The pending report of a judicial commission that studied how hundreds of
Newfoundland and Labrador breast cancer patients were handed wrong results of
important lab tests is expected to lead to dramatic improvements, an advocate
said Thursday.
Justice Margaret Cameron will send her final report on hormone receptor tests to
government officials on Saturday. Health Minister Ross Wiseman said government
will release the report publicly on Monday.
Peter Dawe, executive director of the Canadian Cancer Society, applauded
government's move to release the report as soon as possible, calling it
"absolutely the right thing to do. Too many people want to know what's in it."
Between last March and October, Cameron heard from dozens of witnesses on how
almost 400 breast cancer patients received the wrong results on hormone receptor
tests, which help determine whether a patient can benefit from antihormonal
therapy, primarily Tamoxifen. For some patients, Tamoxifen can improve odds of
survival.
In an interview Thursday, Dawe said patients want to read Cameron's findings,
and then hear government's response.
"People have a lot of trust that this process is going to lead to something,"
Dawe told CBC News, adding he's personally optimistic about Cameron's report.
"If it doesn't, then I'll pack it in and go home, because this is as bright a
spotlight as you can put on any one issue."
Dawe added that while some of the patients who have contacted the cancer society
have been optimistic, there has also been "a certain level of nervousness …
There's certainly a lot of concern that [the report] should get out in the
public as soon as possible."
Cameron, who has never spoken in public about her work, other than comments she
has made from the bench at the inquiry, will not be doing interviews about her
findings.
Norman White, the only male breast cancer patient to testify at the Cameron
inquiry, told CBC News he is still worried about what government officials might
do with the report before it becomes public.
"We might not be getting all of the report as it was written because sometimes
they want things altered or deleted," White said.
White, who underwent surgery to remove his left breast before learning that the
procedure was not necessary, said the evidence presented at the inquiry has
destroyed his faith and confidence in health officials.
Inadequate training cited in testimony
Cameron heard plenty during seven months of testimony, including about
inadequate training at the pathology lab in St. John's, poor supervision and
warnings about quality problems that often went unheeded.
She also heard that Eastern Health officials decided not to reveal much about
the lab problems when they learned of the errors in 2005, and then withheld
critical information after samples had been retested.
Last March, on the eve of the launch of the inquiry, government revealed that
108 patients who had received the wrong results had died. It is impossible to
know whether those outcomes would have differed if they had received accurate
test results.
The wrong results were produced between 1997 and 2005.
Ken McDonald, whose wife Christine died of cancer that started in her breast and
then spread to her bones and brain, said it was only years after her death in
2000 that he was told she might have had a better chance with a different
treatment.
McDonald told CBC News the critical test will be what government does with
Cameron's report.
"My biggest fear is that like many government reports, any recommendations or
anything contained in it, ends up sitting on some shelf gathering dust instead
of being acted on," he said.
