ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - Newfoundland and Labrador's largest health board says it still does not know how many patients' breast cancer tests were missed in a review intended to determine their accuracy.
Two months ago, Eastern Health announced that 38 people who weren't previously identified needed to have their breast cancer treatment tests redone in order to determine whether they were botched.
Three days later, the health board said that figure had risen to 43.
Jennifer Guy, a spokeswoman for Eastern Health, said officials are still trying to come up with a solid number.
"We gave what we thought at that time were secure numbers, but ... the numbers are not secure yet," Guy said in an interview.
"The situation around the numbers is very volatile."
Guy said the process to determine how many patients whose tests were missed in the review has been extremely complex.
Health officials should be able to announce a final figure within a couple of weeks, she said.
Eastern Health was the subject of an inquiry into faulty breast cancer tests that affected hundreds of patients from 1997 to 2005.
The inquiry found a litany of problems at a St. John's laboratory led to at least 386 breast cancer patients receiving the wrong results on tests intended to determine an appropriate course of treatment.
At least 108 patients whose tests were botched have died. But it will likely never be known how many of them, if any, died as a result of missing out on potentially life-saving treatment.
Justice Margaret Cameron concluded that a failure of accountability and oversight "at all levels" within Newfoundland and Labrador's health care system led to the mistakes.
