FREDERICTON - The New Brunswick government has named a retired judge to lead an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the hiring and supervision of a pathologist whose work is already the subject of a sweeping review.
Justice Paul Creaghan of the New Brunswick Court of Queen's Bench was asked Friday to report his findings in six months.
Health Minister Mike Murphy said the province wants to get to the bottom of questions raised about the work of Dr. Rajgopal S. Menon, who primarily worked in the Miramichi area of northern New Brunswick.
He was suspended from practising last year.
"The public wants answers," Murphy told a news conference.
Last week, the Miramichi Regional Health Authority announced that 15,000 cases would be reviewed, but that number jumped by 9,000 earlier this week.
The health district has a total population of 35,000.
A previous audit ordered by the health authority found Menon had misdiagnosed three per cent of 227 prostate and breast cancer biopsies he handled at the Miramichi Regional Hospital in 2004-05. Eighteen per cent of the cases had incomplete results, according to the audit.
In earlier statements, Menon has defended his work as professional and insisted he was being treated unfairly.
Menon says the provincial government and the Miramichi Regional Health Authority are not treating him fairly, and he is suing the authority, claiming the administration conspired to ruin his career.
Murphy said Creaghan's inquiry will examine, among other things, hiring practices for medical staff in the Miramichi region and quality assurance programs for medical testing.
Murphy said it's up to Creaghan to decide how much of his inquiry will be conducted in public.
The minister said police are being asked to investigate the case.
"High-level discussions have now taken place between my department, the Department of Public Safety and the RCMP on an investigation into possible charges of criminal negligence against the former pathologist," Murphy said.
As well, an independent pathologist has started reviewing cases from 2006-07.
Murphy said the Health Department plans to hire a team of pathologists from outside the province to help review all of the biopsies Menon handled between 1995 and February 2007, when his medical licence was suspended.
