Although she initially refused to do so, eventually Minister of Health of the Government of Andalusia, Rocío Hernández resigned amid a scandal over delays in reporting vote results. breast cancer screening. It doesn’t cost less. Thousands of women received their test results late. mammography or they were never notified. Many of these results were positive, requiring more aggressive treatment. In addition, there were at least 3 deaths reported that may have been related to this event.
This is, logically, a very serious mistake. Breast cancer is now one of the cancers with the best prognosis if diagnosed as early as possible. This is the mission verified by mammography. But if the results of these mammograms are never sent, as happened in Andalusia, they will be useless. Patients remain calm, thinking that if nothing comes, then everything is in order. However, the tumor continues to growis becoming more and more dangerous.
It is impossible to know exactly how long it will take for the tumor to spread and radically increase in severity. It depends on many factors. But it is clear that these delays pose a risk to women’s health and that the councilor’s resignation is the least that can be done about it.
How does the severity of breast cancer change over time?
There is no golden number by which to calculate the exact damage caused by the delay in verification by the Junta of Andalusia. We only know that any delay is dangerous and that the patients’ lives were played out. However, the severity of breast cancer depends on many factors.
First of all, It depends on the type of cancer, the grade and stage at which it is found.. Breast cancer may be invasivewhen it may spread to surrounding connective tissue, lymph nodes and other parts of the body, or non-invasivewhen it does not extend beyond the ducts or sinus lobes.
On the other side, there are 3 degreesdepending on your growth rate. Level 1 is the slowest and Level 3 is the fastest.
Moreover, as it grows its stage varies. At stage 0 it is not yet invasive; at stage I it is already invasive, but is still small in size and located close to the place where it formed. Next comes stage II, when the tumor is slightly larger and may have spread to the lymph nodes. In phase III, the tumor is larger and has already spread to at least one lymph node, possibly several, but not yet to other organs. Finally, in stage IV, it has already spread to other parts of the body, such as the bones, lungs, brain or liver.
The longer diagnosis is delayed, the more likely it is that these stages progress. For this reason, what happened in Andalusia with screening mammography poses a serious danger. Some women got their results two years later and this meant that they advanced several stages in relation to the moment when the diagnosis was actually made. This required more aggressive treatment methods and surgeries. Moreover, it turns out that in at least three cases the consequences were fatal.
How do mammogram delays affect screening?
We have already seen that the main factor that increases the severity of breast cancer over time is the transition from one stage to another. This occurs as the tumor grows and/or spreads. The fact is that the speed at which all this happens depends on many factors.
For example, breast cancer tends to grow faster in young women or women who have not yet gone through menopause. It also depends on the type of breast cancer. For example, the one known as triple negative it grows very quickly. And of course genetics It has a lot to do with it. There are specific mutations, such as those associated with the HER2 gene, that can lead to breast cancer that grows much faster.
Again, all this does not allow us to accurately calculate how delays in screening affected Andalusian patients. But even the slightest delay in the most favorable case means a disastrous practice and a great lack of respect.
The Junta of Andalusia’s excuses don’t work
The problem of delays in breast cancer screenings has been reported since early 2024. At the first complaints, the necessary measures were not taken, so the situation not only did not improve, but even improved. it got even worse. For the Andalusian government to take action, it was necessary for everything to become known in the media. But even at the beginning they tried to take the iron away. At first they indicated that there were only 3 or 4 cases. Even if this were only the case, these were not cases, this was life. But it soon became known that there were thousands of “cases”. It was then stated that in case of doubt about the diagnosis The patient is not informed to minimize her anxiety.
The latter makes no sense for the simple reason that nothing has been done to confirm or exclude doubtful cases, infantilizes patients one of the fundamental principles of bioethics is ignored: the principle autonomy. Patients have the right to receive information at any time and, in addition, to be able to make decisions about their situation. Covering up women’s suffering with anxiety is an equally old strategy, but also unfair. What happened in Andalusia is very serious and action must be taken because ensuring that the government protects the health of its citizens is not political. This is justice.
Source: Hiper Textual
