Missed hundreds of radiology reports, Eastern Health admits

More than 1,000 diagnostic records were mistakenly left out in a review of a suspended radiologist who was practising in southern Newfoundland, officials admitted Wednesday.

The Eastern Health regional authority suspended Fred Kasirye in May, after other staff raised questions about his work. Kasirye was recruited to work at the Burin Peninsula Health Care Centre in November 2006.

In June after the Newfoundland and Labrador government directed Eastern Health to speed up a review of about 4,600 records Eastern Health said it had completed retesting X-rays, ultrasounds and CT scans.

On Wednesday, however, the authority acknowledged that it had made mistakes in the review. The acknowledgement came just two days after George Tilley resigned as chief executive officer, and amid government criticism over how Eastern Health has managed the issue.

"We found that there was a number of discrepancies," Louise Jones, the interim chief executive officer of Eastern Health, told reporters on Wednesday.

The initial list, which involves about 3,500 separate patients, was based only on billings to MCP, the provincial medicare agency.

Jones said many of the overlooked tests were billed to other sources, such as the workers' compensation system or private insurance providers.

"We really noted all these discrepancies and we felt that we really had to then ask our radiologists to go and reread what X-rays we felt we had missed," Jones said.

Eastern Health only acknowledged the suspension after it came under a barrage of criticism for how it handled the release of information in another case, involvingflawed laboratory tests affecting hundreds of breast cancer patients.

The back-to-back revelations caused a political uproar, with Health Minister Ross Wiseman ordering an expedited review of just two weeks in duration of Kasirye's work, in order to spare anxiety among patients.

On Wednesday, Wiseman admitted he had called Tilley on the carpet last week after learning that so many records had not actually been reviewed. However, Wiseman insisted he did not ask Tilley to resign.

"I thought the process had obviously been mismanaged," Wiseman told reporters.

"Having that information out there [in early June] was inappropriate and unacceptable, that you would report one thing and not have it done."

More than 2,000 patients have had their reports reviewed. Wiseman said some have already been told their treatment will change.

When the review was first announced, officials said that about 6,000 records would need to be scrutinized. That estimate was whittled down to about 4,600.

Wiseman said that, becausethe total number of reports involved is now unknown, authorities can't say whenthe review will be completed.

Challenges mounting for embattled authority

The latest controversy adds to the challenges facing Eastern Health, which has been trying to rebuild public confidence as a judicial inquiry begins into how hundreds of mistakes involving hormone receptor tests were made in a St. John's pathology lab.

Those tests meant that more than 300 patients with breast cancer were given inaccurate results, with some steered away from the effective anti-hormonal treatment Tamoxifen.

'We continue to say to the public that we are here for them.' Louise Jones ofEastern Health

A class-action lawsuit involving scores of patients was certified on May 28 at Newfoundland Supreme Court.

Jones said the authority's staff are eager to prove the authority is still serving the public interest.

"We continue to say to the public that we are here for them. We need our care," Jones said.

"We will do our damnedest to make sure that we do the best that we possibly can do."

Kasirye, whom Eastern Health has not publicly identified, has directed phone calls from CBC News to his lawyer, who has said that Kasirye remains confident in his abilities. Kasirye lives in the town of Burin, near the hospital where his privileges have been removed while the investigation continues.