Missed cancer diagnosis leaves patient Claus Burg with only a year to live

An investigation into a missed cancer diagnosis which has left a man with only a year or two to live has found that the tumour should have been found sooner by SA Health staff.

Claus and Lynda Burg. Claus has terminal cancer, but the diagnosis was missed. Picture: Channel 7 News

One of South Australia’s most senior health executives has apologised “unreservedly” to a northern suburbs man who will die from cancer following a missed diagnosis.

Claus Burg, 70, was given the all clear in July last year after nine years of gradual recovery from cancer which had resulted in his bladder and prostate being removed.

But in the months after the all clear, Mr Burg started losing weight and suffered a stabbing pain in his side.

“They were scanning my liver and lungs to see if the cancer had come back,” Mr Burg said. “But what they didn’t do was scan the rest of my body. The moral of the story is you can have all the wonderful equipment under the sun but if no one is using it properly then it is useless.”

A camera discovered a cancer at the top of Mr Burg’s stomach and a subsequent CAT scan showed the cancer had spread to his liver and was inoperable.

“It was basically a death sentence,” Mr Burg said. “If it had been caught earlier there is the chance it could have been cut out, but now it is too late.”

Mr Burg said that he wanted to see hospitals running like production lines and a more holistic approach to the human body introduced.

Mr Burg’s prognosis of one to two years has left his wife Lynda devastated.

Central Adelaide Local Health Network chief executive Lesley Dwyer said that an investigation of the QEH medical oncology and SA Medical Imaging found the cancer should have been diagnosed sooner.

“I am so very sorry to hear of Mr Burg’s recent illness and concerns around a delay in diagnosis,” she said.

“This truly is a regrettable case and I apologise to Mr Burg and his family unreservedly.

“To ensure this doesn’t happen in future, clinical staff have been reminded to adhere to both process and policies which dictate any significant or unexpected finding must be communicated with the referring clinician immediately.”

It is unclear whether the SA Health employee who missed the cancer is still employed within the government department.

Mr Burg wrote to Health Minister Stephen Wade about the fatal mistake but did not hear back for months.

Mr Wade said the complicated nature of the mistake had led to the delay.

“A lot of these matters are detailed and we are certainly concerned about the matters Mr Burg has raised,” he told Channel 7.

Assistant Shadow Minister for Health Blair Boyer said is was an “utter failure” from Mr Wade to contact Mr Burg.

“Stephen Wade has know about this matter for almost 10 weeks, but instead it took the involvement of the media for a letter from the bureaucracy to be belated sent to Mr Burg,” he said.

“If a cancer misdiagnosis like this is not worthy of the Minister for Health’s immediate attention it raises very serious questions about what is happening in Stephen Wade’s office.”