A woman is suing for damages over allegations a pathologist wrongfully diagnosed her with breast cancer, resulting in treatment and surgery.
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When Christina Bentlee was diagnosed with breast cancer, she had to undergo chemotherapy, surgery to remove one of her breasts and then reconstructive plastic surgery.
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Then she was shocked to find out she didn’t actually have cancer after all.
The Prince George woman is suing a pathologist for alleged negligence in making an alleged wrongful finding that a biopsy taken of her was malignant when in fact it was benign.
In November 2018, Bentlee, 57, sought a referral for a mammogram from a walk-in clinic due to a lump in her left breast. She advised the doctor that the lump had been present for about 10 years. A short time later she had a left-breast biopsy at University Hospital of Northern B.C. in Prince George.
In her lawsuit she claims that Dr. William Grant Roden, who was at the time a pathologist at the hospital, interpreted the biopsy and diagnosed her with invasive ductal carcinoma breast cancer. After the cancer diagnosis, preoperative chemotherapy was recommended for her and she had the cancer treatment over a five-month period, from February to June 2019.
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Before having surgery to remove her breast, known as a mastectomy, ultrasounds revealed that the lump hadn’t decreased in size and she wasn’t advised that the chemotherapy wasn’t causing a reduction in the size of the lump, says Bentlee’s suit.
The mastectomy was performed in October 2019 along with a lymph node biopsy. A plastic surgeon performed breast reconstruction.
But following the surgery, another pathologist at the hospital determined that Roden had misdiagnosed the 2018 biopsy, finding that it was benign and didn’t show cancer, says the lawsuit filed in B.C. Supreme Court.
The B.C. Cancer Agency was contacted and asked to conduct a review with three pathologists confirming that the initial biopsy was benign, according to the suit.
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On Oct. 31, 2019, nearly a year after the initial biopsy diagnosis, Bentlee’s surgeons advised her that she had never had cancer, says the lawsuit.
In an at times emotional interview, Bentlee, who is employed as a retail worker, says she was “kind of in shock” when she first heard the news that she didn’t have the potentially deadly disease.
“I didn’t know what to think. It took me quite a while to realize, ‘Oh my God, I don’t have cancer.’ If that makes sense.”
The suit says that on Nov. 12, 2019, Roden corrected his 2018 report and diagnosed the biopsy as being benign with no evidence of malignancy.
Since the surgery, Bentlee has had several followup surgeries to deal with complications and infections, procedures that have had a highly disruptive and emotional impact on her life.
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“You try not to think about it but then because of the (followup) surgery, it makes you all emotional again,” she said.
Bentlee’s suit is seeking damages for a number of things including pain and suffering, loss of earning capacity, and loss of enjoyment of life and physical health. She claims that the pathologist breached a duty of care and was negligent for failing to adequately interpret the biopsy.
Michael Shirreff and Jennifer Crosman, her lawyers, say that there is no question a mistake was made and noted that the pathologist has apologized to their client.
Shirreff added that to succeed in the case, it’ll have to be proven that the doctor fell below the reasonable standard of care in the circumstances.
No response has yet been filed to the lawsuit, which contains allegations that haven’t been tested in court.
In an email, Northern Health said that it appeared that Roden couldn’t be contacted via email or phone call as he was “away indefinitely.” The health authority added that it would be inappropriate for them to comment on the allegations.
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