NHS Trust Admits 20 Unnecessary Mastectomies, Hundreds Harmed
NHS Trust Admits 20 Unnecessary Mastectomies, Hundreds Harmed
The News
An NHS trust in County Durham, England, has admitted that 20 women had unnecessary mastectomies — their breasts surgically removed when they did not need it — after a review of cases in its care.
The review also found that other patients suffered significant harm while being treated by the trust, Sky News reported.
The BBC reported that the women were among hundreds of patients harmed by their treatment at the County Durham health trust.
Timeline
The BBC reports that twenty women had their breasts removed unnecessarily at the County Durham NHS trust, and that they were among hundreds of patients harmed by their treatment there.
Sky News reports the trust's own account of the review: 20 women underwent unnecessary mastectomies, and others suffered significant harm while under its care.
Reactions
The admission came from the trust itself. Sky News attributed the finding of 20 unnecessary mastectomies to the trust, based on a review of cases, and the BBC reported the trust's acknowledgement that patients were harmed by their treatment.
The reporting available to The Frank does not include statements from the affected women, from British health regulators, or from government ministers.
What's Next
The scale of the harm is still being counted: the BBC put the number of patients affected at hundreds, while the figure the trust has confirmed for unnecessary mastectomies stands at 20.
Further detail on the review's findings — including which services were involved and what the trust will do for the patients harmed — has not yet been set out in the reports published so far.
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