Health Ministry sanctions breast cancer clinic after test errors — report

Channel 12 says LEM lab banned from carrying out half of its tests after mixing up patients’ results, and causing women to get wrong treatments

By ToI Staff 26 June 2019, 1:12 am

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Illustrative: A woman undergoes a digital mammogram (Bizuayehu Tesfaye/AP Images for College of American Pathologists)

The Health Ministry has sanctioned a breast cancer screening clinic in central Israel after errors made there led to several women receiving the wrong treatments, and after the clinic failed to correct its procedures, Channel 12 news reported Tuesday.

LEM lab in Ness Tziona was said to have mixed up patients’ results, among other errors.

The ministry will limit the tests the lab can conduct for a period of six months, banning it from carrying out half of the tests it normally does.

A committee will be formed to review whether more errors were made and further steps could yet be taken, the report said.

According to the Haaretz daily, LEM reviews hundreds of patient samples a month.

The paper further reported that the errors had come to light after an oncologist noticed that LEM’s results did not agree with those of other tests her patients had undergone.