A High Court action by a woman who underwent an unnecessary partial mastectomy after an analysis of a lump on her left breast wrongly indicated it was at the highest level of malignancy has concluded.
Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne was told yesterday that the action by Elizabeth O'Mullane (52), a mother of three, could be dismissed against the South Infirmary Victoria Hospital Ltd and could also be struck out, with no admission of liability, against the other two defendants in the case, a surgeon, Denis Richardson, and a pathologist, Dr Gary Lee, who has a practice at the Mercy Hospital Cork.
Ms O'Mullane, Clontymon Lawn, Boreenmanna Road, Cork, had already accepted damages in the case which was continuing yesterday to determine who was liable for the damages.
Ms Justice Dunne said she was very pleased the parties had worked hard to reach a conclusion in the case. "I am sure Mrs O'Mullane is relieved she will no longer be required to be here, no longer than is necessary."
The court was earlier told that Ms O'Mullane was referred to the specialist breast clinic at the Cork hospital in July 2001 by her GP after she showed him a small lump in her left breast. Ms O'Mullane had had a lump in 1996 which had disappeared.
Mr Richardson gave no indication there was anything to worry about in relation to the lump and he took a needle sample of cells which was sent to the pathologist, Dr Lee, her counsel, Paul Sreenan SC, said when opening the case.
Dr Lee had advised that the needle aspirate was "category C5 diagnostic of malignancy" which was, Mr Sreenan said, the highest category in terms of malignancy.
In August 2001, Ms O'Mullane, after a consultation with another surgeon, was advised that she would require a partial mastectomy. She had a left partial mastectomy and left axillary clearance. Twenty-two nodes were taken from under her arm and a specimen was sent to pathology.
The conclusion of the pathology report this time was that there was no evidence of malignancy and that the tissue samples from the removed nodes were benign. Mr Sreenan said Dr Lee looked at his earlier report and reported back that it was in fact wrong.
Mr Sreenan said the lump was benign and she should just have had an operation to have it removed.
In her evidence, Ms O'Mullane said that four days after her operation Mr Richardson had told her he had a very embarrassed pathologist on the phone. Mr Richardson had said the pathologist had misinterpreted the results. "I did not have cancer. I never had cancer in the first place. I was shell shocked," she said.