Biases on advisory council protected pathologist, doctor testifies

Members of the medical advisory committee of a hospital now at the centre of a public inquiry into misdiagnosed medical tests in New Brunswick were staunch supporters of the now-dismissed pathologist and refused to reprimand him, the inquiry heard Friday.

Dr. Carl Hudson, the former vice-president of medical services at the Miramichi Regional Hospital, testified during the five years he served as vice-president of medical services, he heard several complaints about the work of Dr. Rajgopal Menon.

Hudson said he compiled a list of the concerns and submitted them to the hospital medical advising committee, which has the power to recommend that a physician be disciplined. But the concerns were dismissed.

Menon, now 73, worked as a pathologist for the health authority in eastern New Brunswick from 1995 until February 2007, when he was suspended following complaints about incomplete diagnoses and delayed lab results.

During the time Menon worked for the health authority, he was never reprimanded, Hudson said.

There were biases on the medical advising committee, which included many people who were staunch Menon supporters, he said.

The dismissal of the concerns and the lack of discipline is a classic example of doctors sticking up for each other, Hudson testified.

It was Hudson who notified regulatory authorities of concerns about Menon's work in January 2007, after an independent audit of 227 cases of breast and prostate biopsies from 2004 to 2005 found that 18 per cent of the cases had incomplete results and three per cent had been misdiagnosed.

Hudson told the inquiry on Friday the hospital had also learned of several cases of misdiagnoses in 2006 but decided not to take the issue to the province's College of Physicians and Surgeons because none of the patients had been negatively affected.

This week, patients affected by the botched tests shared stories of anxiety over their test results in camera.

Patients testified that they had lost confidence in the health-care system and questioned whether their treatments and invasive surgeries were truly necessary. Some also testified that delays had altered the course of their treatment.

During the first phase of the inquiry, in Moncton in May, Menon apologized to the patients, but said he was not aware of any errors in his work and takes "practically zero" responsibility for any incomplete or misdiagnosed results.

The inquiry will run until June 24 in Miramichi, then return to Moncton for four final weeks of hearings in September.

The inquiry will not assign any criminal responsibility for the misdiagnoses.

Justice Paul Creaghan is expected to make recommendations to the government by Jan. 1.