Mother Is 'Traumatized' by Treatment After Misdiagnosis

A British mother has gone to medical-treatment hell and back after being misdiagnosed with breast cancer, the BBC reports. Sarah Boyle, 28, was needlessly given chemotherapy and a double mastectomy. "Being told I had cancer was awful, but then to go through all of the treatment and surgery to then be told it was unnecessary was traumatizing," says the resident of Stoke-on-Trent, England. The nightmare began in 2016 when her six-month-old boy Teddy seemed "very distressed" when feeding from her right breast. So she went to Royal Stoke Hospital and underwent a scan and biopsy. Only after her treatment, in 2017, did she learn someone had botched the recording of her biopsy sample.

"As if that wasn't bad enough, I am now worried about the possibility of actually developing cancer in the future because of the type of implants I have and I am also worried about complications that I may face because of my chemotherapy," she tells the Telegraph. She was able to have another child late last year, but her treatment made breastfeeding impossible. The spokesperson for a hospital trust has admitted to the error, and Boyle is pursuing legal action, but her lawyer says she has seen no improvements "to prevent something like this happening again." (More hospital stories.)