When a new hospital speech recognition system mistakenly changed a word, a woman dealing with a yeast infection was falsely informed that she had cancer.
Nicola Denyer, 39, went to an appointment at Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (QEQM) Hospital in Margate seeking treatment for her uncomfortable throat, only to be misdiagnosed.
The error occurred when the new software misinterpreted the word “candida” (a common yeast infection) as cancer, leading to the mix-up.
Her GP received a letter stating: “Flexible nasal endoscopy confirms presence of cancer at the base of the tongue, which can certainly account for this lady’s symptoms.”
Concerned by the letter, Mrs. Denyer’s partner, Paul Valentine, who had previously lost his wife to cancer, suspected a mistake given the rest of the letter suggested no serious issues.
Mr. Valentine, 64, expressed his dismay, “It’s shockingly bad this was able to happen. I was sure it was a mistake, but the word had been used so you can’t help but worry. I told them this is a word not to be played around with. If this had happened to someone else who didn’t realise it was a mistake, it could push them over the edge.”
Despite leaving numerous messages, Mr. Valentine struggled to get any response from the hospital. He was eventually told by the hospital that such occurrences were common.
Mr. Valentine emphasized, “To get a letter saying she had cancer, even though I thought it might be a mistake, was awful. I lost my wife to this dreadful illness. My partner read the letter and said ‘oh my god’ but I told her not to panic, that it looked like an error.”
It wasn’t until a week later that Mrs. Denyer received a follow-up letter from the hospital apologising for the mistake and confirming she did not have cancer.