Teenager dies from rare cancer after receiving poor hospital treatment

Bronte Doyne passed away in 2013.

Bronte Doyne passed away in March, 2013, 16 months after her doctors told her she would survive her cancer. Doyne revealed in her diary how ignored and "fed up" she felt when she noticed her doctors were not taking her as seriously as she believed was needed.

MUNTINLUPA, PHILIPPINES (Catholic Online) - Doctors lectured her to stop searching for and reading information about her condition online. Years after, Doyne's mother advocates for cancer patients and the doctors, who took Doyne's case, admitted their inattention.

Doyne left heartbreaking and desperate messages begging the doctors to take her situation and life seriously. Doyne's mother was the one who released the messages before she died.

According to one of Doyne's diary entries, she was "fed up of trusting" the medical team who rejected the possibility of her dying and told her to "stop Googling" the very rare disease that she knew would eventually kill her.   

Doyne was diagnosed with fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma (FBC), an atypical form of liver cancer that only affects about 200 people globally each year. Despite the fact that she underwent surgery in September 2011 and was ensured that she would be safe from the cancer, she learned in a prestigious American medical research that her disease, FBC, often returns.

When Doyne consulted the doctors regarding what she learned, their fears were simply dismissed. "I got so angry because the doctor was so rude and just shrugged his shoulders," she wrote in her diary.

Seven months after Doyne's operation and being advised that she would be alright now, the teenager tweeted, "My body does not feel very good #helpme."

In November 2012, she wrote a diary entry stating, "Feeling sick for months now. Tired of this feeling c***. Hospital not worried so trying to get on with it."

These diary entries and social media posts by Doyne were passed on to the hospital as part of the legal complaint after her death.

According to Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) medical director Doctor Stephen Fowlie, "We apologize that our communication with Bronte and her family fell short. We did not listen with sufficient attention. We should have referred Bronte to the expert support available from the Teenage Cancer Trust much sooner," and "We are sharing the learning from Bronte's experience. Lorraine is assisting us to improve how we help patients."

In addition, the NHS trust who treated Doyne swore to acknowledge the "internet age" and accept patients' utilization of the internet to learn about their illnesses. The medical authorities admitted, "We did not listen with sufficient attention."
   

---

'Help Give every Student and Teacher FREE resources for a world-class Moral Catholic Education'

Copyright 2021 - Distributed by Catholic Online