Members of a P.E.I. family say they still need answers about what they believe was medical negligence that led to their brother's death.
Joanne Driscoll says she was not surprised by the college's report. (CBC) Don Driscoll died in January 2008 of pancreatic cancer after an October 2007 diagnosis, and his family says the disease should have been caught earlier. He had been complaining of abdominal pains for 10 years.
The Driscoll family laid formal complaints against four doctors, but P.E.I.'s College of Physicians and Surgeons dismissed the complaints last Friday.
"I wasn't surprised, but I was very disappointed," said sister Joanne Driscoll.
That leaves the Driscolls with many questions about how the case was handled.
They told CBC News this week that Driscoll did not receive appropriate care before his death and he was misdiagnosed with depression. Complaining of abdominal pains, Driscoll saw doctors more than two dozen times and had a number of tests.
By the time he was diagnosed, the cancer had spread throughout his body. If it had been caught earlier, the Driscolls said their brother might have had some treatment options.
In its report, the college writes: "It seems that while an early diagnosis of this unfortunate disease might have produced a different outcome, it is impossible to predict when, in the course of Mr. Driscoll's abdominal pain history, the cancer occurred. It is unlikely that his pain would have been related to [the] neuro-endocrine cancer ... but this is speculation at best."
The report says one doctor now says she may have entertained the idea of giving Driscoll a CT scan in retrospect, but the college concluded "her management of Mr. Driscoll was appropriate."
The family still doesn't want to name the
