A cardiothoracic surgeon who removed part of a man’s lung after a pathology bungle misdiagnosed the patient with cancer, said he was “horrified” to learn he had operated on the man unnecessarily.

Royal Adelaide Hospital’s Dr James Edwards was giving evidence during the inquest into the death of Broken Hill man Dennis Jackson. 

Following his surgery, the 67-year-old developed hospital-acquired pneumonia. He later died after spending 63 days in ICU.

Dr Edwards told the court his team had wanted to immediately work out what went wrong before disclosing the error to family at a meeting on 24 August 2018 — a week after the procedure.