Woman angry, depressed over unneeded mastectomy

HALIFAX — The lawyer for a woman who underwent an unnecessary mastectomy earlier this year after a mistake at a hospital lab in Nova Scotia says his client has been experiencing an emotional roller-coaster.

“She (went) through the emotions of initially having a diagnosis of cancer, and we all know that everybody in society fears that,” Ray Wagner said Tuesday.

“Then finding out that all this was unnecessary, and then the anger that goes with it. ... That’s where she is now.”

The patient, who is in her 60s and was treated by the Capital District Health Authority, had a breast removed in late March after pathology results on two medical charts were mistakenly switched, misdiagnosing her with cancer.

Wagner said the health authority issued an amended pathology report on April 25.

More than three weeks later, he said the patient’s family doctor was sent a letter on May 17 explaining that a mistake had been made. Capital Health could not immediately be reached for comment on the time it allegedly took to inform the patient of the mistake.

Wagner said his client has suffered emotional depression as a result of the ordeal.

“The fact that the health authority is taking the approach of informing the public and informing the individual of the circumstances surrounding a harm that occurred in the hospital is laudable,” he said, adding “the timing of it may be somewhat in question.”

Asked about the time it took to make the errors public, Capital Health CEO Chris Power said Monday: “We were sensitive to (the patients’) needs and we wanted to be sure that they got through this part of their treatment and care before we made it public.”

The health authority says this was one of two similar incidents that took place this year as a result of two separate lab mistakes. In April, it says a biopsy was conducted on the wrong patient after slides were mislabelled with incorrect patient identification.

The authority says the errors affected four patients: two were misdiagnosed with cancer and given needless treatment and two were mistakenly told they were cancer-free and did not immediately receive the treatment they required.

The health authority apologized Monday for the errors. “Mistakes happen and this is one of those very unfortunate, devastating times,” Power said.