Breast cancer report – Regulation must put patient first

The Health Information and Quality Authority’s (HIQA) report into the misdiagnosis of cancer patient “A” examined the pathology services at University Hospital Galway (UHG).

Two separate pathology samples were misdiagnosed at UHG during an 18-month period from 2005 to 2007.

Patient A, a Tipperary woman, was first referred to Barrington’s Hospital, Limerick, in September 2005. She had a mammogram and ultrasound that indicated cancer, but the biopsy analysed at UHG was judged to be negative. The patient subsequently had further tests and a second biopsy, which was also deemed negative by a locum pathologist at UHG in March 2007.