Settlement ends Welsh family's fight over fatal misdiagnosis

A five year court battle in Wales, UK over a misdiagnosis has come to an end with damages awarded in the amount of £350,000

23 year old Laviana Bletchly was a student at the University of Wales Institute in Cardiff when, shortly after giving birth to her second child in May 2004, she began having pelvic and abdominal pain. Several exams followed, which found nothing until an ultrasound in February 2005 showed a cyst. Otherwise, Bletchly's complaints were largely ignored by her doctors, who often told her that her symptoms were merely in her head.

She would be admitted to the hospital many times over the coming weeks, until a CT scan and exploratory surgery revealed she had tumors from her bowel to her stomach.

Diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (subtype not mentioned in news reports), she underwent chemotherapy but died less than three weeks after the CT scan.

The settlement money, coming from the Abertawe Bro Morgannwg NHS Trust, responsible for her care, is meant to care for Bletchly's two young children.

Sources: Wales Online and The Mirror