UK Woman Misdiagnosed With Cancer For Two Years, Wins Compensation

Megan Royle, a 33-year-old theatrical make-up artist, lived for two years with a cancer diagnosis, undergoing nine cycles of treatment, surgery, and even fertility-affecting immunotherapy after being told she had skin cancer. However, her world was shattered when doctors revealed that she had been wrongly diagnosed. 

Both the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust have now compensated her for the misdiagnosis, as they misinterpreted her results in 2019. The error was only uncovered when another trust reviewed her records in 2021 after she moved to a new location.

UK Woman Misdiagnosed With Cancer For Two Years

Royle struggled to come to terms with the shocking revelation and felt a profound sense of disbelief. She shared her ordeal, saying, "You just can’t really believe something like this can happen, and still to this day I’ve not had an explanation as to how and why it happened. I spent two years believing I had cancer, went through all the treatment and then was told there had been no cancer at all."

In 2019, Royle was referred for a dermatology review at Chelsea & Westminster Hospital after she reported that a mole on her upper arm had grown in size, become itchy, and scabbed. A biopsy initially confirmed melanoma, a type of skin cancer, leading to further treatment at the Royal Marsden Hospital.

She was subsequently referred to The Royal Marsden Hospital's specialist cancer unit. Once again, her biopsy confirmed the presence of melanoma. To address this, she underwent a surgical procedure involving a 2cm-wide tissue excision to remove the suspected cancer.

In addition to her treatment, she received immunotherapy, which had the potential to affect her fertility. As a precaution, she decided to undergo egg preservation to preserve her fertility options.

After completing nine treatment cycles, her last one being in May 2021, and after being informed that there were no signs of the disease, she relocated to the North due to the lockdown's impact on her work in the theatre. It was during this time that her medical records and scans were reviewed by a new hospital trust, leading to the revelation of the error in her initial cancer diagnosis.

Wins Compensation

According to a news report she said, "When the doctors sat me down and told me it took a while to sink in. You’d think the immediate emotion would be relief, and in some sense it was, but I’d say the greater emotions were frustration and anger."

According to the same news report, Royle, who was represented by Hull-based Hudgell Solicitors, has achieved an out-of-court settlement with the two London NHS trusts responsible for her situation.

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