Suspended pathologist still being investigated in Britain
Question marks first arose about this doctor’s work when doctors in Britain contacted colleagues in Galway to inform them that he was under investigation by the General Medical Council (GMC).
The HSE and HIQA were informed of the GMC investigation in December and the Royal College of Physician’s Faculty of Pathology sought a second opinion on work he carried out during his time working in Ireland. The pathologist worked at UCHG from February 2004 to March 2004. The GMC suspended his registration last September.
The Co Tipperary woman who blew the whistle on substandard breast cancer diagnosis, Rebecca O’Malley, has said she is “glad to see a culture of openness beginning to emerge”.
“It is, of course, very distressing to hear of all the misdiagnoses but it happens and we don’t hear about it. All these reports have led to new recommendations which are being followed through by the HSE. Since I came out with my story, I’ve heard of two other women who had misdiagnoses in other hospitals which have not been highlighted nationally. These women’s stories are being investigated locally. The only way that things might change is if errors are not swept under the carpet but examined so the chances of them happening again are reduced,” she said.
According to the HSE, women in the west who may have been affected by this pathologist’s substandard work are still being contacted, with the last few expected to be telephoned today.
“We are working to complete this process as quickly as possible. Where appropriate, the patients are being offered a prompt consultation with clinicians. The hospital is committed to establishing the full facts in relation to the work of this pathologist and providing the National Hospital’s Office and HIQA with those findings and publishing this report.”
The HSE is refusing to reveal how many women are being contacted about questionable test results. They will not estimate when the report into this latest pathologist’s work will be completed.
Patient A is a 51-year-old Tipperary woman incorrectly given the all-clear for breast cancer at Barringtons Hospital in Limerick. Unlike Rebecca O’Malley, Patient A chose to remain anonymous. In September 2005, she discovered a lump in her left breast and was referred by her GP to a Barringtons Hospital consultant. There, she underwent a mammogram, an ultrasound and a lumpectomy and was led to believe the lump was most likely cancerous. But her results from University Hospital College Galway (UCHG) were negative.
Nine months later she returned to the hospital as she was increasingly worried about her breast. A second breast X-ray was taken and again it said her lump was benign. After another nine months Patient A felt increasingly unwell. She went to Barringtons yet again for a needle biopsy in March last year. The results went to UCHG and for the third time, she was told she did not have cancer. This time, however, her doctor wouldn’t accept the results and took a biopsy which he sent to Cork University Hospital. The following week, she was told she had cancer and her health was in immediate threat. She needed a mastectomy immediately followed by radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
Patient A’s case led to the establishment of the Report of the Independent Review of Symptomatic Breast Care Services at Barringtons Hospital in Limerick. Up to 285 cases from September 2003 to August 2007 were examined. Breast cancer services at Barringtons have been suspended since and will not recommence.
The Barringtons report, published last April, found that Patient A was not the only victim of breast cancer misdiagnosis at the hospital. A second patient — Patient B — in her 50s, suffered similarly. It’s believed Patient B’s diagnosis was delayed by 12 months due to medical errors and was before Patient A’s. The report concluded that more than half the women reviewed did not receive appropriate levels of care.
The report published on Tuesday, was a review of pathology facilities at UCHG following the Patient A scandal and was conducted by Health Information and Quality Authority. The study found that two different pathologists working in the pathology lab in UCHG, Dr B and Dr C, were responsible for the error which led to a delay in Patient A’s treatment.
The review found that in the case of Dr B, the single interpretive error involving Patient A was the only cause of concern. But the review of Dr C’s work, publicly identified as Dr Antoine Geagea, identified 49 patients where the reviewers’ findings differed from Dr C’s. It emerged that Dr C’s error rate was 5-6 times greater than the accepted range. The report blames errors on the failure of pathologists from UCHG to participate in multi-disciplinary reviews of cases.
After Dr Geagea left UCHG, he worked at CUH. A HSE review of his work there is still unpublished.
In May last year, news broke that Rebecca O’Malley, a 41-year-old mother-of three from Co Tipperary, was wrongly given the all-clear for breast cancer, resulting in a masectomy. HIQA published a review earlier this year.
Separate to the HIQA review, University Hospital Galway said on Tuesday that it had received information concerning a pathologist who worked at the hospital from February 2004 — March 2004.
The pathologist was suspended for professional issues by the British General Medical Council in September 2007 for 18 months. The hospital advised HIQA and the HSE about the suspension and with advice has sought a second opinion on diagnostic tests carried out by the pathologist while working here. This is now complete and patients requiring follow-up are being contacted.
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