Williams needs to apologize at cancer inquiry: patient
The last week of testimony in Newfoundland and Labrador's breast cancer inquiry has begun, with final witnesses including the man who ordered the probe last year: Premier Danny Williams.
The premier is scheduled to take the stand on Tuesday, and though his testimony will not be crucial to understanding how lab tests went wrong, his appearance will be closely watched.
Cancer patient Minnie Hoyles told CBC News on Monday that she wants to hear Williams take responsibility for shortcomings on behalf of the Newfoundland and Labrador government, even for mistakes that occurred before he took office in 2003.
"He can apologize for previous governments and his own government as well," Hoyles said in an interview.
"That's not to say that he's completely to blame for it, but I think on behalf of the government, he should try to tell the patients, because I think we do need that. We haven't heard it to this point."
Williams, who made a brief visit Monday to the makeshift offices where the inquiry has been conducting its business, is expected to be on the stand for about half the day.
Even though he and his cabinet launched the inquiry in 2007, Williams has had at times a stinging relationship with the inquiry.
Spoke out against 'inquisitorial' tone
In May, Williams critiqued what he called the "inquisitorial" tone of inquiry lawyers Bern Coffey and Sandra Chaytor, and even once criticized Justice Margaret Cameron herself. Williams said he did not appreciate how Cameron rolled her eyes and tapped her pen after she tried to elicit information from Brian Crawley, the chief of staff in the premier's office.
As well, cabinet ministers had raised questions about the expense and length of the commission, which began hearing evidence in March. It is examining how a St. John's pathology lab came to produce inaccurate hormone receptor test results for almost 400 breast cancer patients between 1997 and 2005.
The inquiry has already looked at how government officials learned of the testing problems in 2005. While the premier's office was alerted to problems by a health department communications official in July 2005, a second note followed shortly, giving an order to "stand down" on the issue.
Officials have testified that Williams was not briefed at the time on problems with the tests, which are used to help determine whether a breast cancer patient can benefit from the anti-hormonal drug Tamoxifen.
Williams has often said that he did not learn about the testing problems until October 2005, when the first media reports appeared.
A briefing note was prepared for Williams in August 2006 that included statistical charts on the testing errors, although the note's conclusions did not point out what has been a critical point: more than 40 per cent of patients received the wrong results.
While the inquiry's focus has been on Eastern Health, the regional health authority that operates at arm's length from government, it has also heard about shortcomings among government officials themselves.
For instance, John Abbott, a former deputy minister of health, forgot to pass on a crucial briefing note to the health minister the day, Tom Osborne. Current health minister, Ross Wiseman, admitted to the inquiry that he did not read an extensive briefing on the issue for months after he was sworn in.
While some officials and physicians have apologized to patients for any mistakes they may have made in responding to the crisis, Hoyles said Williams could ease patients' minds by apologizing broadly for systemic errors.
"It seemed that most everybody forgot the patients," she said.
"I just hope that the premier would on behalf of the government and on behalf of the province, would probably show a bit of responsibility and accountability."