A woman who lost a breast after an alleged delay in diagnosis by a top cancer specialist has been awarded £50,000 High Court damages.

Medical secretary Christine Melton from Chelmsford said after the settlement in London that she wanted her story to give a ''huge message'' for all women.

She alleged that she might not have had to undergo a mastectomy and six months of distressing chemotherapy treatment if consultant Michael Morgan had adopted a triple assessment procedure for her pea-sized lump.

Her counsel, Duncan Pratt, told Mr Justice Butterfield that there was an alleged failure to carry out clinical examination together with aspiration of the tumour and imaging of the breast, when Mrs Melton attended as a private patient in May and July 1993.

By the time the divorced mother-of-three underwent surgery on her right breast, in April 1994, the tumour had grown to the size of a tangerine.

Her damages action against Mr Morgan, of Sheerings, Bishop's Stortford, Herts, was stayed on agreed terms, with no admission of liability.

After the brief hearing, Mrs Melton, 51, of Coates Quay, Chelmsford, said that she felt ''very angry and very bitter''.

''I think it's a horror story. As a medical secretary, I knew how to go about these things but this still happened.

''I suffered hair loss and tiredness and had to have a reconstruction. 'The problems are on-going - I still have trouble with my arm where the lymph glands were affected.

''It's just something that will never go away. The money is immaterial - I can't go back to how it was. There's a huge message to go out for all women.''

Her solicitor, Roger Wickes, said the case proved that women with suspicious breast lumps were entitled to triple assessment and should insist on it.

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