Serpent
01-21-2003, 09:04 PM
Breast cancer blunder
January 22 2003
A 46-year-old woman was told she had advanced breast cancer and had both breasts removed, only to learn doctors had given her another patient's diagnosis, hospital officials said today.
"There was an accidental switch. Two patients' slides were switched. It was a once-in-a-lifetime mistake," Terri Dresen, a spokeswoman for United Hospital in Saint Paul, Minnesota, told AFP.
Linda McDougal, an accountant from Woodville, Wisconsin, was diagnosed in May 2002 with an advanced stage of breast cancer, and had both breasts removed three weeks later.
Two days after the surgery, her surgeon informed her that biopsy results showed she did not have cancer.
"It has taken me seven months to be able to talk about this," McDougal, a mother of three, told the Pioneer Press, a local newspaper.
"This is an isolated incident. We're talking here about an exceptional doctor who is distraught about what happened," Dresen said.
"We're truly sorry, and we will work with her in every way possible."
Changes have been made so that "this kind of mix-up would never happen again," said Daniel Foley, the hospital's medical director.
McDougal is still being treated at the same hospital for infections she developed after undergoing reconstructive plastic surgery.
She plans to sue the hospital for damages, her lawyer said.
AFP
January 22 2003
A 46-year-old woman was told she had advanced breast cancer and had both breasts removed, only to learn doctors had given her another patient's diagnosis, hospital officials said today.
"There was an accidental switch. Two patients' slides were switched. It was a once-in-a-lifetime mistake," Terri Dresen, a spokeswoman for United Hospital in Saint Paul, Minnesota, told AFP.
Linda McDougal, an accountant from Woodville, Wisconsin, was diagnosed in May 2002 with an advanced stage of breast cancer, and had both breasts removed three weeks later.
Two days after the surgery, her surgeon informed her that biopsy results showed she did not have cancer.
"It has taken me seven months to be able to talk about this," McDougal, a mother of three, told the Pioneer Press, a local newspaper.
"This is an isolated incident. We're talking here about an exceptional doctor who is distraught about what happened," Dresen said.
"We're truly sorry, and we will work with her in every way possible."
Changes have been made so that "this kind of mix-up would never happen again," said Daniel Foley, the hospital's medical director.
McDougal is still being treated at the same hospital for infections she developed after undergoing reconstructive plastic surgery.
She plans to sue the hospital for damages, her lawyer said.
AFP