Cancer patient awarded damages

A man has won damages from an NHS trust over a hospital’s failure to tell him he had cancer.

Spaniard Raul Guiu Gallardo, 46, who came to the UK in 2000 to work in the computer software industry, was unaware that he had the condition for nearly a decade. In January 2001, he was admitted to Charing Cross Hospital in London where he underwent surgery for what he believed was a bleeding stomach ulcer, but surgeons had removed a large gastrointestinal stromal tumour. Mr Gallardo’s lawyers told London’s High Court he was never informed of the malignancy and the risk that it might recur or that he would need monitoring and CT scans.

Judge Peter Hughes ruled that the trust failed to discharge its duty to Mr Gallardo and awarded him £38,731 plus interest.