Home

  • Home
    • » e-Newsletters

Lab mix-up leads to mastectomy, death

Quality Improvement Monitor, February 15, 2008

A woman who died of complications from a double mastectomy at Mercy Medical Center on Long Island last spring actually did not have cancer - the lab mixed up her test with another woman's, according to the New York Times.

The New York Health Department determined in October that the hospital had taken proper "corrective action" after the mastectomy death, but it is investigating the hospital over the deaths of three other patients, the Times said.

The probe was prompted by one of the hospital's doctors, Anthony Colantonio, MD, who said a physician's assistant had improperly inserted catheters, chest tubes and pacemakers into patients, the paper reported. The doctor said three patients died as result.

For more information, click here.

Most Popular