Grandmother who thought she was dying of dementia blew entire £10k life savings - but doctors reveal she was misdiagnosed
A grandmother is penniless after blowing her life savings when doctors told her she would be dead in five years – only to find out she had been misdiagnosed.
Jackie Dibb, 62, was given a ‘death penalty’ in November 2016 by doctors who told her she was suffering from an incurable dementia.
She was told to enjoy the remainder of her life after being diagnosed as suffering from frontal temporal dementia and she went on a spending spree.
But just a year later doctors reviewed her case and told her that she just suffering from severe anxiety.
However by this time she and husband Rob Dibb, 61, had already emptied their pensions of £10,000.
They spent £4,000 on a wet room for their home, £1,500 on a holiday and £700 for a double-door American fridge.
Jackie even tragically said goodbye to her 12-year-old granddaughter after telling her, ‘I’ll still be here, but I’ll be like one of those zombies you see in films’.
However, just 345 days later another scan at Hull Royal Infirmary revealed Jackie never had dementia at all.
Rob, of Hull, East Yorks., said: ‘We feel embarrassed to be honest, we said goodbye to family everything – we feel crushed.
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‘At the moment we are treading water with money – we’re up to our noses anyway.
‘We emptied our pensions and savings, we flew to Turkey on a big family holiday and bought things we didn’t need.
‘Jackie wanted a big American-style fridge – so I bought her that and we spent shed loads of money, adapting the home, going on trips – you name it.
‘People advised me to just give her whatever she wanted while she could still enjoy it – but she never even had dementia.’
Jackie had visited the doctors after her behaviour started to become erratic and doctors initially thought she had had a stroke.
But a CT scan made neurologists deal her the ‘death sentence’ dementia blow – which later was discovered to be ‘severe anxiety and depression’.
Mr Dibb made a complaint to the NHS trust Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals following the misdiagnosis and received a letter apologising for the added stress caused.
Rob, who retired early to become a full-time carer for wife Jackie, has vowed not to sue the NHS ‘because they’ve been too good to us over the years’.
He added: ‘If I sue the NHS then that might be another incubator not on a ward – and a kid who wouldn’t have a fighting chance.’
The Hull and East Yorkshire NHS Hospital Trust have been contacted for comment.
