• Hospital Authority says blunder believed to have occurred due to mixing of biopsy samples between woman and another patient diagnosed with cancer
• Health official offers ‘heartfelt apology’ and says investigation committee to determine cause of blunder
A medical blunder has resulted in a 59-year-old woman having her reproductive organs removed at a public hospital in Hong Kong after she was wrongly diagnosed with endometrial cancer, health authorities have said.
The Hospital Authority said on Friday that the incident was believed to have occurred due to a mixing of biopsy samples from the woman and a 71-year-old patient diagnosed with cancer at Pok Oi Hospital in Yuen Long.
The woman had her uterus, ovaries and oviduct removed in a surgical procedure at the hospital on February 26, about five weeks after she was told the “bad news”.
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She learned about the incorrect diagnosis on Friday, after hospital staff received a report confirming contamination issues a day earlier.
Hong Kong experts blame staff shortage for suspected medical blunder
Dr Wong Yiu-chung, chief executive of the authority’s New Territories West Cluster, which includes Pok Oi Hospital, said a medical team would follow up on the woman’s condition.
“We know and understand that the incident will affect the patient’s physical and mental condition greatly, so I want to take the opportunity to give the patient our most heartfelt apology and our deepest condolence,” he said.
Wong added that the authority would establish an investigation committee to determine the cause of the blunder.