A 27-year-old woman, Jessica Brady, died from stage 4 adenocarcinoma after visiting her GP over 20 times without being referred for further checks. She was told she was “too young for cancer” and her symptoms were mistaken for long Covid.

Her mother, Andrea, told BBC Radio 4 that Jessica had “unintentionally lost quite a lot of weight, had night sweats, chronic fatigue, a persistent cough and very enlarged lymph nodes.” Despite repeated visits to six different doctors and three in-person consultations, “no referral was made.”

The family eventually sought private care, where Jessica was finally diagnosed in November 2020. Sadly, it was too late for treatment, and she passed away three weeks later, just before Christmas.

Following her death, the UK introduced Jess’s Rule, now standard across the NHS. The rule requires doctors to “think again if, after three appointments, they have been unable to offer a substantiated diagnosis,” or if symptoms worsen. The Department of Health said Jessica’s case showed how repeated visits without progress can lead to delayed diagnoses.

Andrea dedicated the change to young patients missed by the system: “Jess lived for just three short weeks following her terminal cancer diagnosis… It has taken nearly five years to bring about Jess’s Rule.”