A MEDICAL expert has described the delayed diagnosis of fatal cancer in a 61-year old man, who had been in and out of the University Hospital in Limerick for a decade, as “astounding”.
UK based Consultant Urological Surgeon, Ron Miller, made the remarks at the conclusion of his report into the treatment of the late Timothy Moynihan from Hospital in Co. Limerick who died of cancer in 2009.
Mr Moynihan’s son, Gerard, settled a civil High Court case for damages against the HSE for an undisclosed sum before Christmas.
Mr Miller said that raised levels in tests carried out ten years earlier and later abnormalities in Mr Moynihan’s prostate should have set off alarm bells and led to further tests and treatment which could have saved him.
“Patients do not turn up with disseminated prostate cancer with bone secondaries in a period of days or weeks. This process usually takes many years,” he said.
Having examined the medical notes of Mr Moynihan’s treatment and investigations, which began in 1997 and led to a diagnosis of early bladder cancer in 1998, Mr Miller criticised the lack of a particular procedure – a bimanual examination – which he said was vital in checking the prostate of anyone at risk.
The prostate cancer was not diagnosed until two months before Mr Moynihan’s death.
“While it is not uncommon to find difficulties in the diagnosis of prostate cancer by General Practitioners, the negligence of the Urology Department remains astounding.
“In 2008, Mr Moynihan presented to hospital with terminal disseminated prostate cancer, despite the fact that he had undergone 10 years of intensive hospital monitoring for a superficial bladder cancer involving regular check cystoscopies by experienced Urological Surgeons,” Mr Miller said.
“The fact that multiple check cystoscopies for bladder cancer were carried out without bimanual examination is prima facie evidence of poor standard of care. On the balance of probabilities, there is no doubt that had Mr Moynihan’s prostate cancer being diagnosed at an earlier stage curative treatment could have been instituted thus preventing the disseminated nature of disease and fatal outcome,” he concluded.
The dead man’s son, Gerard told the Limerick Post: “these were basic tests but they were not done. It’s unbelievable that urologists did not diagnose the cancer”,
Gerard obtained his father’s medical records on foot of a Freedom of Information request.
“I would urge everyone who is reading this and has any symptoms to insist on having these tests, particularly men over the age of fifty”.
The HSE said it cannot comment on individual cases.
