Brisbane, Australia – 14th February, 2018: The young mother of three lodged a $1 million medical negligence claim in the Supreme Court in Brisbane against three doctors as well as the Redcliffe Hospital, north of Brisbane.
Ms Elisara, 36, said she noticed rectal bleeding, low iron levels and had extreme pain when passing stools, but her doctor told her it was hemorrhoids.
After multiple visits to three different GPs over the following years, the pain became unbearable.
"I went back to the doctors and said: 'You need to do something, even if it is hemorrhoids I want something done, I can't continue living like this'," she said.
Ms Elisara said she was eventually referred for a colonoscopy at the Redcliffe Hospital in May 2015 but waited months on a list before having surgery for hemorrhoids in January 2017.
"That's when he [the doctor] told me that I actually had no hemorrhoids at all but I had a very large tumor in my colon," she said.
She was diagnosed with stage 3 bowel cancer.
Her lawyer Sarah Atkinson from Maurice Blackburn said they would be arguing the doctors and hospital were medically negligent for failing to refer Ms Elisara for a colonoscopy sooner, and for the time taken by the hospital in providing her with one.
"This case really stands out as an example of a young person really trying to do the right thing, but who has been terribly let down by the medical profession," Ms Atkinson said.
"If she had had that colonoscopy earlier, we are confident that it would have made a significant difference to her outcome."
In a statement, a Metro North Hospital and Health Service spokesperson said they would be defending the matter.
"While we can't comment further due to patient privacy and confidentiality reasons, we offer our ongoing support to the patient while they
Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-04/hospital-jodie-elisara-compensation-claim-bowel-cancer/9371386