Cancer mistakes - Diagnosis errors reveal system flaws

In June of this year, the Health Information and Quality Authority announced that a woman had mistakenly been informed in March 2005 that her cancer test was negative. It was a further 14 months before another test showed that she was suffering from cancer.

Rebecca O’Malley went public with her plight to ensure that laboratory-testing services were better run in order to prevent the same thing happening again.

A similar mistake has already been made with another woman, only she had two different test results misread, before a different hospital informed her that she is actually suffering from breast cancer following a third test. Such mistakes, which can mean the difference between life and death, should not happen.