At least one woman who was wrongly operated on after a botch-up in reporting pathology results has not received an apology, and others were told of the mistake over the phone "quite some time" later, a panel of experts looking into the mix-ups has found.

In June the Ministry of Health convened a panel of experts to look into five cases where woman had unnecessary surgery because of mistakes in reporting pathology results.

One of the cases involved a woman having part of her jaw cut away after being wrongly diagnosed with cancer of the mouth.

Another woman had a mastectomy by mistake after her breast biopsy was swapped with another.

A Herald on Sunday investigation found six woman had been affected by errors made in pathology laboratories.

The panel of experts yesterday reported back that there was five incidents over a two-year period.

Four incidents involved breast biopsy tissue and the fifth involved oral tissue.

Four of the errors resulted from transposition of specimens with those of other patients during the laboratory process. The fifth error resulted from a misinterpretation of the specimen, it reported.

In compiling the report panel representatives met with four of the woman who reported on their experiences during and after the case.

The response from health providers once the mix-up was realised "generally was short in duration and largely unsatisfactory", it said.

Original post:
No apology over surgery botch-up