The investigative team appointed by the province to look into surgical errors and pathology practices at three Windsor Essex hospitals has cleared the surgeon who made headlines for giving mastectomies to two women who didn't have cancer.
The report also calls for changes to the ways the hospitals operate together and to communications between surgery and pathology units.
Hotel-Dieu Grace Hospital in Windsor, Ont., made headlines when two women who didn't have cancer came forward to say they'd been given mastectomies.
Earlier this year, the hospital said surgeon Dr. Barbara Heartwell told hospital staff in a conversation about the surgical errors that an investigation into her past cases would likely turn up additional cases of concern, although Heartwell said she couldn't remember the specifics of those cases.
Laurie Johnston, one of the women who had a healthy breast removed in error, filed a lawsuit earlier this year against Heartwell and pathologist Dr. Olive Williams, who examined slides for all three hospitals under investigation.
The investigative team found Heartwell "generally performed safe surgery and provided safe care," and recommended Hotel-Dieu Grace reconsider its current position "that Dr. Heartwell's practice be restricted given the findings of the review." The investigators reviewed 6,174 of Williams's pathology cases from 2003 to 2009. The pathology review team is "concerned about the potential serious adverse clinical consequences of certain discrepant diagnoses in Dr. Williams' cases." The review team also has concerns about the quality of her reports.
Williams is not currently practising in Ontario. The report recommends the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario consider undertaking a clinical competency assessment of Dr. Olive Williams if she decides to resume clinical practice in Ontario." The investigative team recommends Hotel-Dieu Grace Hospital step up its pathology and surgery leadership and that all pathologists participate in professional development activities. The team also recommends all three hospitals — Hotel-Dieu, Windsor Regional Hospital and Leamington District Memorial Hospital — adopt the pathology quality assurance program and that all pathologists be centralized at Windsor Regional.
In a press release, Health Minister Deb Matthews announced she has appointed a facilitator, Malcolm Maxwell, CEO of Grand River Hospital in Kitchener, Ont., to oversee the implementation of the report's recommendations.
Investigators released their findings hours after reports surfaced that Dr. Alan Forse, the chief of surgery at Hotel-Dieu Grace Hospital, had resigned effective Sept. 1.
The provincial ministry of health and long-term care ordered the investigation in March.
The hospitals will respond to the report at a press conference in Windsor Wednesday afternoon.
