DEAD.. AFTER DOC MISSED HER CANCER EIGHT TIMES; GP told ill Nikki: 'Don't worry'.

Byline: JEREMY ARMSTRONG

A GP may be struck off after experts heard he repeatedly failed to spot cancer victim Nikki Sams' symptoms.

The advertising saleswoman, who died at 26, had complained eight times in four years to Dr Navin Shankar, 59, of irregular bleeding and abdominal pain.

Yet cervical cancer was diagnosed only when she was moved to another doctor.

Nikki's dad Michael, 54, who gave up his job to care for her, said a "catalogue of unforgivable errors" cost his daughter her life. He said: "Nikki died unnecessarily. It's unbelievable a girl can go to her doctor so often and be sent away told not to worry.

"God only knows the pain she went through. I brought her up as a single parent. We were so close. I've a younger daughter and Nikki was her role model. She fell to the ground when I told her sister was dying. It's torn us apart." Michael, of Luton, Beds, was speaking after Dr Shankar, who saw Nikki in Luton between 1999 and 2005, last week appeared before a General Medical Council panel to assess his fitness to practise.

It found Nikki had told him of her symptoms on eight occasions.

The panel also ruled she made a number of other unrecorded complaints about menstrual bleeding but the doctor failed to keep adequate records. Nikki even made a request for a referral.

At no stage did Dr Shankar perform an abdominal or internal examination or send her to hospital.

Her new GP ordered a smear test, which revealed abnormal cells, and hospital tests found a tumour on her cervix. She had a hysterectomy the following week but cancer had spread to her lungs, spine and neck. Despite radiotherapy and chemotherapy, she died in 2007.

Dr Shankar's case was adjourned while a performance assessment is carried out. If found unfit to practise, he could receive a warning, have conditions placed on his registration, be suspended or struck off.

TREATMENT

Options for cervical cancer include surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. If the cancer hasn't spread outside the cervix and not penetrated very far, a minor op might be all that's needed.

CAPTION(S):

ORDEAL Nikki died at 26 after years of pain