A lecturer has toasted a £57,000 payout after claiming the Lady McAdden breast screening unit failed to spot her cancer.

The money was paid in an out-of-court settlement to Lindsey Mendoza, of Eastwood, after a four-year legal battle.

The unit has not admitted liability. It is still using the touch testing which was used on Lindsey, but only to teach women how to examine themselves.

Law lecturer Lindsey underwent a mastectomy, extensive chemotherapy and radiotherapy after claiming she was sent away from the Westcliff unit with the all-clear.

Lindsey told today (Wednesday) how she had gone there in March 1994 with the feeling that something was "not right". She could feel a thickening behind her left nipple which was occasionally painful. She had been going to the unit - affectionately known as Bust - since it first opened in a blaze of glory 25 years ago.

Lindsey, 51, said: "My aunt was a founder volunteer and we all felt we ought to make use of the facility. I went every two or three years although I was under 50 and had no family history."

When she explained about the thickening, she claimed the clinic nurse felt her breast - a controversial method known as palpation - and told her there was nothing wrong, suggesting that silicone implants Lindsey had in the mid-1970s were responsible for her concerns.

She alleged she was not offered any follow-up appointment or advised to see her doctor.

Three years later, Lindsey noticed her nipple was becoming inverted. She returned to the unit in 1997 and was referred straight to a doctor.

A biopsy, ultrasound and mammogram confirmed she had a tumour and two weeks later consultant Neil Rothnie carried out a mastectomy and reconstruction at the Wellesley Hospital in Southend. Everything seemed to have gone well.

Then came the bombshell news that the cancer had spread to the lymph nodes - all 13 which had been removed for testing, were infected with malignant cells. Her chances of living more than five years were put at less than 50 per cent.

After an offer of £25,000 was rejected in September last year, the sum was gradually increased to £57,000, which Lindsey has now accepted.

Bust unit manager, Linda Harrison, said the unit's nurses still used palpation "under the banner of education" to show women how to examine themselves, but it was not used as a "stand alone" procedure.

Celebrating - Lindsey Mendoza has accepted £57,000 from the Bust unit

Picture: ELISE GOW

By Pat Stone

Reporter's e-mail: pat.stone@notes.newsquest.co.uk

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