Because Ingrid Marie Bjørheim thought it was urgent to take a pap smear, she booked an appointment with Dr. Dropin.
After that, the weeks passed — without her getting back the test answers, despite several reminders by e-mail and phone. In desperation, she booked an appointment with the GP.
There she received the discouraging message. It turned out she had cervical cancer.
– You are never prepared for such a message, says Bjørheim to Dagbladet.
Now Dr. Dropin is being criticized for messing up her test answer, and the State Administrator has concluded that the clinic has broken the Health Personnel Act. Dr. Dropin answers further down in this matter.
Stavanger Aftenblad have previously discussed the matter.
That’s how quickly cancer occurs
Signs that something is wrong
It is October 2020 and Ingrid Marie has just turned 25. It was not long ago that she moved to the oil city of Stavanger to complete her training as an operating room nurse.
However, she notices that something is not right.
She occasionally experiences some small bleeding, and therefore thinks it’s a good idea to take a pap smear – just to check.
Now that she has turned 25, she is also in the target group that is regularly screened for cervical cancer, as all women between the ages of 25 and 69 are invited to take a pap smear of the cervix every three years.
As a result of the move, a new GP is not yet in place, and Ingrid Marie believes it is urgent to get an answer.
She therefore chooses to go to Dr. Dropin.
– Nothing to worry about
– The doctor who took the cell sample said it didn’t look quite normal, says Ingrid Marie.
However, he is said to have explained that he had never seen cancer in someone as young as her, so there was probably nothing to worry about, according to Ingrid Marie.
However, she herself is sure that something is not right.
Without her being told about it, the tissue sample is sent as a so-called Cito sample. This is done when the doctor wants to have it examined as quickly as possible.
However, the answer does not come as quickly.
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Purring the test
According to the Cervical Organ Programme’s quality manual, the answers to samples labeled Cito must be available after three days. Routine tests must be answered within three weeks.
If serious cell changes or cancer are detected, the doctor will call and give a direct referral, according to Dr. Dropin’s website.
The test with Dr. Dropin will be taken on 4 October 2020, but the days go by without Ingrid Marie receiving a phone call.
Her gut tells her something is wrong.
Two weeks later she calls to insist on the test. She is then told that the sample has been sent in, and that the doctor will call when the answer is ready.
But no doctor calls.
Almost seven weeks after the sample was taken, Ingrid Marie sends an e-mail to Dr. Dropin to ask if the sample has been delivered.
The next day there is an apology, and the clinic says that the test results will be sent in Helsenorge. A couple of days later this changes to Digipost.
Ingrid Marie still cannot find an answer.
It then turns out that there has been a misunderstanding with Dr. Dropin. The answer to the test must not be sent directly to the patient, but to the doctor who performed the test.
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– Brutal
After several weeks without getting a satisfactory answer, Ingrid Marie sets up an appointment with the new GP.
The message she receives in the GP’s office is heavy. After a phone call to the hospital to request the test results, the verdict is ready.
– Then it turned out that it was cancer, says Ingrid Marie.
The test result shows gross cell changes, and there are findings of cancer cells.
– It was a brutal message to receive, she says.
It is uncertain whether the time it took to get answers to the tests was of importance to how far the disease had progressed.
Cervical cancer is a type of cancer that develops slowly, and it often takes a long time for symptoms to appear.
– You wonder if it could have had something to say, but you never know. The burden of going and waiting for the answer was the most difficult, says Ingrid Marie.
Be healthy
The GP refers her to the gynecology department to start treatment. She undergoes her first operation in Christmas 2020, but will be operated on again in February 2021.
Today, exactly two years later, Ingrid Marie is healthy.
– I have tendon injuries after the treatment, but I’m learning to live with that. The fact that I am healthy today and can still have children is the best thing that could happen, she says.
After the incident, Ingrid Marie says that she has lost confidence in the system at Dr. Dropin.
– My impression is that the doctors do not get the same relationship with the patients in the same way as a GP does, she says.
– I dare not take the chance of not being followed up, as happened last time, she adds.
Afterwards, Ingrid Marie reports Dr. Dropin to the State Administrator in Rogaland. The verdict is ready in January 2023.
The state administrator then concludes that Dr. Dropin has breached the requirement under section 16 of the Health Personnel Act, as the clinic was unable to follow up the cervical examination within the required time.
Dagbladet has been given access to these documents.
– No excuse
When the case is investigated by the State Administrator, they discover that the test results were ready at Stavanger University Hospital (SUS) already on 8 October – four days after Ingrid Marie had an appointment with Dr. Dropin.
However, it turned out that Dr. Dropin had not received the test response from the hospital, which was sent to the clinic’s postal address in Oslo in the form of a letter.
Daniel Sørli, founder and general manager at Dr. Dropin, emphasizes that this is no excuse.
– It is particularly objectionable that the patient called for an answer to the test, but that it still took a long time. If a test response has not been received, it is our responsibility to request it on behalf of the patient, he says to Dagbladet
– We have the greatest understanding that this has been deeply frustrating for the patient. From what I understand, the patient is currently healthy. I’m glad to hear it, he adds.
Sørli further says that they agree with the conclusions that the State Administrator in Rogaland made in his supervisory case.
After the incident, Dr. Dropin has also upgraded his systems to ensure that such situations will not occur again.
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– Take it seriously
Around 300 Norwegian women are diagnosed with cervical cancer each year. The median age for the disease is 46 years, according to The Cancer Registry.
Ingrid Marie herself was 25 years old when she was diagnosed. She emphasizes that it is important to take it seriously when you first notice changes.
– I think it is important that you know your body best. You have to trust your gut feeling, and you have to have answers, says Ingrid Marie.
– It is so easy to believe that if you don’t hear anything, then everything is fine, she adds.
