Respiratory nurse at St Mary’s Hospital Paddington Sue Taylor’s family sues over asbestos cancer

A nurse died of cancer after being exposed to asbestos while working at the same London hospital trust where the Duchess of Cambridge and Princess Diana gave birth.

Sue Taylor’s first job as a respiratory nurse was in 1981 at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, where she worked for three years.    

In June 2017 aged 55, Mrs Taylor died of mesothelioma, with a coroner ruling her cause of death to be asbestos cancer – likely contracted while she was working as a nurse in the 1980s. 

The mother-of-three, of Worthing, West Sussex, was given her terminal diagnosis in late 2016 and underwent gruelling rounds of chemotherapy so she could live to see her daughter Beth get married the following April. 

Although she made it to the wedding, she died a few months before Beth, 26, gave birth to her first grandchild. 

Her devastated family are now looking to take legal action against Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust claiming it failed to protect her from the deadly substance and are desperate for any other potential victims to come forward to strengthen their case.

St Mary’s privately-run Lindo Wing, which is separate to the rest of the site but part of the same trust, has been the royal maternity ward of choice for decades, with Prince William, Harry, George, Louis and Princess Charlotte all born there. 

During her four years at St Mary’s, Mrs Taylor spent a lot of time walking through underground corridors where repair work took place on pipes lagged with asbestos.

Before it was banned in 1999, it was widely used in construction across Britain, particularly for NHS hospitals built between the 1950s and 1980s.  

It was outlawed after doctors identified a link between people who were exposed to the harmful fibres and those who developed mesothelioma, cancer of the lung lining, between 20 and 40 years later.  

The Taylor family want to make a civil claim against Imperial College Healthcare claiming it failed in its duty of care to protect their loved one from the deadly asbestos. 

Her daughter Beth Ross told MailOnline: ‘She spent her whole life helping people and ultimately that cost her her life.

‘Mesothelioma takes 30 to 40 years to present itself, so we believe it could have only happened while she was at St Mary’s. 

‘Being a respiratory nurse, she knew exactly what was coming. There was nothing she could do about it.’

Mrs Taylor first started to notice symptoms in late 2016. She developed a cough and lost some weight, but having recently lost her father and with her mother moving into the family home, she just put it down to stress.

Eventually she visited the GP who sent her for an X-Ray, which came back with a diagnosis of pneumonia. 

But after a second opinion and a CT scan, she was given the devastating mesothelioma diagnosis in December that year. 

Her prognosis was ‘bleak from the beginning’, explained her daughter, with the cancer showing up as two solid lumps on her lungs, as opposed to the more common pleural thickening usually caused by the disease.  

The cancer was too close to her diaphragm for doctors to operate, so she agreed on having chemotherapy at Worthing Hospital to give her more time with her family. 

Mrs Ross, who uses her married name, said: ‘When she was diagnosed her only question was ‘Am I going to be able to make it to my daughter’s wedding in April?

‘Chemo caused her kidneys to fail pretty quickly and she had an allergic reaction to it. It wasn’t nice, but she did it for me.’

Oncology nurses were surprised the mother-of-three lived to see her daughter’s wedding, which she described as ‘bittersweet’. 

She added: ‘She even managed to dance. Those are nice memories.’   

In the months that followed the disease continued to spread and eventually Mrs Taylor went into a hospice, where she died with her family at her bedside.       

Her daughter Beth said her mother’s death has affected her father Graeme, 59, and younger brothers Ian, 24, and Edward, 20, in different ways.

The mother-of-one added: ‘My dad has found it really hard. By the time they got married she had already come into contact with the asbestos, so he feels as if he married a dying lady. 

‘And since this has all started, I have had a daughter who is now seven month-old. 

‘Mum always used to say how much she looked forward to being a grandma. 

‘So we all feel a bit cheated that she never got the chance to meet any of the grandchildren she so desperately wanted.

‘She never saw my youngest brother turn 18 either. It’s these missed milestones that are the most difficult.

‘I feel like I’ve had to take over the role of being mum. I have to always make sure my brothers are okay, so it took a long time for me to be able to grieve properly.

‘But I think I find it harder now, having my daughter here.

‘If you’re having a tough day with a newborn you just want to turn to your mum and I don’t have that anymore.’

Mrs Ross, an NHS radiographer, also had to give up her job as she was unable to face returning to the same hospital where she worked with her mother – and treating patients with the disease that killed her. 

She said: ‘We both worked at Worthing Hospital for my whole career and for as long as I could remember.

‘She mainly worked night shifts so whenever I was on nights and I had a spare 10 minutes I would go and see her for a cup of tea and a catch up.  

‘It was like a barrier going back there after she died. I couldn’t face it.’ 

Mrs Ross has since returned to work as a part-time bank radiographer. 

She added: ‘People have only realised the impact of asbestos very recently.

‘One of the first X-rays I did when I went back to work was a gentleman who used to work with it. But people are quite blase about it still. 

‘We want people to know you don’t have to have worked directly with it for it to have affected you.’ 

If the Taylors win their case they want to go on a family holiday to make memories with their newest addition.

Mrs Ross said: ‘Family holidays are still important to us, so we hope we can make new memories now my daughter is here.’

She also hopes to help her youngest brothers get their own homes, adding that it has been hard for them to stay in the house they grew up in with their mother.

She said: ‘If anyone remembers walking along those passageways like my mum did, please get in touch.’

Dushal Mehta from Fieldfisher, the solicitors pursuing a claim on behalf of the family, said they are very keen to hear from anyone who also worked at St Mary’s around the same time as Sue Taylor and who also remembers asbestos in the corridors.

He added: ‘This is such a terrible case, where someone who has given their whole life looking after other people is inflicted with this awful disease. Unfortunately, cases of nurses exposed to asbestos are all too common.

‘The worrying thing is that other people who worked in similar circumstances could also be living with a time bomb.’ 

An Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust spokesperson said: ‘We offer our sincere condolences to Sue Taylor’s family. We are unable to comment on on-going claims.’