Death count mounts in breast cancer test fiasco

The number of deceased patients involved in a controversial series of breast cancer tests in Newfoundland and Labrador is significantly higher than previously thought, officials said Friday.

As well, more than three dozen patients were never told that their important lab tests had to be redone, even amid a widening public scandal over botched hormone receptor tests.

Results of a review announced Friday show that almost a third of the patients who were tested during an eight-year window, between 1997 and 2005, have already died, significantly more than had been reported less than a year ago.

Eastern Health, the largest health authority in the province, also said that a review of its controversial hormone receptor tests — already the subject of both a pending judicial inquiry and a class-action lawsuit — shows that the number of patients involved is larger than previously thought.

Last May, Eastern Health reported that the number of patients whose hormone receptor tests were redone was 939.

But a new review by the Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Health Information found that the number is actually 1,013.

Of those, 322 had died by the end of 2007. That number is sharply higher than the 176 deaths reported last May.

'I find that extremely troubling, obviously'

"I find that extremely troubling, obviously," Health Minister Ross Wiseman told reporters Friday.

"Behind all these numbers, there are individuals and families," Wiseman said. "There's mothers, there's daughters, and they've all been impacted in a very profound way. Our thoughts are very much with them."

Eastern Health cannot say how many of the 322 deaths included false negatives.

Hormone receptor tests are used to determine the course of treatment that a breast cancer patient will receive.

The judicial inquiry — which announced Friday it will begin hearings on March 18 — will probe how hundreds of cancer patients received flawed test results, and thus were excluded from being treated with anti-hormonal therapies like Tamoxifen, which has been clinically shown to improve a patient's odds of survival.

The review also found there is no evidence to show that 44 patients were ever told that their tests needed to be redone.

"Of those, nine are now deceased and contact with the remaining 35 is in progress," the government said in a statement.

The latest numbers expand the public's understanding of the breast cancer testing issue. Still, a number of questions remain unresolved, including whether the outcomes for some patients would have improved under different courses of treatment.

"There are still questions out there for those people who are living, and of course for the families of the deceased," said Emma Housser, a policy analyist with the Canadian Cancer Society.

$2.3 million will be spent

Meanwhile, Wiseman said Friday that the government will spend an extra $2.3 million to address some of the problems that have been exposed in shortcomings of lab testing.

Much of the money will be spent on improving the quality assurance of lab testing.

"Both the health authorities and government are learning some good lessons here," said Wiseman, adding government is taking action so that patients "are never faced with a situation again like we have experienced with [hormone receptor] testing."

Earlier this week, Eastern Health was compelled by a judge to release a series of reports — which it was hoping to keep confidential, even during the upcoming judicial inquiry — that outlined serious deficiencies with training and procedures at the St. John's pathology lab.

Wiseman said it "was a massive piece of work" just to complete the database of patients whose tests had to be redone.

Eastern Health recognized in 2005 that its St. John's pathology lab was producing flawed results. While testing was temporarily suspended, samples were sent to Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto for retesting.