How Medical Innovation Saved My Life

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By @DominicNutt diabetic and cancer patient

Two years ago I was diagnosed with a rare, incurable cancer. Had it not been for my surgeon, who pushed the boundaries of accepted treatment, the chances are that I would now be living on death row. But unless a new Bill is made law, other doctors may be too scared to do the same.

In December 2011, I developed a nagging pain in the lower right side of my stomach and was admitted to hospital for an emergency appendectomy. However, tests showed there was nothing wrong with my appendix. But my consultant, told me that “by luck” they had found on it a rare, 12mm neuroendocrine tumour (known as a Net).

It had not been responsible for the pain, the cause of which to this day remains a mystery.

I had my appendix removed, which is standard treatment for Nets – otherwise, the tumour would have spread and killed me, because Nets do not respond to chemotherapy or radiotherapy.

The next bit was tricky. Nets are so rare that there is little knowledge as to how they behave. All doctors do is make estimates based on limited case studies.

My consultant, a colorectal surgeon, said that standard procedure for a Net of 10mm or smaller is to remove it, but not to take any other action, since the best guess is that the chance of spread is low.

Anything over 20mm, however, and doctors will remove nearby lymph nodes, the first organs that cancers normally spread to before invading the rest of the body.

Anything between those sizes, like my tumour, leaves doctors scratching their heads. They would be entitled to take no action. Also, surgery to remove my lymph nodes would mean slicing out a large part of my colon, with all the inherent risks. I am an insulin-dependent diabetic, so the hazards of surgery were even greater for me.

Fortunately, my consultant reviewed my case with other experts and they recommended surgery.

When the results came back, they found a cancerous cell in one of the 17 lymph nodes they had removed. The cancer had spread, despite very low odds.

This is a tale of a doctor who was prepared to take a risk – one that has probably saved my life. But had there been complications, and had he not found a cancerous cell, I, or my widow, could have sued.

Last year, spending on negligence claims by the NHS Litigation Authority, which provides indemnity cover for such claims, was, for the first time, more than £1  billion.

And legal cases against the NHS pending in the litigation pipeline could amount to a bill of £24 billion – around half the UK defence budget.

Frightened of litigation, many doctors do not push the boundaries of medical knowledge, and opt instead for “safe” standard procedures.

I tell this tale in support of Maurice Saatchi, who has drafted the Medical Innovation Bill which, if passed, will allow doctors, with the patient’s consent and in cases where the evidence on standard procedures is unclear, to innovate.

It would enable them to review such cases with other experts – as my consultant did – and come to a collective decision. Following this process would give them a legal defence if things were to go wrong.

The Secretary of State for Health, @Jeremy_Hunt, supports the Bill and has opened it out to a public consultation.  He has told Parliament that if the public responds positively to the consultation, then the Bill will become law.

It’s now in our hands.

Dominic Nutt is part of the Saatchi Bill team.

 

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