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. <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
One of the cases involved a woman having part of her jaw cut away after being wrongly diagnosed with cancer of the mouth. <\/p>\n
Another woman had a mastectomy by mistake after her breast biopsy was swapped with another. <\/p>\n
A Herald on Sunday investigation found six woman had been affected by errors made in pathology laboratories. <\/p>\n
The panel of experts yesterday reported back that there was five incidents over a two-year period. <\/p>\n
Four incidents involved breast biopsy tissue and the fifth involved oral tissue. <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
In compiling the report panel representatives met with four of the woman who reported on their experiences during and after the case. <\/p>\n
The response from health providers once the mix-up was realised \"generally was short in duration and largely unsatisfactory\", it said. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Original post: 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 Continue reading
\nNo apology over surgery botch-up<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"