Doctors should keep closer eye on peers: expert tells inquiry
Peer review for doctors should be strengthened, the former registrar of the New Brunswick College of Physicians and Surgeons said Wednesday at the inquiry looking into the work of former Miramichi pathologist Dr. Rajgopa Menon.
Dr. Victor McLaughlin, one of the founders of the Atlantic Provinces Medical Peer Review Program which carries out random reviews and helps educate physicians, said the group can work in a proactive way when there's a problem with a doctor.
"I don’t think the role of the program is to deal with the rotten apples. It’s to sort them and it’s to find the people who need help," MacLaughlin testified.
He said he'd like to see between three and five pathologists working in a lab together.
The province might want to consider the possibility of allowing pathologists to travel to smaller locations on a regular basis, McLaughlin said.
Although he left the program in 1996, MacLaughlin said it was slow to get specialists involved.
Dr. Jim O'Brien, the vice-president of medical affairs at the Atlantic Health Sciences Corporation, is scheduled to testify Thursday.
Earlier Wednesday, Dr. John Carlisle, the former deputy registrar of the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Ontario, said there should be more transparency with complaints against doctors.
Complaint hearings should be open to the public, Carlisle said, wrapping up his two days of testimony. But Carlisle acknowledged that could present problems when it comes to protecting innocent parties.
He also testified that he would like to see standards in place for all medical personnel, including doctors, nurses and specialists. But, Carlisle said, that could be difficult given the needs of the different medical professions.
On Tuesday, Carlisle testified that complaints against Menon appeared to have been handled properly by the New Brunswick College of Physicians and Surgeons.
The next witness at the inquiry will be Dr. Victor McLaughlin, the former registrar of the New Brunswick college. He has been called to testify by Menon’s lawyer.
Menon, now 73, worked as a pathologist at the Miramichi Regional Health Authority in northeastern New Brunswick from 1995 until February 2007, when he was suspended following complaints about incomplete diagnoses and delayed lab results.
New Brunswick Health Minister Mike Murphy called the inquiry after an independent audit of 227 cases of breast and prostate cancer biopsies from 2004 to 2005 found 18 per cent had incomplete results and three per cent had been misdiagnosed.