Biopsy Error Led To Unnecessary Mastectomy: On April 11, 2022, Meirav Baר-Hen, a mother of three, underwent mammography screening along with a breast ultrasound that indicated possible cancerous tissue. She had a biopsy three days later during which six samples were taken from her left breast. On April 26, 2022, she was told that pathology found that she had a malignant form of cancer and that she required a full mastectomy of her left breast.
Two weeks after the surgery, she received a telephone call from the surgeon who allegedly stated that there was an “incongruity between the first biopsy showing malignant cancer and the biopsy from the tissue that has been removed, which appears to have no cancerous cells.” but added “you have cancer, so in any case you should continue with the radiation.”
Despite being told that she had breast cancer and instructed to continue with radiation treatment, the woman insisted and persisted that further analysis of tissue samples be undertaken after which a notation in her medical chart appeared that stated “during the operation, there was no indication of a cancerous tumor and that the tissue where a tumor was found did not belong to this patient. Therefore this patient only had benign tissue his her breast; the diagnosis given to her was a mistake and she was told this.”
Though the woman was reportedly told that this type of medical error had never happened before at the hospital where she was treated, it was been reported that a similar incident had occurred in 2008.
The woman recently filed a medical malpractice lawsuit in Israel. In response to the filing of the lawsuit, the hospital issued a statement: “The lawsuit has been received, we are currently studying it and we will respond as is acceptable in legal proceedings; the incident was reported to the Ministry of Health.”
Medical Malpractice Claims In Israel
There is no specific laws regarding medical malpractice claims in Israel. Nonetheless, Israeli laws refer to the tort of negligence, medical assault, breach of statutory duty, and breach of the provisions of the Patient’s Rights Law.
The tort of negligence, appearing in Articles 35 and 36 of the Tort Ordinance, states:
- Where a person does an act which under the same circumstances a reasonable careful person would not do, or fails to do an act which under the circumstances such a person would do, or fails to use such skill or take such care when exercising any occupation as a reasonable careful person qualified to exercise such occupation would use or take under the same circumstances, then such act or failure constitutes carelessness and a person’s carelessness as aforesaid in relation to another person to whom he owes a duty under the circumstances not to act that way, constitutes negligence. Any person who causes damage to any person by his negligence commits a civil wrong.
- For the purpose of Article 35, every person owes a duty to all persons, and the owner of any property to which, a reasonable person ought, under the same circumstances, to have contemplated as likely in the usual course of things to be affected by an act, or failure to do an act envisaged by that Article.
If you or a family member suffered serious injury as a result of medical negligence in the United States, you should promptly find a local medical malpractice lawyer in your state who may investigate your medical malpractice claim for you and represent you or your family member in a medical malpractice case, if appropriate.
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