Woman loses part of lung to '99.99%' certain cancer diagnosis, later learns it was pneumonia

A woman who was told by her doctors that she had lung cancer had a part of the organ removed in 2020, only to be told later that that wasn't the case. The British woman Erica Hay was given a suspected cancer diagnosis when she reached out for medical help following pain in her shoulders and across her chest, BBC reported. The doctors told her they were "99.9% certain" that she had cancer. The South Yorkshire resident underwent multiple tests before the doctors reached this conclusion. However, COVID-19 was raging at the time and pandemic restrictions meant that she could not get a biopsy. "I had to go home and tell my children and parents that I had cancer. I tried to be strong for them, but I just fell to pieces," she told the BBC.

The cancer diagnosis meant she had to have surgery. Local media outlet Doncaster Free Press reported that in September of the same year, the lower lobe of her right lung was removed. But two weeks later, she was given another piece of news which left her shaken. The doctors told her she did not have cancer, and the mass in her lung was caused by pneumonia. “At my two-week review, the surgeon told me I was in the one per cent of people who didn’t have cancer, and that it was likely to have been an infection," the outlet reported.

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Woman is now having problems breathing and is considering early retirement

“I was just as shocked to find out I didn’t have cancer as I was when they first told me I did," Hay said. Notably, she has worked for over 30 years in the UK's National Health Service (NHS). She is baffled by what happened to her, since the problem could have been treated with medicine, but instead, she had surgery, which has changed her life. She now experiences breathing difficulties, and her lungs feel heavy. She says, it gets so bad, "it's like I've had the operation again." Hay is a neonatal nurse assistant at Doncaster Royal Infirmary. She is now considering early retirement on health grounds.

She filed a clinical negligence claim following the incident. The Sheffield-based law firm Medical Solicitors told the BBC that the case was settled, although the hospital trusts involved didn't admit liability or causation, a spokesperson for Medical Solicitors noted. Acting executive medical director at Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Dr Nick Mallaband, issued a statement to the BBC, apologising to Hay and her family.