Blunders by doctors killed runner

A young film assistant died from testicular cancer after doctors failed to diagnose his condition for a month.

Matt Elmy went to his GP as soon as he realised something was wrong, but was told it was probably an infection.

He was diagnosed only after going to hospital in agony and refusing to leave. By then cancer had spread to his brain, lungs, liver and lymph system.

Mr Elmy, from Walthamstow, died last week, a day short of 32 and just three months after marrying.

Today his devastated widow Sophie, 26, said: "He had all the classic symptoms and was the right age. All they had to do was a blood test. It's unbelievable a doctor can get it so wrong."

Cancer experts expressed dismay over the error. Vicky Mottram, of the Orchid Cancer Appeal, said: "Ninety-seven per cent of patients are cured if it is caught early enough. For him to go and say 'I'm ill' and for people not to take any notice is a bit of a shocker. It completely negates what we are trying to do."

Mr Elmy, who ran the London Marathon in April 2002, went to his GP that August within a week of feeling discomfort in his right testicle. By then it was swollen and he was in pain.

In about 70 per cent of cases a blood test flags up abnormal levels of hormones produced by the cancer, or the GP could even have used a pregnancy test to identify the chemicals. Instead he sent Mr Elmy for an ultrasound scan, which appeared to rule out cancer. No method is infallible, so doctors often use several. If cancer cannot be ruled out, the testicle is usually removed.

Believing Mr Elmy to have an infection, the doctor prescribed antibiotics and painkillers. Mr Elmy even carried out a Three Peaks Challenge - climbing Britain's three highest mountains in 24 hours. A fortnight later a second ultrasound scan failed to diagnose cancer. Mr Elmy, in excruciating pain, began coughing up blood. He went to A&E at Whipps Cross virtually every night for a week but was given morphine shots and sent away.

Three days after he refused to leave the hospital, in September 2002, a blood test confirmed he had cancer and it had spread. "We just couldn't believe it," said Mrs Elmy. "You believe what your doctor tells you." Professor Tim Oliver, head of the oncology unit at Barts where Mr Elmy was later transferred, said he had endured the maximum possible delay in diagnosis before symptoms would have been impossible to miss. "Undoubtedly we could have been treating him earlier," he said. "There would have been a possible 10 to 20 per cent better chance than when we started at the later stage."

Therapies prolonged Mr Elmy's life for two years. In the last months tests suggested progress, and he had been offered a job making architectural models.

"The doctors couldn't believe how healthy and active he was," said Mrs Elmy. "The end happened pretty quick. He had trouble breathing and I called an ambulance." Five days later he died.

His funeral, on Wednesday, will be at St Mary's, Walthamstow, where he married. "Matt was the best person in the world," said Mrs Elmy. "He was cheeky and funny and unique and touched everyone he met."

A spokeswoman for Camden Primary Care Trust, the area where Mr Elmy's GP was based, said the family's complaint would be treated "very seriously".

A spokeswoman for Whipps Cross University Hospital NHS Trust said: "The Trust is sorry that Mr Elmy's family are unhappy with some aspects of his care ... and urges them to make contact so that it can investigate further."

She said the week between his first arrival and his diagnosis would not have affected the outcome because of the stage the cancer had already reached.