Ginny Hillis says when mixedup pathology reports indicated breast cancer, she avoided unnecessary surgery by Dr. Barbara Heartwell by fighting for a second opinion.

"You have to be your own advocate, you can't be passive when you get a catastrophic diagnosis," the 66-year-old retired lawyer stressed as she recounted her experience in 1995, years before the high-profile cases in which Heartwell performed surgery on local women - two breast removals and a lumpectomy - for breast cancer they didn't have.

Hillis said the most recent case that came to light last month, of a woman receiving an unnecessary lumpectomy because of a mistake by a pathologist at Windsor Regional Hospital, reconfirms her belief: "I know it isn't easy but get a second opinion."

Hillis said that in her case there were two pathology reports, a preliminary study of the tissue sample taken from her breast that indicated cancer and a more detailed report that said she was cancer-free.

But the sequence of those reports was switched, so it appeared the more detailed report concluded she had breast cancer, she said. Heartwell was recommending an axillary lymph node dissection to find out if the cancer had spread beyond the breast, Hillis said.

She claims that Heartwell discouraged a second opinion.

Hillis said Heartwell is "a very talented surgeon.

"It was a pathology error. But my problem with (Heartwell) was the outright flat denial that I needed a second opinion."

Through Hotel-Dieu Grace Hospital spokesman Steve Erwin, Heartwell's lawyer Andrea Plumb stated that Heartwell denies blocking Hillis's access to a second opinion.

Plumb said Heartwell advised Hillis to contact the hospital's pathology department directly with her request and that the department stood by its results.

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Second opinion avoids unneeded major surgery