Jade's death was 'unnecessary and preventable': Reality star's doctor launches attack on NHS
Jade Goody's death was preventable and a result of 'incompetence and neglect' by the NHS, a leading doctor and Harley Street consultant claimed today.
One year after the 27-year-old died on March 22, Dr Ann Coxon said Goody's symptoms - which included heavy and irregular bleeding, pain and abnormal smear tests - were 'glaringly obvious'.
The former NHS doctor claimed the reality television star had a tangerine-sized tumour which medical experts failed to spot.
'Glaringly obvious': Dr Ann Coxon says the NHS should have spotted Jade Goody had cervical cancer
'There should have been alarm bells ringing,' she told The Sun.
'Jade's death was completely unnecessary and preventable. She died of neglect and incompetence.'
Despite strong evidence of cervical cancer, Jade did not suspect anything serious was wrong due to her medical history.
'She'd had abnormal smear tests since she was 16 so by the time she was 27 it didn't worry her much, because she didn't really know what it meant,' Coxon said.
'It had never been properly explained to her.
'After she was diagnosed she said to me, in that typically Jade way, "I'm not daft. If I'd known it was to do with cancer, I'd have been checked out every three months".
She added: 'Jade realised she had been let down. She simply said, "Sometimes people make mistakes".'
The mother-of-two, who became a star as a contestant on Big Brother, refused to attend scheduled smear tests after being told she could not have any more children, Coxon alleged. This was nine months prior to her diagnosis.
Jade was given an ultrasound at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow, Essex, in August 2008.
She then flew to India to appear in a reality television show after doctors had confirmed she could travel.
Jade married long-term boyfriend Jack Tweed shortly before her death
However, results of a smear test - only performed because a nurse noticed she had skipped appointments - revealed cancerous cells.
Goody received the news she had cervical cancer on camera and flew back to the UK where she was treated by Coxon.
The doctor said: 'An ultrasound should be able to pick up lesions just 1.2mm wide, and Jade had a tumour the size of a tangerine. It should have been blindingly obvious.'
Jade underwent an emergency hysterectomy, chemotherapy and radiation therapy - but it was too late to save the star.
'She probably had cancer for at least a year before her diagnosis. The abnormal smear tests were signs that she was high-risk,' said Coxon. 'She was only diagnosed because of one nurse bothering to do her job.'
Coxon warned: 'Jade story must never be forgotten. She need not have died if the medical profession had got their act together in time.'
This news is sure to cause Jade's sons, Bobby, 6, and Freddie, 5, her mother Jackiey Budden and widower Jack Tweed further heartache.
Her husband and mother visited her grave on Mothers' Day - the anniversary of her death - to pay tribute to the much-missed star.
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