N.B. medical labs have flaws, inquiry hears

The resources at New Brunswick's pathology labs are stretched and pathologists are overworked, a public inquiry has been told.

Dr. Anne O'Brien, a pathology representative with the New Brunswick Medical Society, testified Wednesday at the public inquiry into the faulty cancer biopsies in the pathology lab at Miramichi Regional Hospital.

O'Brien said there are many flaws in how New Brunswick operates its pathology labs.

Resources for the labs are stretched and pathologists are being overworked, she testified.

Many pathologists are leaving the province or retiring, O'Brien said, noting there are more than five vacancies in the province.

About 33 per cent of New Brunswick's lab technologists are over the age of 50, O'Brien said, and there are concerns about being able to find replacements when they retire.

There is also a limited budget to buy new equipment for medical labs, she added.

Workloads need to be addressed in the labs before the system can be improved, she said.

O'Brien said she'd also like to see a lab accreditation process established in New Brunswick.

In Saskatchewan, medical labs are accredited and proficiency tests are conducted at least three times a year.

The inquiry has entered its final phase — 18 days of hearings at the University of Moncton. There will be about 20 expert witnesses, including representatives of the Canadian Association of Pathologists, the New Brunswick Medical Society and medical experts from universities in the United States.

New Brunswick Health Minister Mike Murphy called the inquiry after an independent audit of 227 cases of breast and prostate cancer biopsies from 2004 to 2005 found 18 per cent had incomplete results and three per cent had been misdiagnosed.

More than 23,700 cases from the northeastern New Brunswick hospital involving patients treated between 1995 to 2007 are being reviewed by an Ottawa lab. The audit will also include about 100 cases carried out for Regional Health Authority 4 in Edmundston, N.B., in 2002. The tests were conducted by now-suspended pathologist Dr. Rajgopal Menon.

In the initial two phases, the inquiry heard testimony from health officials, affected patients and Menon.

Witnesses in the final phase will give opinions on whether New Brunswick's pathology laboratories need an overhaul.

The inquiry will not assign any legal responsibility for the misdiagnoses.

Justice Paul Creaghan is expected to make recommendations to the government by Jan. 1 on how to prevent any further misdiagnoses.