Wrongful Mastectomy

(Ontario, Canada) In November 2009, a Leamington, Ont., woman, Laurie Johnston, underwent a mastectomy at Windsor's Hôtel-Dieu Grace Hospital after a biopsy was analyzed as cancerous. A post-operation evaluation determined that the breast was not cancerous and the breast had been removed needlessly.

As a result, Johnston is suing two doctors, surgeon Dr. Barbara Heartwell and pathologist Dr. Olive Williams, along with two hospitals, Hôtel-Dieu Grace Hospital and Leamington District Memorial Hospital.

Johnston is seeking $1 million in general and special damages and another $1 million in punitive and aggravated damages. Her daughters, aged 22 and 15, and her sister are seeking another $200,000 in damages under the Family Law Act.

"To learn that my breast was removed unnecessarily is devastating for me and (my family)," Johnston told a throng of reporters Wednesday at the office of Toronto law firm Torkin Manes LLP.

"Sometimes, I'm alone and I just sit there and think about it, and I start to cry," she said. "If I'm not crying, I'm angry, I'm anxious."

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Windsor, alleges Heartwell failed to properly diagnose Johnston and "failed to read or properly understand" the pathology report which showed Johnston's lump was benign.

The suit also alleges Williams, who examined Johnston's biopsy samples taken at Leamington hospital, produced a confusing pathology report which contributed to Heartwell's error.

Interestingly, Dr. Heartwell had performed a previous wrongful mastectomy on Janice Laporte of Sarnia in 2001. A lawsuit was settled out of court.

In the latest event, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario and the Ontario Ministry of Health are conducting their own investigations.