A mistake by a pathologist at Windsor Regional Hospital led to a surgeon to perform a lumpectomy and remove the lymph nodes of a healthy woman.

The pathology department inadvertently mixed up her test results with another woman diagnosed with breast cancer at an advanced stage.

Removal of lymph nodes is usually only done in advanced cases of cancer and can otherwise have long-term health consequences.

It was Hotel-Dieu Grace Hospital surgeon Dr. Barbara Heartwell who triggered a health ministry review and a $2.2-million lawsuit for unnecessarily removing a cancer-free breast in 2009 that performed the lumpectomy based on information from the pathologist.

But Windsor Regional CEO and president David Musyj emphasized in a news conference Friday none of the blame lies with Dr. Heartwell.

This was not a diagnosis error, he said. What we are dealing with here is an unfortunate administrative error made in our pathology department where existing practices and procedures were not followed. If they were followed, this would not have happened.

This had nothing to do with the surgeon. Dr. Heartwell did everything appropriately and did nothing wrong whatsoever.

Details of the female patient, including her age and health condition, were not released by the hospital at her request, Musyj said.

A meeting was held Wednesday involving the patient, her nurse practitioner, the hospitals chief of staff Dr. Gary Ing and Dr. David Shum, head of the pathology department.

While the womans surgery took place at Hotel-Dieu, all pathology work in the Windsor area has been consolidated at Windsor Regional.

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Pathology error causes unnecessary lumpectomy