Greenwith woman Bridget Wyatt drops legal action over breast cancer screening bungle, warns against reliance on mammograms

AN Adelaide woman who has had to drop her legal action against the State Government over its breast cancer screening bungle is warning women not to rely on mammograms alone.

Breast cancer bungle

• Review of BreastScreen SA finds 72 cases of missed breast cancer
• BreastScreen SA ‘using fly-in, fly-out’ radiologists to fill gaps

AN Adelaide woman who has had to drop her legal action against the State Government over its breast cancer screening bungle is warning women not to rely on mammograms alone.

Bridget Wyatt was one of 570 women who had to be retested as a result of a botched changeover from analog to digital testing technology at BreastScreen SA.

More than 50,000 screening images were reviewed, leading to a report that found 72 cancer cases were missed between September 6, 2010 and July 1, 2012. Two women whose cancers were not identified died before the report was released in 2013.

About 80 women approached law firm Tindall Gask Bentley and many are pursuing compensation settlements with the Government, but the firm says none have been finalised.

Ms Wyatt, 55, of Greenwith, had a screening mammogram in 2011 and received the all clear a few months later. In early 2013 she was called back for a diagnostic mammogram and an ultrasound, which revealed a cancer that required surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

“I was peeved off, because I think if they had done the right thing my treatment would have been a lot easier. When you have to have chemotherapy and all those things, it’s horrendous,” she said.

“If they had called me back originally, I would have had another mammogram and an ultrasound and they probably would have found it then.”

Ms Wyatt said the original screening showed an “abnormality” that should have been detected. The Government review later deemed the imaging to be of poor quality and required retesting.

In response to her legal claim, Government lawyers argued there was no liability because the cancer was eventually found in a slightly different position to that abnormality.

Ms Wyatt said an oncologist’s report found the cancer would have been present at the time of the original mammogram and had she been called back for further tests then she could have avoided chemotherapy.

But a radiologist’s report disagreed, forcing her to drop her case.

“I’ve accepted that. My whole thing now is warning women to be more aware of themselves and not rely on a mammogram if something is not right,” she said.

“The message needs to get out to women to ask the question have I got dense breasts or not and get further testing if needed. Don’t just use mammograms because they are not that reliable.”

In a statement Tindall Gask Bentley partner Tim White said the firm was acting for “a large number” of women but could not proceed with some claims for a variety of reasons.

A TGB spokesman added the Government was keeping its promise to act as a “model litigant” and the firm was hopeful some cases would soon be finalised.

BreastScreen SA said mammograms were the only clinically proven way to screen for breast cancer. Ultrasounds were “very useful in assessing possible abnormalities identified on screening mammograms” but not recommended as a screening test.