Cancer Patients Testify at Hormone Receptor Test Inquiry

Court officials in Canada have begun hearing testimony from cancer patients who received inaccurate hormone receptor test results.

The public inquiry was launched after it was discovered that hundreds of cancer patients treated by Eastern Health between 1997 and 2005 were given incorrect results for hormone receptor tests. Oncologists use these tests to diagnose the particular type of tumor a patient has so they can determine the most effective course of treatment for that individual.

One of the 383 patients identified in the inquiry, breast cancer patient Rosalind Jardine, testified that her results in 1999 ruled out Tamoxifen treatments which have been shown to improve survival rates for certain breast cancers.

Trusting her doctor and the lab, Jardine never sought a second opinion regarding her diagnosis.

Eastern Health is also under scrutiny because patients reported they were not informed about the erroneous test results at the time the problem was identified.

Jardine became aware of her initial misdiagnosis after her cancer metastasized to her bowel and bones in 2005 causing her tumor to be retested at Toronto’s Mt Sinai Hospital.

During the court proceedings, Jardine stated she believed Eastern Health’s lack of communication was inhumane and the doctors simply didn’t know how to handle the problem. As she said,

“I feel they have not handled it well. In fact, very poorly.”

Rosalind Jardine
Breast Cancer Patient, Newfoundland

The inquiry is expected to deliver its final report this summer.

If you’re a patient in the United States who’d like to learn more about cancer tests, you can get good information from the National Cancer Institute or Lab Tests Online.

Source: CBC.ca

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Published by Lisa on Friday 28 March 2008 at 10:07 am - permalink
Filed under Breast Cancer, Government, Podcasts, Video

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Cancer Patients Testify at Hormone Receptor Test Inquiry

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