ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — Canadian Press Published on Thursday, Oct. 09, 2008 8:31PM EDT Last updated on Tuesday, Mar. 31, 2009 8:54PM EDT
An outspoken breast cancer survivor — who had one of the botched hormone receptor tests that led to a provincial inquiry in Newfoundland — says she was recently misdiagnosed that the cancer had returned and spread to her lungs.
“It's just totally devastated me. It's set me back 10 years, actually,” Minnie Hoyles told the St. John's Telegram.
She had been suffering from the flu and went to a hospital emergency department in St. John's after spitting up blood.
After chest X-rays were done, a doctor told Ms. Hoyles her disease had returned.
The physician told Ms. Hoyles it was in her lungs and that the tumour was present in her last X-ray.
“I sat there and I was in total shock,” she said.
An hour or so later, the doctor returned to say there had been a terrible mistake and her lungs were cancer-free.
“For the good news she is giving me, I'm thanking her,” said Ms. Hoyles. “I get home. I just get into the bed. I crawl in, I cover up, I stay there for the rest of the day and the rest of the night.
“When I got up the next morning, the anger in me was tremendous. I'm full of anger again.”
She said she wondered how things could continue to go so wrong for her.
“I've been doing everything to keep myself fit and healthy, and every time, something will knock me back down,” she said.
Ms. Hoyles said she expressed her concerns about what happened to the Eastern Health authority and she called Premier Danny Williams's office and asked for a full audit on the health-care system.
Ms. Hoyles was diagnosed with breast cancer in July 1998.
The Cameron inquiry in Newfoundland is looking into how some 386 breast cancer patients received inaccurate results from hormone receptor testing from 1997 to 2005 at the General Hospital immunohistochemistry lab in St. John's.
The mistakes were discovered in spring 2005. The test results help determine the course of treatment for breast cancer patients.
Eastern Health said it cannot comment on individual patient care, but a spokeswoman added the authority is aware of the matter and has asked the clinical chief of the emergency program to investigate Ms. Hoyles's concerns.
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