A young mother was yesterday preparing to sue a hospital trust for substantial damages after she had a healthy breast removed when she was wrongly told she had cancer.
Mrs Anita Froggatt (28) is pursuing a claim against Chesterfield and North Derbyshire Royal Hospital NHS Trust, which has taken full responsibility for the blunder.
The trust said that a consultant pathologist was on leave and would remain so until an internal hospital investigation into the incident had been completed.
It said the pathologist was also linked to a similar incident - which did not involve a mastectomy - in July 1998.
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The Health Secretary, Mr Frank Dobson, yesterday demanded immediate action to ensure there was no repeat of the "awful" mistake.