Review of Miramichi pathologist may be made public, court says

The New Brunswick pathologist at the heart of a health-care scandal says he is not sure if he will appeal a judge's decision to make public a review of his work.

On Monday, Court of Queen's Bench Justice William Grant in Saint John lifted the ban on a professional review of the work of Dr. Raj Menon, the former chief pathologist for the Miramichi Regional Health Authority. Menon's work was called into question in 2007 after complaints about incomplete diagnoses and delayed lab results.

However, the judge granted a 30-day stay of the order to allow an appeal, since Menon and his lawyers had argued that lifting the ban could cause irreparable harm to the pathologist's reputation.

After Justice Grant's decision Monday, Menon's lawyer, Mel Norton, told reporters his client is as yet unsure if he will take advantage of the 30-day stay, and appeal the decision.

"I think he feels disappointed, as a person can imagine with an outcome like that, but he's considering his options and I think he's grateful for the opportunity to consider appealing," Norton said. "The court has delayed the disclosure of the report for at least 30 days, so that gives him a bit of a window of opportunity to consider his options and then go from there."

The review was conducted in the spring of 2007 by two Maritime pathologists and submitted to the New Brunswick College of Physicians and Surgeons, which subsequently suspended Menon's medical licence. The college had asked the court to release that review to the Miramichi Regional Health Authority, which is now re-analyzing about 24,000 medical tests performed by Menon from 1995 to 2007.

In November 2007, the College of Physicians and Surgeons reinstated Menon's medical licence on the condition that he not practise medicine. Grant said Monday that since the college has dealt with the issue of Menon's medical licence, there is no reason to keep a review of Menon's professional skills from the public.

Menon argued that it was a peer review of his work done by the college and was never meant to be seen by the Miramichi Regional Hospital or the public.

Menon said he wants to eventually return to work, but if the court releases the contents of the professional review to the public, he said it would keep any medical school from accepting him for retraining — which is a requirement to lift his current suspension from practising medicine.

A province inquiry will be held and headed by retired judge Paul Creaghan, a former Conservative health minister. It will look at how the local medical advisory committee and College of Physicians and Surgeons dealt with complaints against Menon.

The health authority's medical advisory committee was notified in the spring of 2005 of five complaints against Menon dating back to 1998. But it was not until another doctor at the hospital filed a complaint in January 2007 that the college took action.

The health authority originally announced it would audit 15,000 biopsies conducted at the Miramichi hospital between 1995 and 2007. That number was expanded in late February to more than 23,700 patients.

The audit of the biopsies will also include about 100 carried out for the Regional Health Authority 4 in Edmundston in 2002.