Woman Sues After Breast Cancer Misdiagnosis

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October 3rd, 2007

"Lab Error Cause of Cancer Misdiagnosis"

A New York woman has filed a lawsuit against the lab that mislabeled her tissue sample—a mistake that led her to be misdiagnosed with breast cancer. She was informed that she never had cancer several months and a double mastectomy later.

“I didn't know what to believe. They told me I had cancer and now they're telling me I didn't. I didn't know if the next day they were going to call me and say, ‘Sorry, we made a mistake, you really do have cancer,'” said Darrie Eason.

Lab Error

Eason, 35, was the victim of an error at CBLPath medical lab. According to a state health department report, the lab blamed the error on a technician who admitted to taking shortcuts while labeling tissue samples. The technician no longer works for CBLPath, said chief executive William Curtis.

Steven E. Pegalis, Eason's attorney, said the lab should be held responsible for the mistake.

“You kind of assume that if a lab diagnoses you as having cancer, you've got it. How do you have faith and trust in systems that are supposed to be infallible?” Pegalis asked.

The doctors who treated Eason are not named in the suit since they were working with faulty information, Pegalis said.

Eason, whose lawsuit was filed last month in a state supreme court, is seeking unspecified damages.

(Source: Newsday.com)

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