Patient fears cancer will return after surgeons are fired

A 73-year-old pancreatic cancer patient who nearly died after surgery at Rigshospitalet fears she may have nowhere to turn if the disease returns, DR reports.

Eva Raabyemagle was operated on for pancreatic cancer in January. A few days after she was discharged, she collapsed at home from internal bleeding and lost several litres of blood. She was rushed back to the hospital for emergency surgery and later placed in a medically induced coma. Surgeons operated on her again several days later to stop the bleeding. DR reviewed her medical records and confirmed the account.

Raabyemagle says she is now feeling fit, but is worried by reports that three senior doctors were recently fired from the hospital’s Department of Transplantation and Diseases of the Digestive System, where she was treated. The dismissals followed criticism of management and allegations of a poor working environment and patient-safety problems.

A report submitted by the Capital Region of Denmark to the Danish Health Authority said Rigshospitalet currently has only one surgeon with the required skills for the 182 pancreatic cancer operations performed there each year. The report also said the hospital has fewer specialists with those specific skills than usual.

“It is catastrophic,” Raabyemagle said. “Pancreatic cancer can unfortunately return, and then I simply don’t know where to go. My trust in Rigshospitalet is at a very low point.”

Rigshospitalet deputy director Jannick Brennum said he understood why patients and relatives might be concerned, adding that the shortage of doctors was a problem. He said the department had a “superspecialist”, three other team members with extensive surgical experience and new staff on the way. The hospital could also seek help from Odense, Aarhus and elsewhere in the Nordic region, he said.

“We can guarantee patient safety at Rigshospitalet. We do not carry out operations unless we have the team needed,” Brennum said.

Raabyemagle remains a cancer patient. She has scans every three months at Herlev Hospital and is also followed by Rigshospitalet. If her cancer returns, she says she may try to find out where the dismissed doctors work and seek treatment there, or look at options abroad.