text: The heartbroken husband and children of a woman who died from breast cancer at the Whittington have been handed £400,000 in damages after the hospital settled a clinical negligence claim.
  Staff at the hospital in Magdala Avenue, Archway, failed to spot her cancer early enough meaning she had no chance of effective treatment, lawyers for the family said.
  In the claim, spear-headed by the Irish woman’s distraught husband, lawyers argued the delay was “negligent” and “caused or materially contributed to her death” in 2011.
  Whittington Hospital NHS Trust denies liability, but today agreed to a six-figure settlement of the family’s case.
  The family’s lawyers claimed she was told radiology results were “essentially normal” when she sought tests on her right breast in April, 2004.
  She was denied a referral for a second check, after experiencing further problems later that year, it was alleged.
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  But in 2005 the mother-of-two, from County Galway, was diagnosed with breast cancer. She passed away after the condition spread to her uterus and her bones.
  The family’s legal team argued that the hospital negligently failed “to ensure that the patient’s cancer was diagnosed and treated earlier”.
  Following negotiations outside court, Mr Justice Supperstone told London’s High Court today: “The parties have agreed a final settlement in the sum of £400,000.”
  The family can not be identified for legal reasons.
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