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"Breast biopsy"

About: BreastScreen WA

(as a service user),

I firstly went to a breast screening van in WA. A few days later I was asked to attend a clinic in Perth, I chose Edgewater Breast Screening Unit near Joondalup. I was not told about the two lumps in my breasts, they did not even mention the biopsy, at that particular time, I was scared, I took a dear friend who had been through it all many years ago before we had all these fancy gadgets ect they have now.

I had another screening at Edgewater...they definitely picked up on two lumps one in my left breast and one in my right smaller.

Now my medical condition and history said I had an autoimmune disorder and that I had a compromised immune system already. They explained they were going to do a biopsy ..they started on my left breast on my side I was tilted ..I felt the numbing needle and did not feel the tube go in with what they were going to take the biopsy with ..I heard the click that was ok ..but after they were pulling it out with a sample I screamed ..the pain was like every nerve in my body had screamed ..I felt nerves go right to my spine , over the top of my scalp to my right ear , down my neck and I had tingling in my left hand and fingers ..my body then started to shake like I call the death rattles I could not stop shaking ..my body was in shock ..they wanted to do my other breast I shouted stop several times (someone thought I was shaking because I was cold ) I kept saying my body is in shock stop now, stop now, I felt they then tried to railroad me into having the other one done I said I want out of here now!

Sadly I heard the Dr at the time make some not nice remarks said I was afraid of needles and pain, that was not to be true, I've been a surviving from COVID, having infusions through out my life now suffering cyatic nerve pain down my right leg for 12+ years some of this pain makes me scream and just wanting to die pain everyday…

I personally feel now I'm about to have a mastectomy due to what I felt was negligence in not properly looking after me, I feel I should of been taken to hospital and had the tests done under sedation. Im now losing my breasts as I don't even know that I can still live a good life with the cancer without treatment and move along in my life as I have.

Really don't what more to say just disappointing that I felt I was a piece a meat...to the whole system.

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Responses

Response from Diane Barr, Executive Director, Women and Newborn Health Service, North Metropolitan Health Service 13 months ago
Diane Barr
Executive Director, Women and Newborn Health Service,
North Metropolitan Health Service
Submitted on 7/03/2023 at 7:01 PM
Published on Care Opinion on 8/03/2023 at 9:45 AM


picture of Diane Barr

Dear quebecte38,

Thank you for getting in touch via the Care Opinion site to share your experience with Breast Screen WA. I’m truly sorry to hear of your experience and the way this has impacted you.

I am so sorry to hear about the pain you felt during your biopsy. This must have been incredibly upsetting, and to feel like you weren’t heard by the team would have certainly added to your distress. This experience, and the comments you overheard, do not align with our aim to provide compassionate patient-centered care and I deeply regret that this was your experience.

I’m also very concerned to hear of your delays to treatment and would like the opportunity to review these aspects of your care in more detail. We would like to be able to undertake a full review of your experiences with Breast Screen WA in order to address the concerns you have outlined. This would involve access to your medical record and discussion with the team that provided care. If you would be comfortable with discussing your experience further, please contact our Customer Service Unit (CSU) on 6458 1444, who will make the arrangements to have your case reviewed.

Further to this review, we would be happy to meet with you to share any lessons learnt we have identified. Our intent is to provide the best possible care and we rely on feedback like yours to understand when our actions have not aligned with our values. Please be assured that your feedback is being taken seriously and that we are committed to addressing the issues you have raised.

Kind regards

Di Barr

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