Victim of needless mastectomy wins £340,000 payout

A mother who had a healthy breast removed by surgeons after she was wrongly diagnosed with cancer was awarded more than £340,000 in damages yesterday.

The High Court ordered the payment to Anita Froggatt, 32, after finding she had suffered "almost unimaginable psychological trauma" because of the misdiagnosis and months of subsequent surgery.

Mr Justice Forbes ruled the former factory worker had been the victim of a series of indefensible errors by staff at the Chesterfield Royal Hospital in Derbyshire during February and March 1999.

In an unusual move, Mrs Froggatt's husband, Paul, and her teenage son, Dane, were also awarded £6,000 for the ordeal of witnessing her disfigurement and being told she was terminally ill.

Speaking outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, Mr Froggatt, 31, said: "I'm just glad it's all over... Now there will be no more meetings, no more coming down to London and no more surgery."

Mrs Froggatt had brought the action against Chesterfield and North Derbyshire Royal Hospital NHS Trust, which admitted liability but disputed the amount of damages she should receive.

The decision to have a mastectomy had been taken after tests on a lump apparently revealed she was suffering from what doctors told her was "high-grade" breast cancer.

The judge said: "The anguish, pain and distress that Mrs Froggatt has suffered as a result of these events and the consequences that followed can hardly be exaggerated."

As well as the surgery, Mrs Froggatt, from Chesterfield, was told she would need the highest permissible dose of chemotherapy, causing her to lose all her hair.

A fortnight later, hospital staff told her that her sample had been muddled in the hospital laboratory with tissue from another patient and that she was free of the disease.

The court was toldseven reconstructive operations had resulted in one breast being lower than the other, scarring and the lack of a nipple.

Mrs Froggatt, who received £346,000 in damages, said she had been left unable to work, garden or walk her dog and her libido had been affected. In her witness statement, she said: "I was still only 28 years old and had recently got married... I felt as if I was no longer a woman or attractive to my husband."

The court was told Mrs Froggatt had considered committing suicide and that in psychiatric terms she was still "demonstrably ill".

Mrs Froggatt's solicitor, Janet Baker, said the award, including £75,000 of general damages for suffering and loss of enjoyment of life, was the highest yet for this type of injury.