Mixup at Capital Health Causes Patient an Unnecessary Mastectomy

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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The management of Capital Health has confessed to have had two serious incidents involving patients, one of which lead to a mastectomy of a patient who did not require it. Officials revealed that in the first case, tissue samples of two patients were switched in the patients’ charts that lead to mixing up of their pathology results due to a recording error. Consequently, the blunder resulted in a patient receiving mastectomy when it was not needed, while the other patient who needed to undergo a mastectomy could not have a scheduled surgery on time.

An addition to that, the second case of mishap occurred when tissue samples of two separate patients were also switched prior to pathology analysis. Accordingly, a patient wrongly received a diagnostic biopsy while it was not required, whereas the other patient was kept from a necessary follow-up at the time. Officials claim that the incidents and patients are not related.

In a press conference released on Monday, hospital officials mentioned that “to those patients directly affected by this event, we give our most sincere apology.” It was stated that “Capital Health believes the trust our patients and our community place in us is fundamental to our providing the best care. Our commitment to transparency is integral to that relationship of trust and so, with the knowledge of the affected patients, we share these regrettable circumstances with the general public.” Additionally, Capital Health officials alleged that “There was no error in the interpretation of the tissue analyses themselves. Other tissue samples from the same periods have been reviewed and we are certain that these are the only affected patients.”