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Official apologizes for surgical mistake
A hospital director apologized for a laboratory error that resulted in the amputation of a healthy woman's breasts after she was mistakenly told she had a malignant tumor.
The medical director of Hospital, told KARE-TV in the Twin Cities that the hospital had made changes so "this kind of mixup would never happen again."
Linda 46, said she was diagnosed with cancer in May 2002 after her doctor had a biopsy performed when a suspicious spot.
Linda said she was told the cancer was so malignant that a double mastectomy and radiation were her only chances for survival. In June, she had the surgery.
After finding no malignancy in the amputated breast tissue, Linda said her doctor discovered a mistake in hospitallaboratory. Tissue from Linda’s biopsy was switched with tissue from another patient.
"If you're right 99.9999 percent of the time, you don't want to be that .01 percent because the consequences are serious and we have to be right 100 percent of the time," the medical Director commented.
An attorney representing pathologists said the group's insurance company has paid Linda’s medical expenses and lost wages.
CNN 18 January 2003
Example of Diagnostic Error
False Positive Biopsy
Prescription Error
Systems Errors
Flying Infusion Pump
Printed Prescription
Medical Errors a National Problem
Compunding Medication Error
Pediatric Surgery Errors
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