ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - A former health minister in Newfoundland and Labrador says he would do nothing differently if he were faced again with mistakes in breast-cancer tests.
After finishing more than two days of testimony on Tuesday at a public inquiry into the botched test results, John Ottenheimer was asked whether he had any regrets over the way he handled the matter.
"Not at all,'' Ottenheimer said outside the hearing room.
"Based on the professional, medical expertise that I received as the minister of the day, I would not have done anything differently. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.''
Ottenheimer served as health minister in 2005, when problems were detected at the St. John's lab that processed the faulty breast-cancer tests.
In all, 383 patients were given the wrong results on their tests for more than eight years.
Ottenheimer concluded his testimony saying he didn't inquire about two external reviews two years after they flagged serious problems at the lab because he wanted to leave that to the minister at that time.
In 2005, two external reviews concluded the lab was plagued by a shortage of internal controls and specialized staff.
Ottenheimer left as health minister in March 2006 and didn't see the findings of those reviews.
The full scope of the breast-cancer test errors wasn't revealed until May 2007, after court documents were filed in the province's Supreme Court as part of a class-action lawsuit against the Eastern Health board.
Ottenheimer told the inquiry that he didn't ask about those reviews during a May 17, 2007, cabinet meeting when he served in another portfolio, because he wanted to leave that to the new health minister, Ross Wiseman.
"I don't specifically recall raising that,'' Ottenheimer said. "It was an issue that I would leave to minister of the day.''
The inquiry is examining why the patients were given inaccurate results on their tests, and whether the Eastern Health board or any other responsible authorities responded to them and the public in an appropriate and timely manner.
The inquiry is focusing on hormone-receptor tests, which are used by doctors to determine the course of treatment for breast-cancer patients.
If patients are found to be estrogen- and/or progesterone-positive, they may respond to hormone therapy such as Tamoxifen. If not, they may be given a range of other treatments, or no treatment at all, depending on the characteristics of the patient's cancer.
Problems with the testing weren't detected until 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.
