Anger over cancer 'misdiagnosis'

Mr Kyte was treated at the Weston General Hospital

A man who claims he was wrongly diagnosed with terminal cancer is considering suing the Somerset hospital which treated him.

Norman Kyte says he was told by a consultant at the Weston General Hospital in Weston-super-Mare in February that he had inoperable pancreatic cancer after complaining of severe abdominal pain.

The 53-year-old, who survived bowel cancer twice when he was in his 30s, resigned from his job as a property manager for a retail company the following day.

He spent £4,500 on a two-week cruise to South America and the Caribbean believing that it would be his last family holiday.

It is unimaginable - telling your children you're going to die, and then having to live with that feeling for two months

Norman Kyte

But when he returned in April, he was told by the hospital that further tests had revealed he did not have pancreatic cancer.

Mr Kyte, from Weston-super-Mare, said: "Initially there was some measure of relief - the anger came later.

"Everyone talks about the money, but no-one mentions the stress. It is unimaginable - telling your children you're going to die, and then having to live with that feeling for two months.

Morphine treatment

"I accept that people make mistakes, but the doctors, for whatever reason, have not put their hands up."

The cause of his abdominal pain, for which he is being treated with morphine, has still not been diagnosed.

He also faces a four-month wait for an operation to remove a lesion on his lung, which Mr Kyte said doctors had originally decided not to treat because they thought he was going to die.

Mr Kyte, who is now unemployed, said he is considering whether to take legal action against the hospital.

A spokeswoman for the Weston General Hospital said Mr Kyte had been told it was likely he had pancreatic cancer, but she said it was made clear to him that further tests would be needed to confirm the diagnosis.

"Our records do not show he was definitely told he had terminal cancer."