The hospital's lab had mixed up her test: An unnecessary mastectomy and death

Last spring, doctors at a Long Island hospital gave a patient the news she had feared: cancer had been detected in her left breast.

She was only in her 30s, but she decided to act swiftly because breast cancer ran in her family. On May 25, she had a double mastectomy. The next day, she died from complications in the surgery.

As it turned out, she did not have cancer. According to the state Department of Health, the pathology report from the woman's surgery had found no tumors in her breasts. The hospital's lab had mixed up her test with another woman's.

Since that time, the hospital has taken corrective action, which has been deemed proper by the Department of Health.

Advice to surgery patients: Read the test results yourself and ensure the test results show your name and date of birth.

Browse for similar stories in our index at the very bottom of this page, or read another cancer misdiagnosis story.

Thanks to Cara Buckley for the source story in today's New York Times.