July 17, 201313 yr Well I guess it can happen... http://news.yahoo.com/texas-woman-underwent-chemo-after-false-diagnosis-132745549.html
July 17, 201313 yr That's really scary! Apparently her physician "misread the lab results". I'm not sure whether that means he misinterpreted data or misread the summary results report. I think we are often too accepting or trusting of physicians, forgetting that they are human too & capable of error. 2 years ago, my father had 2 suspicious places on his skin biopsied. When the lab reported that one of them was melanoma, the dermatologist did a second biopsy, to make sure that the specimens hadn't been mislabeled (because he had suspected the OTHER spot.) We were willing to do that, and I think it was justified. Recently, I went to my GP for a cholesterol test. Although they drew 3 vials of blood, they have no record that any tests were ever run. My main concern is what happened to that blood - was it disposed of, or was it incorrectly labeled for another patient (who might get inappropriate treatment as a result.) When I raised the issue with my GP, he mentioned that his dermatologist misplaced a biopsy specimen recently.
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