Investigation following misdiagnosed cancer

Imagine being told you have one year to live, only to find out later that the doctors were wrong.

A Hamilton man didn’t believe his cancer diagnosis and that he had a one percent chance of survival. As it turns out, he was right.

Larry Reece doesn’t look like a dead man walking. But doctors at St. Joseph’s Healthcare told him otherwise.

Larry Reece: “Started out with a bad cough then some x-rays and in January 2014, they told me it was a sarcoid.”

Sarcoidosis is an autoimmune disease that’s treatable with steroids. But further tests revealed a deadlier diagnosis.

Reece: “After a biopsy, the doctor sat me down and said that I had cancer.”

Stage four lung cancer — most people die within a year.

Reece “Jaw-dropping, not believable, questioning it, ‘Are you Sure?’ I don’t feel like I’m sick or nothing, like you’re supposed to when you read about it, I didn’t feel sick”

Larry decided to get another opinion, south of the border: “After going down to the U.S. for another biopsy and further analysis as well, and everything was coming back negative.”

Reece’s results were sent back to Hamilton where a second biopsy in September resulted in no signs of cancer but of the original diagnosis of sarcoids.

Reece: “Happy of course, mad at the same time, angry. How could this happen to me, what went wrong?”

After launching an investigation into the matter, the initial reports says there was a problem with Larry’s sample.

Dr. Hugh Fuller, St. Joseph’s Healthcare: “There was an error in the specimen management and a contamination of his slide. Contaminated with material from another patient. I can assure you that the other patient was correctly diagnosed and was treated accordingly.”

Dr. Richard McLean, Hamilton Health Sciences: The instance of error is really, really low. To pick a number, I’d say it’s a range from one in five hundred to one in a million, one in 500-thousand to one in a million.”

While some people might seek legal action after being misdiagnosed with a serious illness like stage four lung cancer, instead Mr. Reece wants to help people who were in a similar situation as him.

Reece: “Numerous people coming forward, saying, y’know, I was diagnosed too It was a miscalculation on the hospitals part. Ask your doctor for a second opinion, that’s what saved my life was this second opinion.”

Mr. Reece’s health benefits from work allowed him to take those very expensive tests in the United States. And many people don’t even have health benefits from work.

Those in charge at Juravinski and St. Joseph’s are in the middle of an in depth investigation to make sure that this never happen again.