A devastated daughter today condemned the health service after her mother died from colon cancer despite being repeatedly told she was only suffering constipation.
Maddy Pratt-Hooson, 66, went to her local GP surgery twice a week for six months complaining of severe abdominal pains.
But each time Maddy was told not to worry and sent back home to her bungalow in Newhaven, Sussex, where she lived alone.
Mother-of-three Maddy, a widow, was eventually rushed to hospital in the middle of the night after calling her daughter Laura Hooson in agony.
It was another ten days before she was diagnosed with colon cancer – and less than four weeks later she died from a massive tumour.
Angry Laura, 24, said: “She was failed by the NHS in every aspect – doctors, hospital, everything.
“She saw various doctors at her local surgery for six months but no-one properly examined her at all.
“She even saw out of hours doctors at the hospital but they all kept telling her she had constipation.
“One night she rang me in the middle of the night, crying her eyes out, and we got an ambulance to her and she ended up in hospital.
“That was on October 1st but it wasn’t until the 11th – another 10 days – before she was diagnosed with colon cancer.
“By then we were told that nothing could be done for her apart from keeping her comfortable.
“She came home for a couple of weeks but her final days were spent in a hospice as she went downhill fast and she passed away on November 5th.
“She suffered unnecessary pain and distress for the last seven months of her life due to NHS negligence and I think the public should be informed.”
Mum-of-one Laura, from Brighton, East Sussex, said she had tried to sue the NHS on her mother’s behalf but was told she was not allowed because she was over 18.
She is now consulting solicitors to see what other options she has.
