Deadly Medicine: A Common Surgery For Women and the Cancer It Leaves Behind

Since the 1990s, thousands of women have undertaken a surgical procedure that may have risked their lives.

After Dr. Amy Reed had surgery to remove uterine fibroids, involving a procedure known as power morcellation, she learned that it had worsened her prognosis by spreading a cancer she and her doctors didn't know she had.

Dr. Reed became a vocal critic of power morcellators and the doctors who used them, dividing the medical community. Now doctors and companies are waiting for more-permanent guidance from the FDA.

This story, drawn from ongoing coverage in The Wall Street Journal, is a gripping human-interest account of public trust and the fallibility of modern medicine.