A 72-year-old grandmother wrongly diagnosed with cancer has won a six-figure payout after surgeons amputated her leg to stop the disease spreading.

Dolly Nicholls from Halesowen in the West Midlands was told by doctors that her leg needed to be amputated below the knee after she developed a lump in her foot. However, after the operation at Birmingham’s Royal Orthopaedic Hospital, doctors discovered that the lump was not cancerous.

The Press Association reports that Mrs. Nicholls was referred to the hospital in August 2007 to investigate ‘continued swelling’ in her foot.

A team of orthopaedic, radiology and histology experts advised Mrs Nicholls that a histology report following needle biopsy showed that she was suffering from an ‘aggressive’ soft tissue cancer, known as a sclerosing epitheliod fibrosarcoma.

She underwent surgery in October 2007, after which doctors discovered the lump was not cancerous – but that she had been suffering from the noncancerous condition pigmented villo nodular synovitis.

Mrs Nicholls’ solicitor has called for lessons to be learned from the case – it is alleged other mistakes have been made by the pathology laboratory of the hospital, which is world renowned.

Mrs Nicholls’ settlement was agreed out-of-court.

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