out my stomach," Mr Lord told The Sunday Telegraph.

Six weeks after his operation, according to a statement of claim lodged in the Supreme Court, doctors at Royal North Shore, where he had the surgery, told Mr Lord the initial diagnosis was wrong.

"After independent pathological review the biopsies taken during the gastroscopy, the biopsy findings were wrong in that there was never any evidence of malignancy," the claim says.

Maurice Blackburn lawyer Anna Walsh said Mr Lord received an apology from the pathologist who originally reported on his tissue samples after Central Coast Local Health District had investigated the alleged incident.

"To find out I didn't have cancer. It was just devastating," he said this week.

"I was numb. I just couldn't believe it. I thought he was going to tell me they found more cancer and then he told me the other way."

Mr Lord's ordeal began when he consulted a Gosford GP in July 2009 for reflux. He was sent to have a gastric biopsy and the tissue was examined by staff at Palm Pathology, Gosford Hospital.

"I was told one of the areas biopsied has an aggressive cancer," he said from his home in Gosford."My wife just fell apart, she didn't stop crying for three days, and it was very distressing."

Mr Lord said he was convinced the cancer would kill him. He started chemotherapy at Gosford Hospital in October. "I was very ill," he said of the treatment.

Then, on January 29 last year Mr Lord had the gastrectomy at Royal North Shore Hospital, where most of his stomach was removed.

It wasn't until the post surgery review six weeks later at Royal North Shore he learned the extraordinary news.

"I was told that the tissue taken from me during that gastrectomy was examined through the pathology department at Royal North Shore and the lymph nodes that were taken out showed no evidence of cancer," he said.

"The tissue samples were sent to Royal Prince Alfred for study and again that came back with no evidence of malignancy."

"I am still very angry. Psychologically I am not over what has happened I don't know if I ever will. I still have the dreams about it and wake up in a sweat about it. I have lost about 20kg in weight.

Mr Lord, through lawyers Maurice Blackburn, has lodged a Supreme Court claim for injury, loss and damage suffered from the alleged misdiagnosis.

A spokesman for the Central Coast Health District said it was inappropriate to comment on the legal matter and they had not yet filed a defence.