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Flawed breast screening test results
focus of Opposition Private Members Motion
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Yvonne Jones, MHA for the District of Cartwright L'Anse Au Clair
and Natural Resources Opposition Critic, presented a motion in
the House of Assembly today calling on government to appoint a
judicial inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the flawed
breast cancer screening results and how government handled the
release of information pertaining to these retests. In moving the motion on behalf of the Liberal Opposition, the Liberal MHA pointed to the significant large error rate in tests conducted by Eastern Health between 1997 and 2005. Numbers obtained by an affidavit revealed that 42 per cent of those tested had been provided with the wrong results; 117 of these patients required a different course of treatment, while 176 of these women have since died. "These are very startling and breathtaking numbers and we need to know every detail about what led up to this occurrence, how it was handled within Eastern Health and with the department and how this information was or was not communicated to the patients affected," says Jones. "No woman or their families, whether they were tested or not, in our province today will rest assured until clear answers are provided in a proper forum." While the premier responded to questioning in the House of Assembly today by stating that a review and an exploration of options are being considered, and a public briefing is expected from the Eastern Health Authority next week, the Liberal MHA says that ultimately, only a judicial review will provide clarity needed about the time lines involved and provide answers to the many outstanding questions about this affair. "As everyone appreciates, this is a highly sensitive and emotional issue and while the Legislature is not the most appropriate place for this issue to be discussed, Question Period did provide the opportunity to ask some important questions and it helped convey to government the magnitude of how this controversy is affecting everyone concerned. An inquiry should now continue the probe and hopefully, establish guidelines to prevent this from happening again. Ultimately, we feel that a judicial inquiry will help restore faith and confidence in the health care system in this province."
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