it happens, humans

Yeah, "it happens" because we are too reliant on technology to do what humans used to have to do manually, exercising their knowledge. Sure, mistakes would be made anyway, but at least the level of complacency (dependence on the machine) would have been less, people would know it is all up to them and their own brain power, no one else, or no machine to blame.
metalman.

Someone used there knowledge to catch the mistake the machine made or this could have gone undetected for more samples.

That particular problem is not as serious as it is being made to appear. All they have to do is heat the specimens to remove the wax, treat with xylene to remove the molten wax. Then they can reprocess the tissues. When complete, they will be the same as if there had been no problem. The extra delay would be 24 hours. Years ago, I dealt with this problem over and over again, when technology was much younger and more inefficient.

Incidentally, doing this process manually would delay cancer diagnosis by at least three days, perhaps more. Thank god for modern technology.

To Jakeadoo, this problem will always be detected because it does not permit the rest of the process to be completed (cutting an extremely thin slice to put on a microscope slide). The tissue itself is not damaged from this error.

good quality assurance in this case. Looks like Northern Health authority has pulled their socks up in patient care. Glad to see that.

There always will be someone who is not going to be happy about something. I think the hospital now is a lot better than it was twenty years ago.

This is only my opinion, and I have been lucky, and have not spent that much time in a hospital, other than to meet with someone. Knock on wood, nearly five decades and have never spent a night in the hospital other than when I was hatched.

Thanks for the clarifications, ammonra.
metalman.