For 18 months, New Zealand resident Heather Kubiak lived with undiagnosed breast cancer. It was no fault of her own that her disease was left undetected for all this time. It was the fault of the hospital staff who lost her file -- marked urgent -- and thus failed to communicate with her about the cancer living in her body. In December 2003, Kubiak had both breasts removed because her cancer had spread. And so began the battle for her life -- and the battle against a system that admittedly botched up her medical care due to organizational failure.
It took years to resolve her claim but earlier this year, Kubiak, a wife and mother of four, received a lump-sum compensation of -- $9,000. That's $16.66 per day for every day of the 18 months her undiagnosed breast cancer continued to spread.
It was important for Kubiak to see her hospital held accountable -- and while $9,000 hardly makes up for what she has lost -- she is happy the legal ordeal is over. And she hopes her experience will motivate others to actively pursue their own medical misadventures.
"I do worry for people who aren't articulate enough or strong enough to fight the system because you have to keep on and on," she says.
