Optimism for Reforms at Eastern Health

I was class counsel for the members of the Breast Cancer Testing class action, and sat through the Cameron Inquiry.

On Wednesday, there was a news conference to report on progress in implementing the Cameron Recommendations, so I attended.

Many of us who sat through the Inquiry hearings were pessimistic about the prospects for change.  We saw an unrepentant old guard of health bureaucrats still in power at Eastern Health.  They expected to go back to business as usual, once the Inquiry was over.

But now I am an optimist.  The minister, Jerome Kennedy, has guts and drive, and is not easily bamboozled.  CEO Vickie Kaminski seems to have the needed substance.  And the cyclosporine incident, tragic for the victims, has provided a catalyst for Kaminski to break up the old gangs of cronies who stood in the way of change.

Now the next step is to make sure that all those pathologists on sick leave have a valid note from their doctors.