A devastated woman claims doctors failed to tell her she had lung cancer despite numerous chest X-rays for the past two years for problems with her heart.

Sally Watson, 55, of High Woods, Colchester, suffered several heart attacks in the late 1990s which led to her having a heart bypass operation in 2000 at the London Chest Hospital.

Since then she has been "in and out" of Colchester General Hospital for chest pains and has had a variety of X-rays and scans.

Mrs Watson claims despite all these no-one at the hospital told her of the abnormality on her right lung and did not refer her to a cancer specialist for further tests.

She also blamed a "breakdown in communication" leading to a failure to inform her or her GP of the problem, despite her GP sending her to the hospital several times for scans.

A spokesman for Essex Rivers Healthcare Trust confirmed it was investigating the complaint through set procedures.

He said: "We can't comment any further on this as we don't want to pre-judge our investigation."

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Published Wednesday, September 29, 2004

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