Staff | The Daily Gleaner

The release of an inquiry report into botched breast cancer tests in Newfoundland and Labrador has been delayed.

The provincial government said Sunday it had not yet received Justice Margaret Cameron's report, which was scheduled to be publicly released today.

Cameron held seven months of public hearings and heard a litany of blunders that led to at least 386 patients receiving mistaken results on tests that determined their course of treatment for breast cancer.

The probe heard evidence that the St. John's laboratory that processed the tests was overwhelmed by staff shortages, improper training and a lack of internal controls.

Witnesses also testified to infighting among medical staff, and communication lapses between the provincial government and its largest health board - Eastern Health.

Patients whose breast cancer test results dated back to 1997 say they had no idea there were any problems until October 2005, when a local weekly newspaper reported a small number of them had questionable test results.

Premier Danny Williams launched the inquiry in 2007, after documents filed with the provincial Supreme Court as part of a class-action lawsuit against Eastern Health revealed the general extent of the errors. Up to that point, Eastern Health had refused to release that information.

Problems with the testing were detected in the spring of 2005, when doctors began questioning the hormone receptor test results of a patient with invasive lobular carcinoma, a form of breast cancer.

After retesting, it was discovered that the initial test result was wrong, as were those for a small sample of other patients.

Eastern Health subsequently halted testing in its lab and transferred its hormone receptor tests to Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto.

The health board then started a review of all hormone receptor tests from 1997 to 2005.