Woman to launch lawsuit over unnecessary mastectomy

A Canadian woman is planning to file a civil suit after a mix-up led to her having an unnecessary mastectomy.

The woman, in her 60s, had the surgery after an error by Capital Health. Another woman never got the surgery she required.

So far, no compensation has been given to any of the women involved in the mishap.

“We haven’t been served any papers for lawsuits now, and that would be up to our patients yet, and we can’t speak for them” said Chris Power, CEO of Capital Health.

But that could soon change.

Ray Wagner, a lawyer representing the woman who had the mastectomy, said he plans to file a civil suit by the end of the month.

“The emotional aspect of having to deal with cancer and then have to deal with the fact that you have to lose a breast to a mastectomy, that’s obviously very difficult,” he said. “And then after going through all of those emotions, to find out that it was all a mistake, then of course you become angry.”

Human error is the only explanation that’s been given for the two mishaps within Capital Health.

“This is very difficult for staff too because they’re working extremely hard to do the right things and do a great job and they typically do,” said Power. ”So you can imagine this has been very difficult for them. But this is I think a combination … of systems and human error.”

David Wilson, health and wellness minister for Nova Scotia, said the situation was unfortunate.

“You could have the most advanced technology and equipment, you could have all the checks and balances, the system is still run by people and human error happens,” he said.

Nova Scotia has the highest levels of breast cancer in the country, on average there are about 760 cases a year in the province with the majority being women.

“I think like most Nova Scotians, I watched the story unfold with a sense of disbelief, I don’t think anyone who goes into a hospital anticipates that these kinds of things are even a possibility” said Nova Scotia Premier Darrell Dexter.

Power pointed out that this is the first time a mishap of this magnitude has happened.

“Certainly not to our knowledge has this happened before in Nova Scotia, it’s happened in other parts of Canada and it’s happened around the world for sure” said Power.

She said different employees were involved in the two mishaps — but no action has been taken on any them.

“We work very hard to try to create a no-blame culture here at Capital Health, so we use these opportunities to as learning opportunities. How can we do things differently? How can we be sure that we put in place processes so these things don’t happen again?”

Barbara Thompson, the executive director of Breast Cancer Action Nova Scotia, a group that provides support and services for women suffering from breast cancer, is a 14-year survivor of the disease.

“Having gone through the process of thinking that she had breast cancer was devastating enough and that means going through all the tests and procedures and meetings with the doctors, so to lose a breast is one part of that but it’s the lasting effect unfortunately.”

Thompson believes the mix up will initially shake the security many have in the health care system.

“How long did the woman go without being told that she had breast cancer and what does this mean for her long term diagnosing? It must be devastating for her and her family.”

The hospital is planning to implement a bar-coding system for lab tests in the future to eliminate similar errors.

This article is courtesy of Global News.