Fourteen years of useless chemotherapy. This is the sad fate suffered by a British patient suffering from a cancerous brain tumor followed at the University Hospital of Coventry, in central England, reports the BBC.
The hospital acknowledged its mistake and said it was conducting an internal review into the major incident, while emphasizing that it was committed to providing the best care to its patients. Guidelines from the NHS recommend that the chemotherapy drug she was initially prescribed, temozolomide, not be used for more than six months.
Lawyers representing the patient claim to know twelve other patients, also being treated in Coventry, saying that his case is only the “tip of the iceberg”. According to lawyers, long-term treatment with temozolomide risks causing secondary cancer or even chronic liver problems in particular.
The patient, who was initially treated for a cancerous brain tumor, reported experiencing fatigue, joint pain, gastrointestinal distress, recurring mouth ulcers and nausea, due to the ongoing treatment.
Her prolonged chemotherapy program was only discovered when her specialist doctor, Professor Ian Brown, retired. It was the specialist who took over who then confirmed that the four-week chemotherapy cycles he was undergoing were not necessary.
-“I can’t imagine the impact that had on him. I would like to apologize on behalf of the foundation for the unnecessary treatment your son is receiving,” Ian Hardy, the hospital’s executive director, wrote in a letter to the patient’s mother.
Professor Ian Brown has since been referred to the Medical Association by the law firm representing the patient. He is now subject to interim restrictions, with conditions on his ability to practice and cannot prescribe or have primary responsibility for administering chemotherapy drugs pending the conclusion of the investigation.
“Undergoing repeated waves of temozolomide chemotherapy for over a decade has had a significant impact on our client’s health, well-being and quality of life. This limited his educational and professional options and made starting a family extremely stressful,” said law firm member Fiona Tinsley.
