Patients at risk of misdiagnosis
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Wednesday March 10 2010
THE disclosure of fatal systemic and procedural failures at Tallaght Hospital is all the more surprising and upsetting for the fact that most people had assumed the litany of health scandals had come to an end.
Over a four-year period, more than 57,000 X-rays conducted as part of tests for cancer, heart trouble and orthopaedics were not reviewed by a consultant radiologist -- something which the hospital's CEO designate has described as totally unacceptable.
Two patients had delayed diagnoses: one died and the other is being treated for cancer. The hospital is reviewing a backlog of 23,169 X-rays.
This is one of a number of system failures in recent years, each of them exposing patients to the risk of misdiagnosis, and each of them followed by investigation, explanation and assurances that the faults had been rectified.
Ann Moriarty died of cancer in September 2008 after a series of misdiagnoses. Before that, Rebecca O'Malley's breast cancer diagnosis was delayed for 14 months after a lab error in Cork University Hospital. An independent investigation found that it was a "one-off interpretive error".
In Portlaoise Hospital, nine women were wrongly given the all-clear and the cases of 3,000 women had to be reviewed. One woman who attended Barrington's private hospital in Limerick was twice wrongly given the all-clear and subsequently had to undergo a mastectomy.
In the North-East, 6,000 chest X-rays had to be reviewed after a radiologist failed to detect cancer in nine patients, eight of whom died.
The list went on and, apparently, still does.
When Professor Tom Keane undertook to sort out the Irish cancer care mess two years ago, he acknowledged that there had been dreadful communication and administrative failings and vowed they would not be repeated. No doubt he will be as shocked as anyone by this latest setback.
The new CEO at Tallaght Hospital says that he became aware of the problem shortly after his appointment last December and took immediate action, which is detailed in our report today. Moreover, there is a sense of urgency and openness about this case which was not a feature of previous scandals.
Nevertheless, that is what this latest massive failure to live up to the trust of patients is. A scandal.
Irish Independent
