A university professor died of lung cancer aged 37 after doctors repeatedly dismissed her illness as 'purely psychological'.
Lisa
Smirl, 37, saw three different doctors with a range of symptoms over a
year-long period but they were dismissed as anxiety and depression.
By the time cancer was finally diagnosed it had spread throughout her body and was terminal.
Dr
Smirl, who was married to a medical doctor and lived in Leeds and
Brighton, kept a heartbreaking online blog about her treatment.
Misdiagnosis: Despite Lisa Smirl seeing three
doctors with symptoms, her lung cancer was repeatedly written off as
'anxiety and depression'
Shortly
after her diagnosis, she wrote: 'How is it possible that a 36-year-old,
health [obsessed] conscious, occasionally social smoking, middle class,
fiance of a doctor can develop metastatic lung cancer unnoticed. How?!?
'What the consultant told us was that not only was it the c-word, but that it was everywhere.
'My brain, my bones, my liver. While in some ways this was a terrible surprise, in another it was a huge relief.
'For the last year I'd been battling a
range of bizarre and seemingly disparate symptoms that had forced me in
September 2011 to go on sick leave from my job as a lecturer (assistant
professor).
'The diagnosis
at the time was anxiety and/or depression. And while I was both anxious
and depressed, this was due to the increasingly disabling symptoms that
my doctor kept insisting were purely psychological.
'So I was actually grateful for a medical diagnosis that confirmed there were objective, physical reasons behind my illness.'
Cambridge-educated Dr
Smirl, who was originally from Canada, wrote how she first experienced
shortness of breath and wheezing in late 2010, which was wrongly
diagnosed as asthma.
Not psychological: Lisa Smirl said in her blog she was relieved to have a concrete diagnosis even though it was of cancer
In spring 2011, she was referred to a
physiotherapist for shoulder and arm pain and started experiencing
'visual migraines' - losing her vision for half an hour - in June.
By
September 2011, Dr Smirl was so sick she was forced to leave work,
having been diagnosed with depression and anxiety and put on
anti-depressants.
But
despite a dramatic weight loss, she claimed three different family
doctors refused to consider her symptoms in connection with each other.
Relief: Dr Smirl wrote a blog on her diagnosis,
saying she was 'actually grateful' for a medical diagnosis that
confirmed there were 'objective, physical reasons' behind her symptoms
She
wrote: 'Still, despite my pleas, and a dramatic weight loss, none of my
doctors (and I saw three different family practitioners) would consider
my symptoms in conjunction with one another - insisting that they were
all common, unrelated problems (migraines, asthma, depression, back
pain).'
In
November 2011, she misread her asthma prescription and took ten times
the recommended amount - but the drug made no difference to a violent
cough.
Her doctor finally sent her for a routine X-ray and within hours, she was given the devastating news that she had cancer.
On
her blog, called Stage V - as stage IV of cancer is considered terminal
- she describes her journey from 'a woman diagnosed with "anxiety" to
one with metastatic cancer'.
Dr
Smirl wrote: 'I can't prove it, and this is just my opinion, but I have
no doubt in my own mind that my misdiagnosis was in large part due to
the fact that I was a middle aged female and that my male doctors were
preconceived towards a psychological rather than a physiological
diagnosis.
'It is so
easy to say that someone's symptoms are "anxiety" related if they are a
little bit complicated, unclear or unusual. Don't repeat my mistakes.
'You
know when something is wrong. Find another doctor that you connect with
and who takes your concerns seriously. Get referrals. Get tested.
Refuse to be dismissed.'
Dr Smirl worked in the global studies department at the University of Sussex between 2009 and 2012, but took early retirement.
Despite battling the disease, she maintained an honorary lectureship in the department until her death on February 21.
She also completed a Great North Run to raise funds for the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation in November 2012.
A blog post from November 3 2012, marking the one year anniversary of Lisa's lung cancer diagnosis
Professor Richard Black, head of the school of global studies at the University of Sussex, led tributes.He
said: 'Lisa was a fantastic colleague and friend, a great teacher and
researcher and truly inspirational in the way she dealt with her
illness.'
Professor Justin
Rosenberg, head of international relations, added: 'Lisa was an
outstanding colleague who shared her intellectual and personal vivacity
with academics and students alike.'
West
Sussex PCT and the Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals Trust were
unable to confirm that they were involved with Lisa's treatment.
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1 comment:
It makes me sad every time I heard people die from cancer. It is a monstrous disease that can take away anyone's life in an instant. I wish her family well.
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