A teenage girl died after a radiologist failed to spot a lesion in an MRI scan, a Health and Disability Commission report released today shows.
The case has prompted Commissioner Anthony Hill to order an independent review of the radiology service, including rostering and staffing levels, because of poor work conditions, which contributed to the error.
Hill found the radiologist breached the Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers' Rights for missing a lesion in the girl's scan eight months before it was finally discovered.
After being diagnosed with high-risk medulloblastoma, a cancerous tumor in the brain, in 2007, the girl, who cannot be named for privacy reasons, had neurosurgery at the age of 10.
Then, for the next six years, a number of MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scans showed no evidence of residual or recurrent tumours. An MRI in August 2014 showed no change, she was told.