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Class-action suit planned against Windsor pathologist
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WINDSOR, Ont. -- A Windsor firm is preparing a class-action lawsuit over errors made by pathologist Dr. Olive Williams.
"We're completing our due diligence," lawyer Sharon Strosberg of Sutts, Strosberg said Tuesday. She said the lawsuit will likely be launched by the week's end.
Hotel-Dieu Grace Hospital began reviewing Williams's work in November after an incident in which a patient was seriously harmed. The hospital has not disclosed anything more, other than to say it is among 15,000 cases it is reviewing dating back to 2003 when Williams began practising here.
Hotel-Dieu suspended Williams on Jan. 4. It made the suspension - and the review leading up to it - In a review of Williams's work and that of surgeon Barbara Heartwell, the hospital said it had found seven cases of "serious" concern.
In addition to the internal review by Hotel-Dieu, and a review of cases from Windsor Regional Hospital and Leamington District Memorial Hospital for which Williams did work, the Ontario Ministry of Health and the College of Physicians and Surgeons have launched probes into Williams's work.
Word of pathology problems at the hospital sent current and former patients into panic that errors may have been made in their cases, prompting Hotel-Dieu to set up a hotline last week to field phone calls. Strosberg said even patients who learn there were no errors made in their cases can join the class-action lawsuit. "Even if there's no misdiagnosis ... there are people with that emotional aspect."
A Leamington woman who had an unnecessary mastectomy announced Tuesday that she has enlisted a Toronto law firm to sue on her behalf. Local lawyer Harvey Strosberg said his firm's class-action suit will differ from that malpractice suit because the "pathology issue" affects thousands of people. The fact the hospital is reviewing 15,000 files suggests even it doesn't know how widespread the problem is. "Is there a systemic problem?"
Williams did work for all three local hospitals. She practised in Jamaica between 1998 and 2002, and in Toronto before that, before coming to Windsor. While her profile on the College of Physicians and Surgeon's website shows she has never been disciplined by the regulatory body, The Windsor Star has learned she was quietly reprimanded by the college last fall after misdiagnosing a patient who later died of cancer.
Williams graduated from the University of West Indies in 1966 and first registered as a practitioner in Ontario in 1969.
She became a specialist in anatomical pathology in 1975 and in general pathology in 1978.
Global News examines the investigations surrounding two Hotel-Dieu Grace Hospital doctors - pathologist Dr. Olive Williams and surgeon Dr. Barbara Heartwell.
Additional information:
Pathology of breast cancer Elsevier
Pathology of breast cancer Present and prospect in Japan
Research
The Molecular Pathology of Hereditary Breast Cancer
Improvements in Breast Cancer Pathology Practices Among Medicare
Johns Hopkins Breast Cancer Center Library Pathology Education
Archive
Understanding Your Pathology Report: Breast Cancer
Pathology Reporting of Breast Cancer
Seattle Breast Pathology Consultants
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