‘I would rather be poor’: man says money cannot compensate for partner’s death after failed cancer diagnosis

“I remember the doctor, after he’d examined Helen and found a large lump in her colon, saying ‘it’s very sinister – we need to bring you in to be investigated.”

Darren Rosheski is recalling the moment a consultant doctor at Tameside hospital broke the news to his partner, Helen Dutton, that her symptoms – which also included back pain, passing blood and altered bowel habits – were so worrying that they needed further tests.

“I lost her because nobody listened to her. It came down to the GP not listening to her. They should have investigated her when she first saw the GP. Passing blood is a serious thing, isn’t it?”

The family doctor who Dutton saw then, back in late 2016, judged that her symptoms were signs of irritable bowel syndrome and haemorrhoids. The GP did not recommend any further action.

It proved a serious misjudgement. Dutton, a 35-year-old finance manager and mother of one, already had bowel cancer. However, it went undetected until she went back to her GP surgery two years later, saw a different doctor and was referred to Tameside hospital in Greater Manchester. In January 2019 she had a physical examination, CT and MRI scans and finally a colonoscopy, which confirmed the presence of a cancer that had already begun to spread.

Three weeks later doctors at Manchester’s Christie cancer hospital told Dutton she had advanced rectal cancer, a type of bowel cancer, that was already at stage 4. She had all three main types of cancer treatment: chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery. In June 2020, she was given the all-clear. But her cancer returned just two months later and she tragically died aged 40 a year later, in August 2021.

NHS in England has paid out almost £190m over the last five years to settle 870 claims involving misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis of cancer. Photograph: Geoffrey Swaine/Shutterstock

The GP’s failure to refer Dutton for tests when she first presented with her symptoms proved disastrous for her chances of survival – and also very costly for the NHS. Rosheski, a tradesman, hired Irwin Mitchell solicitors to sue the NHS over the errors in his partner’s care. He reached an out-of-court settlement for an undisclosed sum in January. He and their daughter were financially dependent on Dutton. The NHS did not admit liability.

“I would rather be poor and have Helen still around. A family has been destroyed by a doctor’s negligence. I don’t care about the compensation. I just wish she was here now,” he said. Both he and their daughter have suffered serious mental health problems since Dutton’s death five years ago. His diagnosed PTSD and complex grief mean he has only worked for a month since then.

Rosheski told his story as new figures today reveal that the NHS in England has paid out almost £190m over the last five years to settle 870 claims involving misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis of cancer. Total costs, including legal fees, have risen from £32m in 2020/21 to £41.3m in 2024/25.

“These figures are really alarming because they reveal that mistakes by NHS clinicians, in either misdiagnosing cancer or taking too long to diagnose it, are having devastating consequences for people’s health and lives”, said Olivia Boschat, a solicitor at lawyers Bolt Burdon Kemp.

A framed photograph of Rosheski and Helen with their daughter.
Photograph: Joel Goodman/The Guardian

“It is terribly sad to learn that 870 people have experienced such poor cancer care from the NHS that they or their relatives felt that they had to sue over mistakes that were highly damaging, and in some cases fatal.

“Behind these figures lie heartbreak, tragedy and, in some cases, lives cut short – lives that could have been saved but, because of errors and negligence, were ended prematurely,” added Boschat, a medical negligence specialist.

The difficulties patients can face accessing what is meant to be urgent testing for cancer on the NHS are often a key factor in such lawsuits, Boschat said. “Some delays in diagnosis are unavoidable because doctors need time to rule out other possible diagnoses, others happen because symptoms are overlooked, necessary tests are not carried out quickly enough, or results are missed or not acted on promptly.

“The consequences can be devastating. Delays may allow the cancer to spread, meaning more aggressive treatment is needed, and in the worst cases it may become untreatable, with life-changing or fatal consequences.”

Bolt Burdon Kemp obtained the figures using a freedom of information request to NHS Resolution, the agency which handles medical negligence lawsuits against the health service.

They show that the NHS settled 171 such cases last year, fewer than in each of the previous three years. Despite that, though, the average cost of settling actions has jumped over the last five years from £199,896 in 2020/21 to £241,705 in 2024/25 – a 20% rise.

Boschat believes that increase reflects the fact that delayed diagnosis of cancer is increasingly leading to greater harm for the patients involved, such as having to have more aggressive treatment or their ability to have children being impaired, especially among younger people.

The NHS has not met a target to start urgent cancer treatment within 31 days of a patient and doctor agreeing a treatment plan since December 2020. It has not met a target to start treatment within two months of a hospital receiving a suspected urgent cancer referral since December 2015.

‘I don’t care about the compensation’: Rosheski said his family had been ‘destroyed by a doctor’s negligence’.
Photograph: Joel Goodman/The Guardian

Guy Forster, the president of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers, said: “Some surviving victims need additional care, therapies and specialist equipment if the delay in diagnosis means they now have mobility or continence issues, for example.

“Some will be out of work for a long time. For those who have lost loved ones as a result of delays, lives will be turned upside down, partners and their children may be without the practical, emotional and financial support on which they are reliant.”

The Department of Health and Social Care did not respond directly to the rising costs of payouts for botched diagnosis of cancer, but admitted that mistakes happen.

“Early and accurate diagnosis is key to effective cancer treatment. This hasn’t happened in enough cases, and this government is determined to address this,” a spokesperson said.

“But we are making progress. In the last year, 82,000 more people received a timely diagnosis for suspected cancer or were given the all-clear compared to the year before.

“Through Jess’s rule we are supporting GPs in taking a ‘fresh eyes’ approach to cancer detection, and our national cancer plan will give family doctors digital tools to spot and flag concerning symptoms or test results earlier,” they added.