ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - The final witness to testify at an inquiry into botched breast cancer tests in Newfoundland and Labrador says she didn't know her test was flawed until this year -- eight years after she was first diagnosed with the disease.

Elizabeth Finlayson said she only inquired about the status of her breast cancer test when she saw television coverage of other patients testifying at the inquiry into the errors in March of this year.

Finlayson, 68, who lives in Labrador, told the inquiry on Friday that medical officials told her a review of hundreds of breast cancer tests from 1997 to 2005 did not include hers.

It wasn't until this summer that Finlayson learned her breast cancer test was flawed, and that she was disqualified from hormone therapy.

Finlayson had her left breast removed in 2000.

She was the last witness to testify at the inquiry, which began in March.

Justice Margaret Cameron is expected to deliver a final report with recommendations to the provincial government by the end of February.

The inquiry was called to determine how an estimated 400 patients under the care of the Eastern Health authority were given inaccurate results on their breast cancer tests, and whether it responded to patients and the public in an appropriate and timely manner.

The inquiry is focusing on hormone receptor tests. If patients are found to be estrogen- and/or progesterone-positive, they may respond to hormone therapy such as Tamoxifen. If not, they may be given a range of other treatments, or no treatment at all, depending on the characteristics of the patient's cancer.

Earlier this week, Premier Danny Williams apologized to the patients and their families who were affected by the mistakes on behalf of his and previous provincial governments.

Williams called the inquiry, but was critical of the way it operated, accusing it of conducting an inquisition in the way it questioned government officials.

In his testimony, Williams said his former health minister should have told him three years ago there were breast cancer patients who died that could have benefited from hormone therapy if their treatment tests weren't mishandled.

John Ottenheimer served as Newfoundland and Labrador's health minister when the chief oncologist within Eastern Health, the province's largest health board, told him in November 2005 that patients were disqualified from potentially life-saving treatment.

The commission also heard evidence that inaccurate briefing notes were circulated within the government about the problematic tests.

Williams has strongly denied his government sat on information about the flawed tests and has said he wasn't aware of the errors until a local newspaper reported on them in October 2005, although the commission has heard members of his staff heard of problems three months earlier.

It also heard evidence that the St. John's laboratory that processed the tests was marred by staff shortages, improper training and a lack of internal controls. Witnesses have also testified to infighting among medical staff, communication lapses between the provincial government and Eastern Health, and failed exercises in damage control.

Patients say they had no inkling there were any problems with their breast cancer tests until October 2005, and for up to two years complained Eastern Health wasn't informing them of reviewed test results.

Problems with the testing were detected in the spring of 2005, when doctors began questioning the hormone receptor test results of a patient with invasive lobular carcinoma, a form of breast cancer.

After retesting, it was discovered that the initial test result was wrong, as were those for a small sample of other patients.

Eastern Health subsequently halted testing in its lab and transferred its hormone receptor tests to Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto.

The health board then started a review of all hormone receptor tests from 1997 to 2005. The full scope of the mistakes wasn't known until 2007, after documents were filed with the Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court as part of the class-action lawsuit against Eastern Health.