screwed up blood test, next round

[Guest guest]

Last week I reported about a screwed up blood test, involving MGH (draw lab)

and Athena Diagnostics (test facility). They were supposedly going to do a

" mitochondrial myopathy mtDNA " whole-blood evaluation test #519, but instead

three months later I found out that the lab did a " complete CMT " evaluation,

test #390 (which BTW was totally negative for mutations).

My MGH doc's staffer left a message today saying (very indirectly) that it

was the lab's fault not theirs, and that they were going to re-do the test

" at no extra charge " (presumably this time doing the right test :-) ). To my

amazement, this does not require a new blood sample (though I'd be happy to

provide one), so I assume the lab has some FROZEN extra blood (or else, some

mighty gross mess). I think they've already gone ahead and started.

Test 390 (CMT) says:

Preferred Specimen Requirements

Type: Whole blood

Minimum Volume: 30ml

Collection Tube: Yellow top, ACD-A

Storage Conditions: Room temperature, avoid freezing

Shipping Conditions: Room temperature, ship same day. Must arrive at Athena

within 48 hours after blood is drawn.

Test Turnaround: 21-28 days

Test 519 (mito) says:

Preferred Specimen Requirements

Type: Whole blood

Minimum Volume: 20ml

Collection Tube: Lavender top (EDTA)

Storage Conditions: Do not freeze blood, refrigerate.

Shipping Conditions: Ship blood at room temperature, avoid freezing and ship

blood within 24 hours of drawing.

Test Turnaround: 14-21 days

I don't know about these things, but the combination of " avoid freezing " and

urgency of shipping makes me wonder how in world they can do another test,

now. Also, the collection tubes are different. The original blood draw was

mid December (who knows what tubes were used?), about THREE MONTHS AGO. I

wonder just how fast it was delivered to Athena the first time. Just BTW I

was told that the " new " (additional) turnaround will be 6-8 weeks.

Given that this is Athena, and the blood is supposedly frozen (or stabilized

somehow?), should I protest and offer to provide a new sample? With the

current plan, they might use someone else's blood, or do the wrong test

again but somehow REPORT the right test, or .... who knows? I could even

offer to show up at Athena's test facility; if they can draw blood there, if

it might be worth it. The shipping page for Athena talks of specific kits

for CMT and certain others, and I wonder about this too. I'm even thinking

that perhaps the reason for the original screw up was that my blood arrived

in a CMT-specific kit. I'm convinced that the office staff at MGH has no

expertise to even comment accurately on any of these issues.

I feel so alone, unwilling to trust anyone I can contact, and unable to

contact anyone I MIGHT trust. ANY opinions are welcome.

Steve D.