$75K Payment by NY County after False Tuberculosis Diagnosis

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May 14th, 2007

"False Tuberculosis Diagnosis"

In May, New York state’s Westchester County agreed to pay a Yorktown woman $75,000 after she received a false diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) from the county’s Health Department. In January 2006, Maureen Ryan, 64, a nursing case manager, was ordered by the Health Department to leave work immediately and stay in her house after they incorrectly determined that she had TB.

Fears of Contagion

Dozens of Ryan’s relatives, coworkers and friends were then tested for exposure to TB, and Ryan was under the impression that she had exposed her grandchildren to TB, a highly contagious and deadly illness. Ryan spent January and February confined to her home, taking large doses of TB antibiotics that gave her a bad rash.

She had been tested for TB because of a bronchitis-like illness she’d had for more than a year that did not respond to any treatment.

The mistaken diagnosis was discovered after her initial results were checked. A Westchester County attorney attributed the mistaken diagnosis to mechanical error.

(Source: NY Times)

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