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But she continued to gain weight, and developed new symptoms
including poor sleep, increased bruising, and a deterioration
in the condition of her skin and hair. She also started to
develop a hunched back and had heavy and frequent periods.
She attended the Defendant's Hospital in March/April 1996
for investigations (having been referred by her GP with a
letter suggesting that she might have pituitary disease).
One of the results was reported to be high, but no further
investigations were undertaken, and no diagnosis was made
despite a re-referral to the Defendant's Hospital in September
1996.
During the period from 1996 to 2001 Deborah became very ill.
She had frequent infections including two bouts of pleurisy,
an infected breast cyst and infected laparotomy site. She
developed psychological symptoms with violent and angry outbursts
and self-harm to herself, and became very depressed. Her husband
gave up work to care for her and her children. It was only
when Deborah was eventually referred to another hospital at
the end of 2000, that the correct diagnosis of Cushing's Disease
was made, and she went on to have two operations in March
2001 to remove the tumour. Following the second operation
she had complications being a CSF leak which was not linked
to the delay in diagnosis and meningitis. There followed an
extended period of convalescence of about 18 months.
The Defendant conceded that there was a delay in diagnosis
from September 1996, and it was agreed that Deborah would
have undergone the same operations with the same outcome.
The claim settled for £350,000 three weeks before trial.
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