I truly cannot believe this actually happened on some levels in this day and age. At a hospital in England, three patient's notes were mixed up. One woman was told she had breast cancer and she did not. She even had surgery to remove a tumor and lymph nodes.
First of all, how did the patient's notes get mixed up? Did someone drop a pile of papers and they were sorted out incorrectly? Or did someone enter patient's information under the wrong electronic chart? Don't they double check who you are when they update your chart, whether paper or electronic? I know when I am at the doctor's office, they ask me for my name and date of birth several times.
Second, didn't they do a double check on the patient before rushing to surgery? I know before I had surgery, I had a mammogram and an ultrasound. Then they sent me for an MRI before surgery. And everything was triple checked at each step. I can't believe she had surgery based on the results of one test.
I am basically dumbfounded that this happened. I feel so badly for this woman who dealt with the emotional and physical effects of a cancer diagnosis and didn't even have it.
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