Los Angeles County Settles With Woman Who Mistakenly Received A Double Mastectomy
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors recently approved a $198,000 settlement for a woman – Ana Jimenez-Salgado - who mistakenly received a double mastectomy at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center after pathologists misread her biopsy as cancerous. Tissue obtained during the procedure confirmed she did not have cancer. Jimenez-Salgado underwent reconstructive surgery after the mastectomy.
Jimenez-Salgado filed a medical malpractice lawsuit, alleging that the hospital was negligent in relying on the interpretation of outside pathologists and that the breast reconstruction surgery was negligently performed.
The county admitted that it failed to review the biopsy specimens before proceeding with the mastectomy.
It is unknown exactly how many erroneous procedures are performed in hospitals around the country. However, errors occur in 7% of inpatient surgeries and wrong site surgery events constitute nearly 13% of medical mistakes. One of the main culprits – involvement of multiple parties or physicians in the course of treatment.
Here, outside pathologists reviewed the biopsy but those operating failed to consult the findings prior to surgery.
A recently released study shows that when doctors admit mistakes, say, “I’m sorry” and offer compensation, fewer patients file malpractice lawsuits.
Although encouraging doctors to “do the right thing, ” by disclosing errors to patients and their families and apologizing for their mistakes, more needs to be done to ensure keep preventable medical mistakes from occurring in the first place.
For more information, or if you believe you have been injured by a medical mistake please contact the Law Firm of Bostwick, Peterson & Mitchell, LLP for a free consultation.
