Series of errors led to 300 unnecessary mastectomies

A medical scandal concerning unnecessary mastectomies performed on at least 300 women in the cities of Essen and Bochum in western Germany has received renewed attention following the publication of a report by a commission of experts.

In 1997 many unnecessary mastectomies were performed after a pathologist, Professor Josef Kemnitz, made numerous false positive diagnoses of breast cancer. …