A Salford student claims a ‘missed’ diagnosis that could have been treated in childhood has left her on medication for life.
Karina McNally, 21, a student of The University of Salford, is planning to sue the NHS for not diagnosing her kidney complaint when she was seven years old. She now has permanent damage to her left kidney.
She said: “I’m in constant pain, I have to take four gabapetin tablets a day for life, when this could have been treated with a year course of antibiotics when the problems began when I was a child.”
Miss McNally has undergone four invasive procedures for the reflux disease. During one, four doctors examined her while she urinated standing up, so that X-rays could determine whether urine remained inside her bladder.
The medical implications with Miss Mcnally’s left kidney have left her in agony and unable to drink alcohol, which makes her feel left out.
She said: “The pain was that bad at one point that I rang an ambulance. I attend pain management clinics but still have to deal with on going issues.”
After a series of urine infections and hospital visits when she was seven, her mother was told that doctors suspected it may simply be a hygiene issue.
“I’ve been told it’s been kidney stones, UTIs, IBS. It was only this year that I was told of my condition and that if it had been diagnosed I could have avoided four operations,” she said.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health has said regarding complaints about late diagnosis: “We are examining a move to obliging the NHS as a whole to report (them) to the national reporting and learning system run by National Patient Safety Agency. The NHS already collects data on safety incidents including misdiagnoses through the National Patient Safety Agency’s reporting system and uses this data to learn from incidents.”
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