Publication ban challenged in connection to Miramichi pathology audit
Lawyers for CBC and the Telegraph-Journal newspaper are challenging a court-ordered publication ban connected to the review of thousands of biopsies at the Miramichi Regional Health Authority.
A court order closed off access to the results of an internal investigation into work of the health authority's former chief pathologist, Rajgopal Menon, in May 2007.
Menon's work was investigated by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New Brunswick after it received complaints about incomplete diagnoses and delayed lab results. Menon's licence was later suspended in February 2007.
Menon appealed his suspension in May 2007, arguing that he was not given proper notice and had no chance to defend himself. He is also currently suing the regional health authority regarding his dismissal, alleging administrators conspired to ruin his medical career.
During the appeal, the court ordered that several documents, including the peer review of Menon's work, be sealed and placed under a publication ban.
Lawyers will argue in the Saint John Court of Queen's Bench on Tuesday that the public has a right to know more about the investigation that has now triggered an audit of 15,000 biopsy results, said lawyer André Richard.
"I think that what we'll learn is that what was the state of the knowledge of the college, and what could have been available to the health authority as early as May 2007," Richard said.
Agreement has been reached
Since Menon's initial appeal, the college has reached an agreement that has allowed the 73-year-old pathologist to keep his licence under certain restrictions that must be met if he is to practise pathology or medicine.
There is now no reason for the court documents to remain sealed, Richard said.
"There's ample reasons for now lifting the ban at this point in time particularly in light of all the developments that have occurred ... with respect to this matter," he said.
The college has also filed a motion asking for permission to release the report to the Miramichi Regional Health Authority.
"It's important to note that the health authority wants the report public and we certainly know that the [Health Minister Mike Murphy] would like to have the assessors report made public," Richard said.
Another independent review was conducted in December 2007 and January 2008, after Menon's licence was suspended.
The review looked at 227 cases from 2004-2005 and found that 18 per cent of the cases allegedly had incomplete results and three per cent were allegedly misdiagnosed.
The health authority is now examining the tests done on patients at the Miramichi Regional Hospital between 1995 and 2007. It will also re-examine about 100 cases conducted for the Regional Health Authority 4 in Edmundston in 2002.