Miramichi pathology test inquiry begins hearings

The inquiry into the pathology services at the Miramichi Regional Health Authority began in Moncton on Monday.

Commissioner Paul Creaghan, a former judge, will try to determine why certain breast and prostate cancer tests at the health authority were misdiagnosed.

Creaghan began the inquiry on Monday by reminding lawyers and the public that the purpose of the commission is not to assign civil or criminal responsibility to any person or organization.

The public inquiry will examine how the local medical advisory committee and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New Brunswick dealt with complaints against a doctor that dated back to 1998.

It will make recommendations on how to prevent the level of misdiagnoses from happening again, Creaghan said.

The commission will make a final report and recommendations to the government by Jan. 1, 2009.

The inquiry will run for four weeks at the University of Moncton before moving to Miramichi to hear four more weeks of testimony in June. It will then return to Moncton for a final four weeks of testimony in September.

Health Minister Mike Murphy called the public inquiry after an independent audit of 227 cases of breast and prostate cancer biopsies from 2004-05 found 18 per cent had incomplete results and three per cent had been misdiagnosed.

Any of the patients impacted by the initial review of 227 pathology tests that led to the inquiry will be able to testify in Miramichi in June.

Nora Kelly, a former deputy minister of health, testified on Monday.

Kelly outlined the structure of the provincial Health Department and its relationship with the regional health authorities.

Her testimony is expected to continue into Tuesday.

Currently more than 23,700 patient cases from the Miramichi hospital in eastern New Brunswick from 1995 to 2007 are being reviewed by the province. The audit of the biopsies will also include about 100 carried out at the Regional Health Authority 4 in Edmundston in 2002.

Pathologist had cataracts, hand tremors: review

Dr. Rajgopal Menon, 73, worked as a pathologist at the Miramichi Regional Health Authority from 1995 until February 2007, when he was suspended following complaints about incomplete diagnoses and delayed lab results.

A peer review of Menon's work, released publicly in March, indicated the pathologist had serious medical problems that could have affected the accuracy of his work, including tremors in his hands and cataracts.

Creaghan said the inquiry won't just look at the problems with Menon's work. It will examine how much the staff at the hospital and officials in government knew about what was happening at the health authority, to help determine how the misdiagnoses were able to continue over such a long period.

Lawyers for some of the affected patients will also participate in the inquiry.

More than 50 people have signed up for a class action suit, said lawyer Ray Wagner.

"A lot of people … received clearance that their pathology tests were fine and now they have to go through the anguish again to wait to see if that is in fact confirmed or not," Wagner said.

An inquiry of this type isn't designed to find fault with any party, but will help misdiagnosed patients negotiate a settlement, said lawyer Ches Crosbie, who is also currently representing breast cancer patients in a Newfoundland class action lawsuit.

"The importance of the inquiry will be in relation to obtaining an understanding of the background facts of the matter, which is how could things seemingly have gone so badly wrong, which will be important ultimately in negotiating any settlement of any class action or any other action that may be brought," Crosbie said.