Suit: Double mastectomy patient never had cancer

A Long Beach woman who underwent a double mastectomy filed suit against a medical lab, claiming a technician's carelessness caused her to be misdiagnosed with breast cancer. Darrie Eason, a 35-year-old

News 12 Staff

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Oct 4, 2007, 12:24 AM

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Updated 6,186 days ago

A Long Beach woman who underwent a double mastectomy filed suit against a medical lab, claiming a technician's carelessness caused her to be misdiagnosed with breast cancer.

Darrie Eason, a 35-year-old single mother, opted for aggressive treatment after receiving her diagnosis in March 2006. Weeks later at a follow-up visit to her doctor, she received a major shock.

"They told me basically you didn't have cancer and you never did," Eason said. "I didn't know if I was supposed to be mad or happy."

According to a New York State Department of Health report, a lab technician at CBL-Path in Rye Brook, N.Y., admitted to "occasionally cutting corners" while labeling tissue samples.

In the lawsuit filed two weeks ago at State Supreme Court in Mineola, Eason's lawyer claims the lab technician and CBL-Path were careless and negligent.

Eason's lawyer said the other victim, the woman whose sample was switched with his client's, has not yet been identified.

To watch the press conference with the Long Beach woman misdiagnosed with cancer, go to channel 612 on your iO digital cable box and select iO Extra.