Legal claim over diagnosis delay

Mr Herod's widow said he never received an apology

A widow is taking legal action against a hospital trust after it failed to pass on her husband's test results which delayed his diagnosis for a year.

Former paramedic Michael Herod, 59, died in March 2008 from renal cancer.

Basingstoke and North Hampshire NHS Foundation Trust admitted not passing on results showing malignant cysts on a kidney and cancer in his lungs in 2005.

A trust spokesperson said it was working closely with the NHS Litigation Authority "to resolve this claim".

Mr Herod and his GP discovered the condition a year later, which was then too late.

'Left in limbo'

His widow Gillian also alleges that the cysts on his kidney were first discovered in 1991 but her husband was told they were benign, which is disputed by the hospital.

Mrs Herod, of Basingstoke, said she believed if the kidney had been removed at that point, before the cancer spread, her husband would have survived.

"Mike never received an apology and that really hurt," she said.

"Mike being a paramedic and myself working for the NHS, we used to have such great faith in them.

"We accepted the fact that everyone's human and errors can be made, but to have no explanation or anything, then you are just left in limbo."

The family's legal team said court proceedings have recently been issued in the High Court.

A spokesperson for Basingstoke and North Hampshire NHS Foundation Trust said it was working closely with the NHS Litigation Authority to resolve the claim.