A family doctor has been ordered to undertake training and apologise to a family, after failing to treat a fatal thyroid lump.
The man's GP believed he was getting counselling for his depression. Photo: 123RF
A 76-year-old woman booked an appointment in December 2015 but it was not until the following December that an ultrasound was taken, which found an aggressive, inoperable thyroid cancer.
The woman died as a result.
The Health and Disability Commissioner said in its finding today the woman had discovered a lump in her neck and made an appointment to see her GP in 2015.
Because her GP was away, the woman was seen by another doctor who ordered blood tests and drafted a referral for an ultrasound scan, which her GP was to send out upon returning to work.
That did not happen.
Six months later the woman went back to her GP on an unrelated matter and mentioned she had yet to receive an appointment for a scan.
It was finally sent four weeks after that second appointment but because it was marked as "routine" there was a five-month wait.
The ultrasound was finally taken in December 2016, and a biopsy was ordered to look into a suspicious lesion, which found inoperable anaplastic carcinoma.
The Commissioner found the GP had failed to provide the woman with reasonable care and skill, failed to convey appropriate urgency in referral, failed to track progress of the referral, and failed to review management of the lump in a second unrelated check-up.
These amounted to a breach of consumer rights, and the GP was ordered to undergo training for management of thyroid lumps within three months, and apologise by letter to the family.
The GP's medical centre was found liable.
