Source: Mirror News

By: Jeremy Armstrong

A mum told she had earache actually had a giant tumour.

It took medics a year to spot Paula Bell’s mouth cancer. Believing it harmless, they took another year to operate. Part of the tumour remains.

Paula, 41, of Newcastle, said: “I got on my knees and begged the specialist to operate. I was that desperate.”

She was referred to Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital in 2006 and said: “I was put on antibiotics as they thought it was an ear infection. That went on for months.” In March 2007, a doctor suspected a dislocated jaw and sent her to the nearby General Hospital.

It took two months for scans to find the tumour. Surgeons operated in April 2008 – then realised its severity.

Paula got an undisclosed payout.

Newcastle Hospitals Trust said it was not an “admission as to liability”.