Madeleine Dippnall initially suffered panic attacks, resulting in a diagnosis of depression and PTSD, despite her belief that something more was amiss. However, after experiencing a seizure, she was diagnosed with epilepsy. Now on appropriate medication, her depression has subsided. Dippnall’s experience highlights the importance of accurate diagnosis and the potential consequences of misdiagnosis.
An 84-year-old man, Alan Soane, died in June 2023 from complications of a high-risk surgery to remove a rare form of cancer that he did not have. The misdiagnosis was made after an endoscopy and biopsy of Mr. Soane’s small intestine at a local hospital in Essex, which concluded that he likely had a type of cancer that grows in glands that line the organ. Further tests were not conducted to confirm the diagnosis. Mr. Soane was referred to the Royal London Hospital, where doctors diagnosed him with cancer of the duodenum based on an immunohistochemical test. However, they did not perform any further biopsy tests to confirm this diagnosis. As a result, Mr. Soane underwent a complex and risky Whipple procedure, which carries a 10% chance of dying during or after surgery and a 5% chance of surviving up to five years, even if successful. Mr. Soane died on June 26 as a direct result of complications from the surgery. A Prevention of Future Deaths report issued by the coroner for Inner North London raised concerns that the Royal London Hospital did not have a consultant histopathologist to help doctors. Histopathologists study organs, tissues, cells, and genetics to help provide a diagnosis. The report also noted that the issue of a shortage of consultant histopathologists had been on the Trust’s risk register for over five years, with 25% of such roles vacant nationally. The coroner expressed concern that the national shortage of consultant histopathologists puts a widespread proportion of the patient population at a significant risk.
