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N.B. assumes oversight of hospital labs after public inquiry

By: THE CANADIAN PRESS

Posted: 02/27/2009 11:30 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies) | Last Modified: 02/27/2009 11:50 AM

MIRAMICHI, N.B. - New Brunswick's Health Department says it is accepting an oversight role in the province's hospital laboratory system after a public inquiry into the work of the former chief pathologist at Miramichi Regional Hospital.

Health Minister Michael Murphy said Friday the government has already implemented many of the 52 recommendations issued by Justice Paul Creaghan.

"This government has heard the recommendations of the Creaghan inquiry loudly and clearly, and has acted immediately," Murphy said in a statement. "The inquiry that began in Miramichi has resulted in provincewide improvements to our health-care system."

Among other things, he said the Health Department is improving training and looking for ways of attracting and retaining pathologists.

Creaghan concluded the hospital in northern New Brunswick hired Dr. Rajgopal Menon in a rush and without proper background checks on his level of competency.

He also found that Menon should have lost his licence in 2005, two years before he was suspended from working.

Creaghan was critical of the health system, saying there had been no program of quality control in the pathology lab at the Miramichi Regional Hospital since 1994, and the Department of Health had no idea whether pathology labs in the province were operating at acceptable levels of quality.

Menon worked at the Miramichi hospital from 1995 until early 2007, when his licence was suspended following complaints about incomplete diagnoses and delayed lab results.

An audit of Menon's work last year found 18 per cent of 227 breast and prostate cancer reports were incomplete and three per cent were incorrect.

Menon, who is now in his 70s, has maintained his work was not as flawed as the inquiry was told, and he portrayed himself as the victim of a hospital administration that was out to get him.

The government said Friday it has also implemented improvements to quality assurance and it is consulting on amendments to the Medical Act so that the investigative, disciplinary, and audit authority of the provincial college of physicians and surgeons can be expanded.

"Judge Creaghan's comprehensive report has been very useful to this government in our efforts to ensure that patients throughout the province receive the highest quality pathology services in our health-care system," said Murphy.

In his three-volume report, Creaghan said the process of suspending Menon's licence took too long, as a result of legal avenues available to the doctor and the cautions approach taken by the college in reacting to potential legal repercussions. The report made no findings of criminal or civil negligence.

The inquiry heard testimony from 56 witnesses over 42 days of public hearings.

A 2007 peer review, released publicly last March, concluded Menon wasn't fit to work. It stated Menon had medical problems that could have affected the accuracy of his work, including tremors in his hands and cataracts.

Menon has described the inquiry as "unjustified and unfair" and portrayed himself as someone who was being singled out by the hospital administration.

Still, during testimony last May, he apologized for any mistakes that might have been made on his behalf.

"I wish to sincerely apologize to any patient if I made an error in reading their pathology slide," he testified. "I was not aware of any errors in my work."

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