Doctor cut off my breast by mistake
HOSPITAL ‘BOTCH’ HORROR
Eduvigis Rodriguez underwent a mastectomy — only to learn she didn’t have cancer. “I didn’t know whether to smile or cry,” she says.
A Harlem mom was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer, underwent disfiguring surgery to have her left breast removed and had additional procedures to deal with complications — only to learn she never had the disease in the first place.
“I didn’t know whether to smile and thank God I didn’t have cancer or cry because I’ve been through so much,” Eduvigis Rodriguez, 51, told The Post.
Rodriguez’s nightmare began after she felt a lump in her breast and had a biopsy done at Mount Sinai Beth Israel Hospital, she says in a medical-malpractice suit.
It turns out she had a condition known as sclerosing adenosis — benign extra growth tissue in the breast lobules — but hospital pathologist Dr. Jean-Marc Cohen misinterpreted her biopsy results, according to the civil suit, filed in Manhattan Supreme Court.
Cohen, the suit says, mistakenly determined that Rodriguez had infiltrating ductal carcinoma, the most common form of breast cancer.
Rodriguez was then sent for surgery at Lenox Hill Hospital — and the error was only compounded there, the suit says.
Lenox Hill has had a procedure in place since 2012 that requires all pathology reports done by other institutions to be reviewed by its own medical staff before authorizing major surgery, such as a mastectomy, the court papers say.
Such a review allegedly never took place.
But Rodriguez’s surgeon, Dr. Magdi Bebawi, still signed a Lenox Hill form before surgery that read, “I certify that outside pathology slides have been reviewed by the hospital’s pathology department,” the suit says.
Bebawi performed the mastectomy on Rodriguez in April 2015, court documents say.
The mistake was discovered only when pathologists at Lenox Hill were doing routine postsurgery testing on the tissue of the removed breast and found no cancer in it.
Lenox Hill doctors then secured Beth Israel’s samples from Rodriguez’s original biopsy and concluded that both showed “benign breast tissue,” according to the court papers, filed by Rodriguez’s lawyer, Andrew Carboy.
Cohen did even more testing on Rodriguez’s biopsied breast sample and drew the same conclusion, the court papers say.
Bebawi said in his deposition that he felt horrible having to tell Rodriguez that he had needlessly removed her breast.
“After the surgery, when I was told that the review of the biopsy showed no cancer, I immediately called her and made her aware that I am very sorry and I feel very bad that we did this procedure for no cancer,” the surgeon said.
“I did the surgery based on the pathology report which I received,” he said.
Carboy said Bebawi, as well as staffers at Beth Israel and Lenox Hill, are to blame.
“A second review of the biopsy tissue at Lenox Hill, in advance of any surgery, would have resulted
I want justice, and I want explanations... I cannot believe all the mistakes that were made. - Eduvigis Rodriguez
in the cancellation of the mastectomy,’’ he claimed.
Rodriguez, who has adult children, is furious and traumatized by the ordeal.
“When [Bebawi] explained, I felt very confused,” she said. “It was a strong shock.
“I want justice, and I want explanations. I do not want to see this happen to anyone else. I had confidence in the surgeon and the hospitals, but I cannot believe all the mistakes that were made.”
Already physically and emotionally scarred, Rodriguez later underwent reconstructive breast surgery.
She eventually suffered a pulmonary embolism, or blood clots in her lungs, and a surgical hernia that required additional procedures, court records show.
Dr. Arl Van Moore, former president of the American College of Radiology, said Rodriguez’s cancer diagnosis would have been scary for any woman to receive.
That type of cancer “means it’s serious, and it typically requires chemotherapy, radiation or surgery,” he told The Post.
The doctor noted that when patients receive the diagnosis, they are rarely sent for a second opinion.
“You would usually trust the pathologist that your health team is using,” he said. “You wouldn’t question your team.”
Van Moore added that biopsy results are often read off site, but that doesn’t usually contribute to a wrong diagnosis.
“It’s not unusual to have a pathology report or biopsy results done in another location,” he said. “What matters is that the person who does the reading has the highest level of training.”
Corey Wishner, a lawyer for Mount Sinai Beth Israel, said the hospital was still investigating and declined to comment.
Lenox Hill spokeswoman Barbara Osborn said, “Ensuring quality patient care is Lenox Hill’s No. 1 concern. Due to concern for the privacy of our patient as well as the pending litigation, we are unable to comment at this time.”
In his deposition, Bebawi said he stopped performing surgeries at Lenox Hill last year. A staffer at the Harlem Medical Group, where Bebawi has an office, said the doctor has been on “medical leave.”
Bebawi’s lawyer, Nat Raines, declined to comment when asked about the case.