A UK woman has died from her third bout with cancer after doctors misdiagnosed her with the novel coronavirus.
In March, Beth Pattison visited Bridge End Surgery in Chester-le-Street, England with complaints of a persistent cough, which doctors told her was likely linked to COVID-19, BBC reported.
The 27-year-old had already recovered from breast cancer twice before — once in 2016 and again in 2017 — however her doctors did not suspect her symptoms were related to a relapse of the disease.
Beth later spoke to an oncologist at Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary in May, where she again was told she had probably contracted COVID-19.
On June 8, she was admitted to the hospital where she was treated with pneumonia and received numerous tests for COVID-19 — which all came back negative.
Pattison's father, Craig, told BBC that the doctors eventually discovered that his daughter's cancer had come back and spread to her ovaries and lungs.
Less than three weeks later, Beth died at Newcastle's Freeman Hospital after going into cardiac arrest when doctors tried to place her in an induced coma, the outlet reported. Along with her father, Beth is survived by her 5-year-old son, Finn Lynch.
"Beth wasn't a victim of COVID, she was a victim of the circumstances caused by COVID," Craig said.
Craig hopes that his daughter's death will serve as a reminder for doctors to check patients who have cancer in the past before jumping to additional diagnoses.
"If there's one thing Beth can leave as her legacy it's that people who have had a previous diagnosis of cancer are checked for it first before other causes are looked at," he said. "Let's make sure the horrible disease hasn't come back. Get tested now. That's all we're asking."
He added: "We're not looking to blame any health professional because the care and support she received over four years was second to none and we think what the NHS has done, especially since March when the pandemic came along, has been superb."
Following Beth's death, Bridge End Surgery put out a statement urging patients to get in touch with their GP practice should they experience any "potential cancer symptoms."
The medical center also offered the family its condolences, BBC reported.
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