Rare lung cancer killed Megan, 2 .. she ’ d seen SIX doctors and they all missed it
Family call for investigation into the ‘systemic failure’ in Scotland’s NHS
A HeArTBrokeN mum whose daughter died of a rare form of lung cancer has hit out at medics who failed to detect it – despite seeing six doctors.
Two-year-old Megan Clarkson died in January after developing a cough, which doctors told her mum Kelly was nothing more than an infection.
Kelly, from Kirkcaldy, says she took her daughter to see six doctors and five nurses over a period of 28 months.
But she claims she was “fobbed off” by GPs for two years with no recommendation of an X-ray, despite Megan’s respiratory rate increasing to twice the normal level.
The youngster had begun to lose weight and her chest was “indrawing” – a sign of breathing difficulties.
Kelly said Megan had a persistent cough since starting nursery at six months, was being sick after eating and was off solids as far back as November 2016.
After four months of being told it was nothing more than an upper respiratory tract infection, Kelly said she stopped going to her GP.
Last year, Megan had pain under her arm and bruising that would not go away. She saw a a nurse practitioner and was sent away with antibiotics.
Kelly, who has a son Myles, aged five, said: “Looking back, we feel let down by Megan’s care when she was around eight to 10 months old.
“At an earlier stage, Megan would have had a 90 per cent chance of survival and at the end, this had dropped to 37 per cent.
“Early detection could have saved her life but the only way we’d have got that is if the doctors had looked past the viral infections and the ‘comeback-if-it-gets-worse’ attitude.
“When you do come back and it is worse, you feel fobbed off. You feel let down and you’re less likely to go back.”
Kelly was given the first of two inhalers to help her daughter breathe and was told she might have asthma but things took a turn for the worst in December.
Megan was taken to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh after Kelly said she had to be “nasty” in her demands to see a doctor and not a nurse practitioner.
By this time, an X-ray showed a “white out” lung, which is often a sign of pneumonia.
Instead, Megan was diagnosed with Type III pleuropulmonary blastoma – a rare and aggressive form of lung cancer found in children.
An ultrasound of her heart at the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow showed the tumour mass had grown.
Megan was operated on and had her right lung removed but suffered a massive bleed and cardiac arrest.
She died on January 2, three weeks after being diagnosed.
Kelly refused to point the finger at NHS Fife, instead blaming a “systemic failure”.
She added: “We need to have an investigation into the practices around how we care for children and improve the level of service we’re offered.”
NHS Fife medical director Dr Frances Elliot passed on her condolences and added: “We would extend an offer to meet with the family to discuss the concerns they have raised.”