A WOMAN has lost faith in hospital staff who misdiagnosed her mother with lung cancer.

Joan Butcher died earlier this year, aged 90.

Pauline Williams, from Southwick, struggled to fully understand her mother’s condition in the lead-up to her death and requested a post-mortem report.

The report, seen by The Argus, states: “There is no evidence of lung carcinoma.”

But Mrs Williams, 61, and her mother were both under the impression Mrs Butcher had lung cancer.

In the medical notes it is clear the elderly lady, a grandmother of six and great-grandmother of five, and Mrs Williams were told about the cancer diagnosis in 2017.

One of Mrs Butcher’s medical reports says: “Lung cancer – decision made with family to not treat patient acutely.”

Mrs Williams said: “It was just an awful end to Mum’s life thinking she had lung cancer.

“It made things incredibly distressing.

“She kept saying ‘I am just waiting for it to happen’ and I think the stress it all caused her brought on her confusion and deterioration.

“I couldn’t believe it when the post-mortem report clarified she didn’t actually have cancer.

“I am just devastated because she passed away thinking that she had cancer.”

Mrs Williams said she was also furious that doctors at Worthing Hospital had told her fragile mother about the diagnosis.

She had specifically asked staff not to tell Mrs Butcher about cancer, even if they believed she had it.

She said: “Mum always told us she didn’t want to know if she had cancer.

“Shortly after we were told about the diagnosis, we made it clear to medical staff not to tell her because we knew it

would have been so distressing for her.

“We didn’t want her to worry because she wasn’t well anyway.

“But she started crying herself to sleep and we never understood why.

“And then it turns out they told her, which was just horrendous of them after we begged them not to. It clearly said in the medical notes ‘daughters do not want patient to be informed re diagnosis’.

“It was just a horrendous way for her to go, knowing about this and going to sleep with it on her mind.”

In the medical notes, also seen by The Argus, it states: “They [Mrs Butcher’s daughters] were upset about the cancer diagnosis and that their mother was informed about the diagnosis previously.”

Mrs Williams said she wrote a complaint letter to the hospital but said the response did not reference the misdiagnosed cancer.

Western Sussex Hospitals’ chief nurse Dr Maggie Davies said: “We send our sincere condolences to the family of Mrs Butcher.

“We aim to always provide the very best care to our patients and their families and take any concerns raised very seriously.

“It would not be appropriate to discuss Mrs Butcher’s care here, other than to say we met with her family in April and welcomed the opportunity to hear their views first hand, in order that any learning could be shared with our teams.”