'Negligent' NHS blamed for Jade Goody's death

London, March 20 : Jade Goody's doctor has blamed 'incompetent and negligent' staff at UK''s National Health Services (NHS) for the reality TV star's death.

Ann Coxon, Harley Street consultant and former NHS doctor, blasted medics who, she said, failed to notice the Big Brother celebrity's tumour, even when it was the "size of a tangerine", which led to the 27-year-old's death from cervical cancer on Mother''s Day last year.

"Her symptoms - which included heavy and irregular bleeding, pain and abnormal smear tests - can all indicate cancer. There should have been alarm bells ringing," The Sun quoted Dr Coxon as saying.

"But Jade didn''t know that. She''d had abnormal smear tests since she was 16 so by the time she was 27 it didn''t worry her much, because she didn''t really know what it meant. It had never been properly explained to her.

"After she was diagnosed, she said to me, in that typically Jade way, ''I''m not daft. If I''d known it was to do with cancer, I''d have been checked out every three months''. Jade realised she had been let down. She simply said, ''Sometimes people make mistakes''.

"Jade''s death was completely unnecessary and preventable. She died of neglect and of incompetence," Dr Coxon added.

Dr Coxon also said: "Jade''s story must never be forgotten. She need not have died if the medical profession had got their act together in time."