2 harmed by central Nfld. radiology errors

Two people have been harmed by medical errors in central Newfoundland, according to a top official at the localhealth authority.

One suffered unnecessary and prolonged pain.

"Certainly the person had significant pain and suffering long past what should have been experienced by that individual," Central Health CEO Karen McGrath told CBC News Thursday.

"If the proper report had been reported on, there would have been able to be an intervention much quicker ... I want to say that Central Health apologizes to all the individuals who will be included in this review."

She said the problem was discovered when the patient in pain alerted the hospital.

McGrath said a second patient experienced "mental anguish" because of the health systems error.

Those patients were among the six patients whose radiology reports were erroneous because they were based on older diagnostic tests, rather than their most recent tests.

The health authority is reviewing months of medical reports after learning two visiting radiologists working at the James Paton Memorial Hospital wrote reports based on out-dated tests.

The health authority is now reviewing all the files handled by the two doctors to see if more people might be affected. The review involves x-rays, CT scans, ultrasounds and MRI tests.

McGrath said people in many parts of the central region may have been affected.

"If you had an ultrasound in Fogo you could potentially be in this group during this period. If you had an x-ray in Brookfield, Twillingate or Fogo you could also be in this group," said McGrath.