A hospital affiliated with Tsukuba University has admitted that a mixup of two patients' examination records resulted in an unnecessary lung operation being performed on one of them in July, Ibaraki Prefectural Government officials said Friday.
According to Tsukuba University Hospital's report to the local government, the state-run hospital carried out biopsies on two patients suspected of having lung cancer. The examinations showed that one had lung cancer while the other did not.
The surgery was mistakenly performed July 4 on a male patient in his 30s from Ibaraki Prefecture after hospital staff mixed up his records with those of a lung cancer patient.
The hospital noticed the error when the pathological examination of the lung segment after the operation showed that it did not contain cancer cells.
The hospital set up on July 19 an internal committee to examine the mixup, but they did not report it to prefectural authorities until Thursday.
The local government sent four officials Friday afternoon to question hospital staff and urge it to disclose details of the incident, government officials said.
Ibaraki Prefectural Police said they will question hospital officials on suspicion of professional negligence resulting in bodily injury.
Tsukuba University Hospital is known for advanced medical facilities that provide state-of-the-art treatment.
The two patients are still in the hospital and their conditions are improving, hospital officials said. The hospital said they have already apologized to the two patients for the error.
A similar mixup occurred in January at Yokohama City University Hospital, where confusion involving nurses and surgeons resulted in two elderly male patients, one with lung disease and the other with heart disease, being switched ahead of surgery.
Six hospital staff members, including a doctor and nurses, were indicted for professional negligence resulting in bodily injury.