TORONTO - A provincial supervisor took control Wednesday of a troubled Windsor, Ont., hospital that's been mired in controversy.

London hospital executive Ken Deane is overseeing Hotel-Dieu Grace Hospital, which came under the province's microscope due to surgical errors that resulted in two mistaken mastectomies.

Deane, who was chief operating officer at London Health Sciences Centre and St. Joseph's Health Care, will assume full powers of the hospital board and report directly to Health Minister Deb Matthews.

"The best results come from strong and effective teams, working with clear roles and relationships," Deane said in a release.

"I will be very clear about what we're going to accomplish and then empowering people to do their jobs."

Deane will also ensure that recommendations stemming from a report into pathology errors will be implemented "as quickly as possible," Matthews said in the release.

"I want people in Windsor to know that they can count on receiving high quality care at the Hotel-Dieu Grace Hospital," she added.

The report, released in August, came after two women came forward saying they had their breasts removed at Hotel-Dieu after they were misdiagnosed with cancer.

Laurie Johnston of Leamington, Ont., had a mastectomy in November 2009 from Dr. Barbara Heartwell, who admitted she misread the results of a needle biopsy that found Johnston did not have cancer.

Janice Laporte, whose breast was removed by Heartwell in September 2001, was told a week after her surgery that she didn't have cancer.

The 74-page report appeared to clear Heartwell, but uncovered "significant concerns" with the work of pathologist Dr. Olive Williams.

It also found that "unproductive relationships" between doctors, senior management and the board of directors existed at Hotel-Dieu for more than a decade.

The hospital's longtime chairman, Egidio Sovran, was dismissed last month, just a few days after Matthews announced that the province would take control of the hospital.

CEO Warren Chant said the hospital fully supports Deane's appointment, which is intended to help "move the hospital forward."

"We cannot speculate on what, if any, changes will be made to the board or senior teams, including those involving personnel," Chant said in a statement.

"Ultimately, such decisions will be up to the supervisor to recommend."

Hospitals are usually placed under provincial supervision when they can't balance their books, but Matthews has called Hotel-Dieu a "special case."

Hotel-Dieu, which has 413 physicians and 1,785 staff, has a troubled history going back years.

In 2005, nurse Lori Dupont was stabbed to death by her former boyfriend, Marc Daniel, while on duty at Hotel-Dieu. Daniel, an anesthesiologist who also worked at the hospital, injected himself with a fatal dose of anesthetic and died days later.

The case prompted the governing Liberals to bring in legislation last year that required employers to take reasonable precautions to protect employees from domestic violence that may occur at work.

Last March, Windsor police said they were investigating allegations of "inappropriate comments" made by an off-duty emergency room doctor at Hotel-Dieu to a nurse and clerk.

The hospital is also dealing with a multimillion-dollar wrongful dismissal lawsuit filed by former spokeswoman Kim Spirou, who alleges Chant pressured her to cover up wrongdoing at Hotel-Dieu.

Chant has called the allegations "scandalous and meritless."