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A woman who visited doctors after suffering "horrendous stomach pains" for years only discovered she had bowel cancer through a follow-up appointment for an unrelated melanoma.
The Health and Disability Commissioner (HDC) received a complaint from the woman in September 2023 about the care she had received from her local practitioners.
Sadly, she died about 18 months later, aged 43.
The woman said in her complaint she was told her symptoms were due to constipation or irritable bowel syndrome and she had not been offered a colonoscopy.
In May 2023, at a follow-up appointment for a neck melanoma that had been excised in February 2021, she raised her gastrointestinal symptoms and unintentional weight loss issues with an ear, nose and throat registrar.
She told the registrar she had a node on her neck, and they arrange
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