Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
MD made mastectomy mistake before: claim
Ontario patient shocked by latest revelation
DAN JANISSE / CANWEST NEWS SERVICE Enlarge Image
‘I was just so relieved to find out I didn’t have cancer, (the mistake) didn’t register with me right away’ -- Janice Laporte, wiping away a tear in her Sarnia, Ont., home Tuesday while talking about having an unnecessary mastectomy
WINDSOR, Ont. -- Eight years before she performed an unnecessary mastectomy on a woman who did not have breast cancer, Windsor surgeon Dr. Barbara Heartwell made the same mistake with another patient at Hotel-Dieu Grace Hospital, according to a 2002 statement of claim filed in court.
Janice Laporte, a former Windsorite who now lives in Sarnia, Ont., had one of her breasts removed by Heartwell in September 2001, only to find out she never had breast cancer. A pathology report showing the lump was not malignant was sent to Heartwell a day before Laporte's surgery, but Heartwell proceeded to remove the breast and the lymph nodes surrounding it, the documents say.
A week later, Laporte received a phone call from Heartwell's office, telling her and her husband, Paul, to come immediately. A devastated Laporte thought she was going to her death sentence. Instead, she was told she didn't have cancer.
"I was just so relieved to find out I didn't have cancer, (the mistake) didn't register with me right away," Laporte said in an interview with the Windsor Star. "It wasn't until my husband and I got ushered through the back door that we looked at each other and said: 'Wait a minute. What just happened?' "
As Laporte's relief turned into anger, she sought legal advice and retained a lawyer. A lawsuit against Heartwell was filed and court documents show the surgeon denied the allegations, saying she "carried out all examinations, diagnoses and treatment of Ms. Laporte in a careful, competent and diligent manner."
Laporte can't discuss the outcome of the suit because of a confidentiality agreement.
When Laurie Johnston's story appeared in the news last week, Laporte couldn't believe what she was reading in the paper and seeing on television.
"It was like looking in the mirror, watching Laurie speak," she said. "I cried."
Heartwell performed Johnston's mastectomy Nov. 5, 2009 after misreading a presurgery pathology report which stated that the patient's lump was benign.
Heartwell told Johnston about the mistake in a followup appointment but didn't notify the chief of her department at Hotel-Dieu. Hospital officials didn't find out about the error until a reporter called them Feb. 5.
In a statement issued late Tuesday night, Hotel-Dieu said Heartwell has volunteered to temporarily stop performing surgeries after hospital officials found out through the media about Laporte's case.
-- Canwest News Service
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 24, 2010 A8
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