Sydney GP negligence ruling finds bowel cancer delay cost patient nearly five years of life
Ross Peterkin, a Sydney personal trainer and father, won a negligence case against GP Abram Tadros after the NSW Supreme Court found his bowel cancer should have been investigated sooner. The judge ruled that the doctor’s focus on haemorrhoids, despite Peterkin’s bleeding and other symptoms, delayed diagnosis and shortened his expected life by nearly five years.
The court found Peterkin was first diagnosed with stage 3 bowel cancer in May 2024, after symptoms had been recorded in August 2022. It said proper questioning and referral would probably have led to diagnosis by February 2023, but also found Peterkin contributed to the delay by not raising ongoing symptoms at later visits and waiting 137 days to act on a specialist referral. The judge estimated his life expectancy fell from about February 2032 to mid-2027.
In short
- A judge found a GP’s failure to investigate symptoms delayed Peterkin’s cancer diagnosis.
- The delay was estimated to have cost him about 4.75 years of life expectancy.
- The court also found Peterkin’s actions contributed to the delay.
Explained simply
Bowel cancer starts in the large bowel or rectum and can cause bleeding, changes in bowel habits and abdominal discomfort. These symptoms can also have less serious causes, so doctors assess them in context and may arrange tests or refer patients to a specialist.
General practitioners are often the first doctors people see about new or recurring symptoms. They take a history, consider possible causes and decide whether further investigation or specialist care is needed; patients may also be asked to return if symptoms continue or change.
Negligence cases examine whether a doctor’s care fell below the required standard and whether that made a difference to the patient’s health. Courts may also consider how a patient’s own actions affected events, which can influence findings about responsibility and compensation.
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Originally published by Daily Mail as “Personal trainer and dad-of-one wins case against doctor who diagnosed his bowel cancer as haemorrhoids – as judge finds delays cost him years of life”.