ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - The office of Premier Danny Williams knew about problems with breast cancer testing in Newfoundland within days of the province's health minister finding out, and months before it became public, a judicial inquiry heard Monday.
John Ottenheimer said one of his communications staff made the premier's office aware of the issue in July 2005, within a day or two of the Eastern Health authority informing him of the matter.
"I know that my communications director contacted the premier's office on either the 19th or the 20th of July to advise of the situation,'' Ottenheimer testified.
Ottenheimer met with Eastern Health CEO George Tilley on July 19, 2005, to discuss problems with testing at the St. John's laboratory.
At that point, it became clear that the issue was "of critical public concern,'' Ottenheimer said.
A spokeswoman for Williams's office says he is off on personal time and not available to comment.
Nearly three months after Ottenheimer's meeting with Tilley, a story appeared in a local weekly newspaper outlining problems with Eastern Health's breast cancer testing.
Ottenheimer said he had misgivings about withholding the information from the public, but went along with the idea based on advice from medical professionals who feared it would cause unnecessary stress to breast cancer patients.
He said he was "relieved'' when the story became public, but acknowledged it wasn't the most appropriate way for the public to find out.
"It's unfortunate that it became public that way,'' said Ottenheimer, who retired from politics last October.
The full scope of the 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 Eastern Health showed more than 300 patients were affected by botched tests.
The inquiry is examining how 383 breast cancer patients were given inaccurate results on their tests and whether the Eastern Health authority responded to them and the public in an appropriate and timely manner.
The inquiry is focusing on hormone-receptor tests, which are a valuable tool that doctors use in determining 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 this kind of breast-cancer 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.
