I had surgery for cancer. Prior to surgery, I requested tissue be saved from the tumor to allow for future participation in a clinical trial for vaccination use, or to receive future treatment to prevent or treat re-occurrence. Immediately after my surgery, I was told the tissue had been preserved and would be available should I need it in the future. Eight weeks after my surgery, while making a phone call regarding a different mistake by the hospital, I found out that the pathologist, Dr. Bishop at UC Davis Medical Center, had made an error. He submitted benign skin tissue and never saved the actual tumor. My tissue has now been damaged by being stored in paraffin blocks and formalin. Because of the pathology departments incompetence, I now have no future options to prevent or treat my rare bone cancer. Additionally, even though they knew the mistake had been made, they made no effort to notify me. I found the information out for myself eight weeks later, even though the error was committed and identified on the day of my surgery.
