St Helier Hospital is being accused of a "cover up" by the family of a Morden man who died last year from a brain tumour after being wrongly diagnosed.
Crematorium worker Alan Barnes, 60, was admitted to the Sutton hospital from his Lower Morden Lane home in January last year, after suffering what was thought to be a stroke.
Mr Barnes' daughter Gillian, 31, claims staff at St Helier diagnosed her father's brain tumour on April 10 without telling him or his family of his condition.
She said they learned the news from staff at Atkinson Morley's Hospital, in Raynes Park, three weeks before he died in May.
Ms Barnes met with St Helier Hospital chief executive John de Braux and two consultants in November last year, to discuss her claims of misdiagnosis and neglectful care.
She told the News the meeting provided her with no satisfactory answers, with the hospital insisting the original diagnosis was thought to be correct at the time although it had apologised for "elements of his care that we cannot defend".
Ms Barnes is claiming her father's first scan, taken shortly after his initial admission, shows a lesion on his brain which could have indicated the presence of a tumour.
She also has one of the pages from her father's medical reords, written by a doctor at Atkinson Moreley's, who mentions a lesion in relation to the first scan but notes the film was never sent on to him.
Ms Barnes said the scan films were ignored at the meeting and claims her efforts to get answers "brushed aside".
She added: "The consultant who was attempting to deal with my points wouldn't even look me in the eye."
A spokesman for Epsom and St Helier NHS Trust sympathised with the family for their loss but insisted the correct procedures had been followed.
He said: "We have conducted an internal investigation into the concerns of the family and have found doctors correctly diagnosed Ischaemic Stroke on the basis of the first scan that was performed in January 2002.
"In April 2002, a further scan was performed that showed a lesion at that time."
January 31, 2003 10:30
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