Healthy woman loses her breast due to hospital mistake

Tuesday 19th August, 04:00 PM JST

OKAYAMA —

A hospital in the city of Okayama said Tuesday it mistakenly removed the entire left breast from a healthy woman last year as it mixed up the identification number for her test sample with that of a cancer patient. According to Okayama Saiseikai General Hospital, the woman in her 40s from Okayama Prefecture took a breast cancer examination in July last year.

She was found to have had no abnormalities on palpation but was diagnosed as possibly having cancer in tissue testing. Her left breast was then removed in September, the hospital said. But the detailed examination of her removed tissues found that she was not suffering from cancer. The hospital found out that the identification number of her tissue slide was mixed up with that of another examinee who was tested the same day and diagnosed with breast cancer. The other patient later underwent a surgery to remove her cancerous breast.

Kyodo

Latest 15 of 30 Total Comments Show All

majimekun at 08:23 AM JST - 20th August

lipscombe, your reasoning defies logic. You're getting too emotional here.

Getting hit by a car is something that happens within seconds. Nothing that you can do about it. On the opposite, getting a diagnosis, wrong or bad, gives you plenty of time to look for a second opinion, just like libertas said.

If someone told me that I have to get rid of my testicles in order to save my life, believe me, I would ask for a second or even third opinion. And I bet you'd do the same.
Mz at 08:53 AM JST - 20th August

Sorry but I'm with Lipscombe here. Why would you blame her for trusting her doctor?
bamboohat at 08:58 AM JST - 20th August

This is a terrible terrible tragedy. Hopefully she has a supportive family that will help her throught this. Don't be too quick to judge the patient for not demanding a second opinion. Doctors have a strange power over people, that has, time and time again in psychological studies, been demonstrated and documented. They have done experiments where nurses blindly followed doctors orders despite being dangerous (they stopped them before they actually carried out the order).

when a patient goes into a hospital, they generally give up their reasoning skills and allow the doc to think for them. Its' not stupid, it's human nature.

As far as this not happening in america, check:

http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/s/surgicalerrorscomplications/prevalence.htm

and as far as compensation, in 2000, a 74 man DIED due to a surgical error, and the family got 82 million yen. So it would appear that an accidental breast removal will get this poor lady maybe 10 or 15 million, if she's lucky.

This tragedy is not as easily avoidable (althought it IS avoidable, but you need to be super vigilant) as keyboard jocks might assume.
TheNewZen at 08:59 AM JST - 20th August

Sounds to me like they mixed up 2 biopsy test results.

Usually a 2nd opinion in that case won't result in a 2nd biopsy but a 2nd doctor verifying that the sample taken is cancerous.

Happened with my Wife when she was transfered/refered to the NCC after being diagnosed, the NCC redid the MRI & CT-scans but used the biopsy sample from the previous Hospital as well as their records to verify the results.
majimekun at 09:36 AM JST - 20th August

"Why would you blame her for trusting her doctor?"

Because it's far from being clever to forget the simple fact that a doctor is a human being and that human beings can make errors. This is something I knew from a long time ago even if I'm far from being a rocket scientist.
TheNewZen at 09:43 AM JST - 20th August

I doubt that the Doctor himself performed the Biopsy, more likely he just got given the sample from a lab technician who did the Biopsy and labeled it.

As for using numbers to identify samples that is done for the patients privacy. Imagine you a lab technician handling a sample named " Gordon Brown", "Senator Obama" or similar.
majimekun at 09:51 AM JST - 20th August

I assume that, if you go seek a second test/advice to the doctor of a different hospital in a different city, chances are that the first opinion won't interfere. Maybe it's only me but my body is the most precious thing I have and I'd anything tp make sure that the right decision is being taken.
TheNewZen at 09:55 AM JST - 20th August

Not disagreeing. But cancer is a bit different from other sicknesses, it is a very emotional issue, as it usually strikes out of the blue.

We had 5 people with cancer in mine and my wifes family.
GW at 10:16 AM JST - 20th August

you people seem to forget most japanese never question their docs, they go in & just listen, seldom arming themselves with questions about their illnesses, this is a very sad case, there shud be protocols in place to catch these kinds of errors at several points, that all missed this points to incompetence in this case
Hughgarse at 11:06 AM JST - 20th August

getting a second opinion isnt a Japanese thing to do.. They just nod their head, say "honto?" and thats that.. Hope she can sue their @rse for this though.
Simperial at 11:19 AM JST - 20th August

Just another stadistic for the poor perfomance of hospitals in Japan. It is very easy to notice that Japan is plagued of these cases. Kidneys, eyes, liver, amputations... all of them in wrong people. If you are suppoused to have a surgery in Japan, think it twice. Maybe the best is head for your country and do it there. Maybe a development country, yes, but maybe with less mistakes like this. Incredible, but true.
smithinjapan at 11:27 AM JST - 20th August

"The hospital made an error, but is not necessarily negligent."

Excuse me? They cut off a woman's BREAST for no reason aside from utter stupidity! The doctors in question ought to be sued for the maximum and lose their ability to practice. Of course, this is Japan, where idiocy abounds when it comes to medicine, so nothing will come of this but a few 'Moushiwake Arimasen's and some deep bowing. Meanwhile, a healthy woman has one less breast.

I DEFINITELY think she should have gotten a second opinion, but that in no way excuses the result or makes her completely to blame. Sure, Japanese people will accept anything their doctor's say and do what they ask without question, but doctor's shouldn't take advantage of that and should still attempt to give the greatest and take the greatest care.
AlliedForces at 04:20 AM JST - 21st August

Terrible things like this happen in third world health care countires like Japan. In the US these incidents don@t occur. Japans socialist health care has let this poor woman down.
Youdontknow at 09:17 AM JST - 22nd August

Japanese hospitals are scary places...pray you never get sick enough or ever need to go to one!
Molenir at 11:07 PM JST - 22nd August

"The hospital made an error, but is not necessarily negligent."

Actually, this is the very definition of negligence. Hospitals for the most part have procedures that must be followed to verify patients problems. Surgery should never happen without verification, and thats precisely what occurred here. The doctors/nurses for whatever reason, failed to follow procedure. And the result is a tragedy for this poor woman.