NORTH MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has ordered a North Miami-Dade medical center to stop performing mammograms and to notify patients.
The FDA ordered North Shore Medical Center in North Miami-Dade to stop performing mammograms after federal regulators said people who received them from North Shore in the last two years may have been given inaccurate results.
The inaccurate mammogram results are reported between March 14, 2022 and March 14, 2024.
“When I opened up the letter and saw ‘Important information about your mammogram,’ I was shocked,” said Liz Guseila-Rizo, who worked at North Shore Medical Center.
Some patients received letters from the hospital informing them of the problem in April, more than a month after the FDA ordered the hospital to halt mammograms.
Guseila-Rizo worked as a therapist with North Shore Medical Center in the behavioral health unit since 1988, even through the pandemic. But not only did she work there but she would regularly get her mammograms at the medical center too.
“I regularly would do my mammograms there because it was so easy,” said Guseila-Rizo. “I have to be honest, I really trusted it there and I would go every year.”
The letter sent out to patients states the hospital was told by the FDA it did not meet the clinical image standards. It also states this doesn’t necessarily mean the images were wrong, but that another mammogram needs to be taken.
Guseila-Rizo took her mammogram on December 19, 2023 but was told about its possible inaccuracies more than four months later.
This is one of the most recent stoppages at North Shore Medical Center, which has seen major cutbacks and layoffs following its owner, Steward Health Care System, seeking bankruptcy protection to thin out its debt.
“The hospital chain is going through a major struggle financially and they decided to close our unit in behavioral health. So as of February 9, I was laid off,” said Guseila-Rizo.
She said she has concerns for the patients, who may be impacted by this news.
“My concern, as a woman and as a hospital worker, is how are we reaching out to these people,” said Guseila-Rizo. “How many women and men could be affected? Where is it in Creole? Where is it in Spanish? Where’s my follow-up letter saying, ‘Talk to this person?'”
7News has reached out to North Shore Medical Center for comment and has not heard back.
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