PATHOLOGY CRISIS IN CANADA; NEWFOUNDLAND; EASTERN HEALTH; CEO APOLOGIZES; HINI NOT DETECTED; PLACED IN MEDICALLY INDUCED COMA 2 1/2 MONTHS; CBC NEWS;

"The head of the largest health authority in Newfoundland and Labrador said she is sorry that a man with H1N1 had to visit health professionals four times before someone determined he was sick.

Trevor King, who lives in the Burin Peninsula community of Little Bay, was sent away from the Burin Health Care Centre three times early last fall before doctors finally diagnosed him as having the so-called swine flu.

King was later put into a medically induced coma for two and a half months as he fought for his life. Although he has since been released, he has lasting physical problems, including trouble walking, and has had memory loss.

Vickie Kaminski, the chief executive officer of Eastern Health, the authority that manages care in eastern Newfoundland, said King, 27 and otherwise healthy, fell out of what were believed at that time to be high-risk groups.

"I think that as we progressed through H1N1, we learned a lot of lessons and one of them was that it didn't react the way everybody expected," Kaminski told CBC News Wednesday."

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BACKGROUND: During the past two years, this Blog has reported on a crisis in Canadian pathology indicated by serious breakdowns in hospitals in Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Ontario and elsewhere in the country. The purpose, beyond seeking review and reform, is to show that the wide-ranging problems with pathology in Canada were not limited to the criminal sector - and that serious errors, sometimes lethal, were being made in reading test results on living patients. In short, that there was a crisis in Canadian pathology.

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Last Updated: Thursday, August 5, 2010 | 12:02 PM NT Comments27Recommend26
CBC News
Eastern Health CEO Vickie Kaminski says \Eastern Health CEO Vickie Kaminski says "there were a lot of unknowns" about H1N1 last fall, when Trevor King became seriously ill. (CBC)

"The head of the largest health authority in Newfoundland and Labrador said she is sorry that a man with H1N1 had to visit health professionals four times before someone determined he was sick," the CBC News story published earlier today under the heading, "CEO 'very sorry' for missed H1N1 diagnosis," begins.

"Trevor King, who lives in the Burin Peninsula community of Little Bay, was sent away from the Burin Health Care Centre three times early last fall before doctors finally diagnosed him as having the so-called swine flu," the story continues.

"King was later put into a medically induced coma for two and a half months as he fought for his life. Although he has since been released, he has lasting physical problems, including trouble walking, and has had memory loss.

Vickie Kaminski, the chief executive officer of Eastern Health, the authority that manages care in eastern Newfoundland, said King, 27 and otherwise healthy, fell out of what were believed at that time to be high-risk groups.

"I think that as we progressed through H1N1, we learned a lot of lessons and one of them was that it didn't react the way everybody expected," Kaminski told CBC News Wednesday.

"In fact, high-risk populations were identified along the way, and he fell into one of those groups."

King became very sick with H1N1 just as a vaccination campaign began across Newfoundland and Labrador.

"He helped us learn and I'm very sorry he had to go through what he had to go through," she said.

"Because I know it was so, so tremendously difficult and dangerous and disconcerting for his family as well."

King and his wife, Colleen, have asked for an explanation of what happened as well as an apology for the care that King received. On his first visit in early November, after complaining of fatigue, a fever and aching pain, King was given Tylenol and sent home.

Two days later, he was effectively dealt with the same way, and on a third visit, three days later, he was told he had pneumonia and was again sent home with medication.

About a week later, he was unconscious in a St. John's hospital, after physicians put him into a coma to help his body combat the infection.

An independent review is being done on how King's case was handled. The Kings are expecting to hear the outcome within a few weeks.

Kaminski said H1N1 turned out to be much more dangerous for healthy, young adults than anyone had expected.

"There were a lot of unknowns about it," she said.

"Some of it was who the risk group were and we had some ideas based on some of the information we were receiving from Health Canada and the World Health Organization about who the biggest risk groups were, and certainly a man like Mr. King didn't fall into the risk groups that were being identified.""

The story can be found at:

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2010/08/05/h1n1-trevor-king-kaminski-805.html

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be accessed at:

http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith

For a breakdown of some of the cases, issues and controversies this Blog is currently following, please turn to:

http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2010/07/new-feature-cases-issues-and.html

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;