Corner Brook woman refused cancer screening
Told she can't have mammography if she doesn't have a family doctor
A Corner Brook woman is speaking out after she was told she couldn't receive breast cancer screening because she doesn't have a family doctor.
Laura Lavers said she couldn’t believe what she heard when she showed up for a scheduled mammography exam.
"They told me they can't give me the exam because I didn't have a family doctor," she said.
The policy dictates women who don't have a family doctor can’t receive a mammogram.
"That's a provincial policy," said Dr Ken Jenkins, a vice president of Western Health.
Lavers says she’s in a high-risk group.
"I had just turned 51 and my sister got breast cancer at 51," she said.
This year her family doctor moved away, so when she went for a screening test this year she was turned away and told the results of her exam must be sent to a family doctor who would then give them to her.
As of Tuesday, Western Health has arranged for a doctor to do follow-up so women without a family doctor can get mammograms.