Part Three: Extraordinary Development: It's All About Trust;

"I'M VERY SAD HOW THIS HAPPENED, HOW IT'S PLAYING OUT. I'VE LOST TRUST, I SECOND GUESS EVERYTHING."

ROSALIND JARDINE TO THE NEWFOUNDLAND BOTCHED BREAST CANCER TESTS INQUIRY;

It's all about trust - whether one is talking about a forensic pathologist who testifies in court or about the unseen pathologists who quietly work away in their labs processing the breast cancer tests.

Why, for example, would any Canadian involved in the administration of criminal justice distrust a pathologist Dr. Charles Randal Smith - or, for that matter, any other forensic pathologist testifying on the government's behalf?

Dr. Smith was being offered by the Crown as a dispassionate man of science who is dedicated to making his training, expertise and integrity available in a neutral, objective and dispassionate way to the jurors.

That's what the Canadian public expects of the Crown's forensic pathologist experts in criminal cases.

Nothing less;

And why would any Canadian woman undergoing a routine breast cancer test question the ability of the pathologists to correctly read the results?

Canadians have grown up to expect the trained individuals who conduct these tests to be well-trained, well-supervised, well-resourced and subject to quality controls - and that our government will level with us when things go wrong.

Rosalind Jardine, had no reason to question her province's breast cancer testing system before it failed her.

Like so many other Newfoundland women she once trusted the system

Jardine, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1999, told the Newfoundland Inquiry into cases involving erroneous pathological results that and her doctor cried when they learned the tests were inaccurate.

As the Canadian Press reported today, (Tuesday, March 25) Jardine told the Inquiry that although she is doing "very well" now, the handling of her case by the Eastern Health Authority has shaken her faith in the system."

"I feel they have not handled it well, in fact, very poorly," Ms. Jardine, 60, testified.

"I'm very sad how this happened, how it's playing out. I've lost trust, I second guess everything.""

The Canadian Press also reported that Jardine had received a lumpectomy, chemotherapy and radiation treatment - and that her initial tests ruled out the hormone therapy drug Tamoxifen.

"In 2005, she was admitted to emergency and had surgery of the bowel, where the cancer had spread," the article says.

"Ms. Jardine said that at around the same time, retesting of her tumour tissue samples at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto showed her original hormone receptor tests were wrong.

She said her oncologist, Kara Laing, apologized to her.

"I cried, she cried," Ms. Jardine told the inquiry, now in its second week.

By that time the cancer was in her bones and she was placed on other drugs because she was no longer eligible to take Tamoxifen.

The inquiry is examining why hundreds of patients received inaccurate results from hormone receptor tests used to determine their course of treatment from 1997 to 2005.

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 other treatment, such as chemotherapy."

In recent postings this Blog has questioned whether the three on-going public inquiries looking into the botched work of pathologists constitute a mere crisis in pathology - or a crisis in Canada's overall health care system.

But Jardine is telling us through her evidence at the inquiry, that one thing all three inquiries have in common is a massive betrayal of public trust.

Canadians are waking up to the reality that they have been poorly served by the officials that were supposed to be protecting them.

Harold Levy...hlevy@gmail.com.