CLASS ACTION SUIT LOOMS AFTER CANADIAN CANCER OFFICIAL STEPS DOWN OVER ALLEGATIONS OF GROSS INCOMPETENCE
Posted by drgooch on July 26, 2007
A large segment of the American population is starting to point to Canada’s government-run healthcare a potential model for the new system that America sorely needs. However, despite what Michael Moore might have you think (and we all love Mike), Canada is not immune to healthcare scandals.
George Tilley, chief of the province of Newfoundland’s largest health board, resigned after a massive public outcry over faulty cancer diagnosis. The focal point of this healthcare scandal is based in a series of small communities in an area called Burin Peninsula. An incompetent radiologist had been practicing for more than a decade in this area and a string of faulty cancer diagnoses have resulted in an unprecedented backlash. After an extensive internal investigation, faults were found at the highest level.
The Wall Street Journal Health Blog contains some concrete details on the extent of this series of deadly mistakes. “At least 36 women in eastern Canada died of breast cancer after a common medical test produced the wrong result. And more than 300 women who are still alive also received the wrong result on the test, which measures whether a tumor is sensitive to hormones. The test is important because tumors that are hormone-sensitive can be treated by powerful drugs such as tamoxifen.”
The provincial government had formed an agreement with a company called Eastern Health to provide testing and diagnostic equipment in the Burin Peninsula area. The CEO of Eastern Health only announced his resignation after a massive public outcry erupted over Eastern Health’s public handling of the scandal.
The WSJ Health blog also reported that “news emerged that more than 1,000 of the tests performed between 1997 and 2005 may have been flawed. But it was not until this week that the government of Newfoundland and Labrador fully disclosed the toll taken by the errors, the Globe and Mail reports this morning.”
The Cancer Blog also reports that “George Tilley now faces class-action lawsuits from individuals that apparently received inaccurate breast cancer testing results.”
