Father dies of cancer after doctors lose tumour scan

A FATHER of three died of cancer after doctors failed to pass on a scan that revealed a tumour in his kidney which then grew unnoticed for 10 years.

Michael Lane, 50, died in May last year just five months after being diagnosed with kidney cancer despite undergoing a CT scan that revealed the tumour a decade earlier.

The forklift truck driver first went to Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital with telltale symptoms and a suspicious mass was detected in his right kidney.

But the radiology report was printed and filed without ever being sent to his consultant urologist or his GP, leaving the fatal tumour to grow.

Mr Lane spent 10 years unaware of his condition before he was eventually diagnosed in December 2020 with metastatic kidney cancer. An investigation report carried out by the NHS trust in May last year concluded that had his tumour been seen and operated on earlier he may have lived.

His family are now warning they fear patients are at risk of a missed cancer diagnosis due to a reliance on paper records. Relatives spoke out after they began legal proceedings against Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, which admitted possible systemic failures.

Mr Lane’s brother Mark said they were taking legal action to ensure that steps were taken to prevent similar mistakes from happening again.

He added: “Mike was a very private person and never wanted any fuss, but one of his regrets was trusting the doctors and assuming everything was ok.

“Now that our case has settled, I can’t help but worry that this isn’t a one-off and that other people have been failed like Mike and had crucial scan results go missing at this Trust. I hope they now come forward.

“Whilst a formal apology from the Trust has been requested, this has not yet been received by the family which continues to cause great upset.”

In an internal investigation by the

‘I can’t help but worry that other people have been failed like Mike. I hope they now come forward’

Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust they found other incidents in other departments “where paper reports have been filed without being actioned, and harm has come to other patients as a result of this process”.

Richard Steyn, co-medical director at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, said: “I want to offer our sincere apologies and condolences to the family of Mr Lane for failing to report the discovery of a tumour on an earlier scan.

“We carried out a thorough investigation into this case to learn lessons and are planning to introduce trust-wide electronic record systems.”