MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE: LA to Pay $198K to Woman for Unwanted Mastectomy

August 10, 2010

Los Angeles – An unidentified woman will receive $198,000 in settlement after going through a double mastectomy as Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center’s pathologists failed to confirm if she had cancer, authorities said.

Reports indicate that the woman had her breasts removed at the hospital believing that she had cancer after an outside pathologist found cancer cells in her biopsy sample.

The woman soon filed a medical negligence lawsuit against the city after in-house pathologists examined a tissue sample and determined that it was not cancerous.

The settlement was approved Tuesday by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

The hospital has since revised their policies and made sure that their pathologists will first re-examine the patient and review the patients’ biopsy specimen.