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Pathologist at hospital not punished for a litany of errors

Pathologists at King/Drew hospital reported a pathologist at the hospital after becoming alarmed at the mistakes he was making. The reported pathologist had 16 years experience but failed to recognize the signs of leukemia in a 27 year olds blood test. He also cleared a woman of cancer after failing to notice malignant cells in her urine test. Another pathologist detected the cancer 6 weeks later during a biopsy. She received a $450,000 settlement but eventually died from the cancer. In yet another case he missed a thyroid cancer. Furthermore, his sloppy work practices also hindered correct diagnoses. The hospital took no action when the pathologist's colleagues filed a report against him and even when they approached him personally. He diagnosed another 40 year old woman with uterine cancer and she had a radical hysterectomy. It was later found that he'd mistaken her test for that of a brain cancer victim. The woman was not even aware of the misdiagnosis until 2 years later when contacted by news reporters.

Source: summary of medical news story as reported by Los Angeles Times

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Article Source Details

About: Pathologist at hospital not punished for a litany of errors

Date: 7 December 2004

Source: Los Angeles Times

Author: Tracy Weber, Charles Ornstein

URL: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-kdday3dec07,0,5458998.story?coll=la-home-headlines

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