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N.L. Health Board, Gov't at Adds to Reveal Scope of Breast Cancer Test Errors

Posted on: Thursday, 27 March 2008, 15:00 CDT

By Tara Brautigam, THE CANADIAN PRESS

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - Executives on Newfoundland's largest health board were divided on whether to tell the public the number of patients who had their breast cancer tests botched, it was revealed at a public inquiry Thursday.

In December 2006, the Eastern Health authority said there were 117 patients whose tests were inaccurate and required a change in treatment. But it wasn't known until May 2007, after court documents were filed in the province's Supreme Court, that there were more than 300 patients who received flawed tests.

In an e-mail that same month, Eastern Health CEO George Tilley told board trustees that it wasn't important to publicly release the total number of patients affected by the faulty tests.

"It is believed that the numbers of individual conversions are not relevant and risk turning the process into a 'numbers game,"' Tilley wrote May 15, 2007.

"On the advice of our legal counsel, we are staying away from any public debate as this issue proceeds through the court process."

At the time, patients launched a lawsuit against Eastern Health.

But some board members urged Eastern Health to be more forthcoming, revealing a disconnect between the health board and the provincial government.

"(Health Minister Ross Wiseman) must say more than that Eastern Health was advised by its lawyers to not disclose information," wrote board member William Boyd.

"That sounds very bad and makes it appear that we did deliberately mislead."

Joan Dawe, chairwoman of Eastern Health's board of trustees, testified she was largely left in the dark on the decision not to disclose the actual number of patients whose tests were botched until Tilley's e-mail.

She said she was disturbed by that approach.

"I took great exception to that," Dawe said Thursday. "That is not in keeping with the board's philosophy."

Earlier, Dawe said she had no reason to question whether all patients affected by botched breast cancer tests were notified, despite media reports to the contrary.

"As time went on, it became evident that that was not the case," she said.

Patients and relatives of deceased patients have testified that Eastern Health didn't keep them in the loop about the test results.

The inquiry is examining how 383 patients were given inaccurate results on their breast cancer tests, and whether Eastern Health responded to them and the public in an appropriate and timely manner.

It's expected to conclude this summer.

Problems with Eastern Health's breast cancer testing were detected in the spring of 2005 when doctors began questioning the hormone-receptor test results of a patient with invasive lobular carcinoma, a form of breast cancer.

After retesting, it was discovered that the initial test result was wrong, as were those for a small sample of other patients. Eastern Health subsequently halted testing in its lab and transferred its hormone-receptor tests to Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto.

The health board then started a review of all hormone-receptor tests from 1997 to 2005.

Source: Canadian Press

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