Chantelle Mooney, a 41-year-old woman battling stage 4B terminal cervical cancer, was scheduled to undergo a craniotomy to remove a four-centimeter mass from her brain. However, the operation was abruptly cancelled due to a worldwide IT outage, leaving her and her family in a state of distress and uncertainty.
According to The New York Post, Mooney was diagnosed with terminal cervical cancer in February 2022, which later metastasized to her lungs. Three weeks ago, she was informed of the presence of a mass in her brain, discovered after she began experiencing weakness on one side of her body. The surgery, initially scheduled for Thursday, was postponed to Friday, only to be cancelled due to the IT glitch.
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Mooney, who hails from Great Harwood, Lancashire, was at the Royal Preston Hospital in Lancashire, UK, on Friday morning, anticipating her surgery at 10 a.m. However, while waiting for her turn, she saw news of a global outage of Microsoft technology on the television. Shortly after, her surgeon arrived to inform her that the operation couldn't proceed as they relied heavily on Microsoft technology for scans, emergency medication, and accessing medical records.
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"I’ve got a secondary brain tumor – my primary diagnosis is terminal cervical cancer," Mooney said. "The brain tumor was only found three weeks ago, it’s four centimeters across and has to be removed as an emergency. We were watching TV in the waiting room and could see the Microsoft issue going on. Ten mins later the surgeon came in and said they can’t do the surgery without Microsoft."
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The hospital staff waited until 1:30 p.m., hoping the issue would be resolved. However, they eventually had to inform Mooney that the surgery was not feasible that day and would be rescheduled for the following Friday. The decision was made considering the risk involved if the technology failed again during the operation, which could last anywhere between four to seven hours.
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"At the time I was upset because it had already been pushed back by a day," Mooney admitted. "But I didn’t realise how much it would have affected the operation, if it went down again it would put my life at risk. They wouldn’t have been able to do brain scans, blood transfusions — they couldn’t even access my medical records."
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While the cancellation was a disappointing setback, Mooney understood the gravity of the situation. "They really didn’t want to cancel the surgery because of how serious it is but end of the day my safety comes first," she said.
The Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, where the surgery was scheduled, has yet to comment on the incident. This case underscores the critical role of technology in modern healthcare and the potential risks when such systems fail, leaving patients like Mooney in a precarious situation.
