A WIDOW from Goldthorpe has received a payout from a hospital trust which failed to spot the cancer which killed her husband.
Gamil Ali was referred to Mexborough Montagu Hospital for an X-ray after complaining of shoulder pain after falling from his bicycle.
Staff found no fractures but failed to pick up a lesion on his right lung and erosion of one of his ribs which were signs of his cancer.
Gamil, who was known as Mali, was diagnosed with terminal cancer nine months later.
He died in November 2013, aged 45, after the cancer had spread to his brain.
His wife, Samantha, instructed solicitors to investigate the care provided to her husband by Doncaster and Bassetlaw Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Montagu Hospital.
The trust agreed an out-of-court settlement to help provide for Samantha, who has spina bifida, and her two children, for whom Mali was stepfather.
The trust had denied liability.
Samantha, 36, said: “Mali was such a loving and caring husband who would do anything for his family. He was the bedrock of our family. He was great with the children and would do everything around the house.
“To see Mali in so much pain as the cancer took hold was heartbreaking.
“While we know he would not have survived, we are angry that the delays in his diagnosis meant that we did not get to spend more time together as a family and create more memories we could look back on.
“I just hope that the hospital trust realises the hurt that our family continues to live with so other families don’t have to suffer like we are having to.”
Mali, a full-time carer for his wife, visited his GP in July 2012 after hurting his right shoulder blade when falling from his bike.
He was referred to Montagu Hospital for an X-ray that September. Mali continued to complain of shoulder and chest pain.
In May 2013 he was referred to Sheffield’s Northern General Hospital for an X-ray, the results of which were ‘suspicious’.
The cancer was confirmed the following month following a CT scan. His condition deteriorated rapidly and he was admitted to Barnsley Hospital and then the hospice. He died at home on November 30, 2013.
Anne Brundell, of Irwin Mitchell, said: “Although Mali’s cancer was incurable it is still extremely worrying the hospital trust failed to spot it. Delays in diagnosing Mali’s cancer meant he was not urgently referred for treatment which we believe would have allowed him to live longer and spend more time with his family.
“Instead, his condition deteriorated significantly in the last few months of his life, requiring him to be admitted to hospital and a hospice for palliative care. We now call on Doncaster and Bassetlaw Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to ensure it learns lessons from Mali’s case.
“Such delays in other cases could have even more heartbreaking consequences with regards to a patient being diagnosed with terminal cancer when an early diagnosis would have meant their cancer was curable.”
