Medical negligence could be linked to higher cancer death rate
As many as 15,000 elderly could be needlessly dying each year from cancer, possibly because of medical negligence on the part of the practitioners caring for them.
Research by the North West Cancer Intelligence Service has compared the death rate of cancer suffers over the age of 75 to those in Europe and the US and have concluded that poor diagnosis and slow treatment times could be the reason for the higher mortality rate in the UK. Dr Tony Moran, the Lead Researcher from the North West Cancer Intelligence Service said that although there have been improvements in cancer treatment during the last 10 years, older cancer sufferers did not appear to be benefitting from this.
He added that, although there could be a number of reasons the survival rate was lower in the UK, it seemed to be due to patient care: ‘The circumstantial evidence does suggest later diagnosis but there are many stages where these delays may occur - the patient, the GP or the hospital.’
Updated on 29/06/2009