• 1/11/2005
  • London, England
  • Rebecca Smith
  • London Evening Standard (as reported in www.thislondon.co.uk)

A man has received almost £200,000 after being wrongly told that he had throat cancer and had 12 months to live. Alan Brant was “devastated” when doctors told him he had to undergo surgery to remove most of his gullet.

The mistaken diagnosis cost him his relationship and he almost lost his job. Complications left him dangerously ill and he has long-term side-effects as a result of the treatment.

Tests carried out after the surgery revealed Mr Brant, 54, had never had cancer. He has been given £192,000 in compensation after doctors owned up to making a horrendous mistake.

“I have gone through all this for nothing and for about six months I was suicidal,” he said. “The effect on my life has been devastating.”

Complications during surgery meant Mr Brant’s spleen had to be removed and he developed pneumonia and a dangerous abscess in his lung. After further treatment he cannot eat proper meals. He has to eat small snacks and cannot have food and drink together. He also has problems with stomach acid coming up into his mouth. Mr Brant, from Woking, said his relationship broke down under the stress and his job as a commercial kitchens designer suffered. His ordeal began when he experienced difficulties swallowing.

His GP referred him to a consultant gastroenterologist at St Peter’s Hospital in Chertsey, Surrey, who said there was an obstruction and took a biopsy. Then doctors told Mr Brant they had found a malignant cancer and without urgent surgery he would have between three and 12 months to live. Mr Brant told the Standard: “I trusted the professionals, I had no choice but I couldn’t believe it as I wasn’t ill.

“To be told that you have cancer is such a shock – it was like it was happening to someone else.” After surgery Mr Brant went to stay with his girlfriend in Scotland to recuperate, but a month later doctors called him back saying they had to see him urgently.

He said: “I thought they were going to say I was dying and they hadn’t caught it in time. But they said there had been a mistake – they were sorry but there was nothing they could do.

“I was so shocked. How do you believe that something like that could happen? It took a couple of weeks to sink in and then I became angry.”

Four months after the operation Mr Brant’s weight had plummeted and he was forced to go back to hospital where it was found an abscess was eating into his lung. He needed another month in hospital to bring it under control.

Mr Brant said: “I can’t bend over without stomach acid coming up into my mouth. I don’t go out for dinner any more because I can’t eat a full meal and can’t have a glass of wine with food, so what’s the point?”

Doctors at St Peter’s Hospital said the misdiagnosis occurred because forceps in a pathology laboratory had not been sterilised between samples and had become contaminated with material from another patient.

Mr Brant added: “I have been told it won’t have shortened my life but it has seriously affected the quality of my life.” He sued for negligence. Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals NHS Trust accepted liability and settled for ?192,000, including costs.

Chief executive Glenn Douglas said: “We are deeply sorry a mix-up in our pathology lab caused this problem. We recognised the problem, were open with Mr Brant, and have accepted liability.

“Mistakes of this type are rare and since 2000 we have invested ?1.7million in our pathology service and have new systems in place to prevent this happening again.” Mr Brant has been with his partner Julie Talbot, 54, for two years after she recognised him in a pub as a classmate from primary school.