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Kingsley Napley LLP
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Richard Lodge settles claim for failures in surgery for bladder cancer | Case Studies | We Case Studies Richard Lodge settles claim for failures in surgery for bladder cancer Richard Lodge and Andrea Wadden acted for a 65-year-old woman who suffered a serious injury to her bladder following surgery at Bedford Hospital. Our client was diagnosed with cancerous bladder tumours (that were not invading the surrounding muscle) in 2019. She underwent a procedure to remove the cancer (a TURBT – trans urethral resection of bladder tumour) in 2019 and again in early 2020. However, she suffered a further recurrence of tumours later that year. She accordingly had a further TURBT procedure followed by an injection of intravesical Mitomycin-C (MMC) (a chemotherapy drug) into her bladder to kill any cancer cells that may have remained post-surgery. Our client was in significant pain after her operation but was discharged the same day having been prescribed pain relief. She suffered ongoing extreme pain and a couple of months later, while reviewing the possibility of having her bladder removed, it was identified that her bladder may have been perforated during the TURBT procedure. We obtained independent expert evidence from a urologist. The claim advanced was that our client’s bladder was perforated during the TURBT procedure and that this had not been noticed by the surgeon whose actions were negligent. MMC was then injected into the bladder which leaked through the perforation causing severe pain in the surrounding area. The post-operative pain was not properly recognised and the MMC not drained. This led to permanent damage from perivesical fibrosis (thickening of the tissue around the bladder) and scarring. Our client suffered from urinary frequency, urgency and incontinence with variable ongoing pain affecting her mobility. She required specialist pelvic health physiotherapy.
Measurable Results
£200,000 settlement at mediation for bladder perforation during cancer surgery at Bedford Hospital. Defendant admitted perforation should have been recognised and chemotherapy should not have been administered.