Health Minister Urges Speedy Compensation for Breast Cancer Claimants


Posted on Mar 04, 2009

Health Minister Ross Wiseman said today that Eastern Health cannot win the class action lawsuit spearheaded by St. John’s lawyer Ches Crosbie, and called on the health authority to speed up compensation.

 

The Report of the Commission of Inquiry into Hormone Receptor Testing was provided by Justice Margaret Cameron to the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador last weekend, and make public Tuesday.  The Report stated that the mistakes that led to retesting of hundreds of samples of breast tissue should not have happened and that communication about the mistakes was botched.  The report said the procedures and protocols within Eastern Health for ER/PR testing between 1997 and 2005 were so deficient as to be practically non-existent, and that the system failed patients on every level. 

 

Speaking on VOCM Open Line with Randy Simms, Minister Wiseman said he does not think that Eastern Health is debating that there was negligence or liability.  He encouraged the lawyers for the parties to expedite the process of coming up with a figure for compensation. 

 

Part of what the Minister said:

 

“There is liability and there’s negligence here, and I don’t think Eastern Health is debating that  and what you need to deal with here now is how you define the settlement. And I understand that there is a, between the lawyer for the patients and their families here, and the lawyers for the insurance company and Eastern Health have already had a significant dialogue on that piece. They’re looking at a process to help define what that figure should be.  I encourage them to expedite the process, I encourage them to get that process moving faster.” 

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