Man told he had cancer sues NHS
Updated on 17 July 2009
A man who has been wrongly diagnosed with terminal cancer said he is to sue the NHS.
Phil Collins, 61, from Yetminster near Sherborne, Dorset, was told by a doctor, in April 2007 that he had advanced inoperable cancer.
The medic at the Dorset County Hospital in Dorchester said a scan had showed an enlarged gall bladder which had been diagnosed as cancer that had spread to his liver.
Mr Collins quit his job and spent £18,000 of his pension on a new Triumph motorbike and a car for his wife Isabel, 62, who also quit her job to care for him during his "last days".
But Mr Collins survived his last Christmas and in April this year further tests showed he only had an harmless abscess.
He is now in hospital and claims that the cancer drugs he took have ruined his health.
He told The Sun: "I was a fit man and had a lot of working life left. Now I can't do anything. I am shutting down. My stomach is so swollen it crushes my legs."
The hospital apologised for the error in a letter to the couple.
A spokesman for Dorset County Hospital said: "We apologise unreservedly for the misdiagnosis and are truly sorry for the distress and anxiety caused to Mr Collins and his family.
"We have already completed a full investigation to find out what led to the misdiagnosis and safeguard against this happening again."
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