FOLLOW-UP; BOTCHED BREAST CANCER TESTS; ACCOUNTABILITY? NEWFOUNDLAND HEALTH MINISTER PAYS PRICE; DEVELOPMENTS IN QUEBEC BREAST CANCER TEST SCANDAL;

"THE PREMIER, HOWEVER, DEFENDED THE EMBATTLED CABINET MEMBER. HE SAID WISEMAN HAD WRONGFULLY TAKEN THE BLAME FOR THE ERRONEOUS LABORATORY TESTS. TRANSFERRING WISEMAN TO ANOTHER AGENCY WOULD PROVIDE HIM SOME RELIEF AND REMOVE HIM FROM THE PUBLIC HEALTH SECTOR."

AHN;

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All Headline News reports that Newfoundland and Labrador Health Minister Ross Wiseman has been removed from his post;

The flawed pathological tests conducted in hospitals in Newfoundland, Quebec and several other part of Canada are a reminder that serious problems in Canada's pathology system are not confined to the criminal justice sector;

"Newfoundland and Labrador Health Minister Ross Wiseman was removed Thursday from his post by Premier Danny WIlliams and given another assignment to head the Ministry of Business. Wiseman was replaced by Paul Oram," the AHN news report, issued earlier today, begins;

"The move, part of Williams' ongoing cabinet shake-up, is seen as a result of heavy criticism hurled on Wiseman over botched breast cancer test of thousands of Newfoundland women from 1997 to 2005," the report continues under the heading, "Newfoundland Removes Health Minister Criticized For Botched Breast Cancer Tests."

"The premier, however, defended the embattled cabinet member. He said Wiseman had wrongfully taken the blame for the erroneous laboratory tests. Transferring Wiseman to another agency would provide him some relief and remove him from the public health sector.

Williams, said in a statement, "I would like to welcome these minister to their new portfolios and wish them well as they take on these new challenges.... I want to thank both Ministers Wiseman and Oram for their outstanding work in their previous departments and I look forward to their continued contributions individually as ministers and collectively around the Cabinet table."

Before Wiseman's transfer, Williams replaced the Eastern Health chief executive officer who was also implicated in the controversial breast cancer tests.

Meanwhile, Quebec which also recently had a breast cancer test problem, will make the first batch of 630 residents go through a retesting to check if the medicine Herceptin could help them. The order for retesting came from provincial Health Minister Yves Bolduc.

The 630 women are part of the 2,730 who will repeat their breast cancer tests. The women are from Montreal, Monteregie and Laval."

Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com