Cameron Inquiry Report Addresses Testing for Breast Cancer

I wanted to make sure we didn’t overlook this item, even though it was prominent in the news this week.

On Tuesday, March 3rd the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador released the report from the Commission of Inquiry on Hormone Receptor Testing exploring how testing failed to give correct results for women facing breast cancer in Newfoundland over a number of years, and providing a number of recommendations to prevent the same from happening again.

The Commission was established by the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador under its Public Inquiries Act, 2006 on July 3, 2007. The Honourable Margaret A. Cameron of the Supreme Court of Justice was appointed Commissioner. Part 1 of the Inquiry, public hearings, concluded on October 31, 2008. This final report, delivered to the Government on March 1, 2009, represents Part 2 and the conclusion of the Inquiry.

The final report is available from the Government of Newfoundland website on this press release page: Government Releases Cameron Inquiry Report or directly from the government site at www.gov.nl.ca/releases/2009/health/CameronInquiry.pdf (note it is a PDF). The report is made up of three volumes; click on the table of contents in the PDF file to access each volume:

Volume 1: Investigation and Findings (514 pages)
Volume 2: “Looking Forward…” Policy Papers (151 pages) – papers from a Symposium held April 22 & 23, 2008
Volume 3: Appendices (412 pages)

Chapter 19 in Volume 1 contains recommendations. The CBC has a summary of the report and related interviews in Lab mistakes, poor oversight flagged in N.L. breast cancer inquiry. It is an important report, not just for Newfoundland, but also for other jurisdictions as the recommendations may have wider implications.

For information about the inquiry procedure and submissions, visit the Commission website http://www.cihrt.nl.ca/.