
	This is an archive of the Commission of Inquiry on Hormone Receptor Testing website, which was last updated in April 2009 and will not be updated further. If you have difficulty accessing any material, please contact the Department of Justice.

Updated:

Part II

The precise tasks of the Commission are set out in the Terms of Reference. Broadly speaking, the Commission is to find out why there were a high number of different results when certain hormone receptor tests, done between 1997 and 2005, were retested. The Commission is also to examine the response of authorities when the problems were discovered, including the communications with affected patients and others. Further, the Commission is to study present practices related to estrogen and progesterone receptor testing.

In addition, there is what can be described as a policy development role for the Commission. Term (f) directs that recommendations be made as to how matters of this nature should be handled. Though not exclusively, Part II will be largely directed to providing information to the Commission which would assist in making such recommendations. To that end, six experts have been engaged to prepare papers. The papers, which are directed to aspects of the obligation to disclose, will be posted on the website in March, 2008.

Those preparing papers and the general nature of the topics to be discussed are listed below. Biographical information respecting the authors is also available.

Legal and Ethical Obligations of Public Health Authorities and Government	Bernard M. Dickens, LLB, LLM, PhD, LLD
Examining Disclosure Options: Procedures for Disclosing Adverse Events: A Literature Review	Sherry Espin, RN, PhD
Disclosing Unanticipated Outcomes to Patients: International Trends and Norms	Thomas H. Gallagher, MD
Duty of Care and Standard of Care	Joan M. Gilmour, BA, LLB, JSM, JSD
Disclosure: Ethical and Policy Considerations	Philip C. Hébert, BA MA MD PhD FCFPC
The Legal Duty of Physicians to Disclose Medical Errors	Gerald B. Robertson, Q.C., LLB, LLM

These topics will also be discussed at a symposium to be held in St. John's on April 22 and 23, 2008. Mr. Timothy Caulfield, Director of Research for the Commission, will facilitate the symposium where those preparing papers and others will be presenting.

Symposium Agenda
Symposium Presentations
Submissions: The public is invited to make written submissions to the Commission respecting the issues raised in Part II. All submissions respecting Part II must be made on or before May 15, 2008. Submissions can be forwarded to submission@cihrt.nl.ca or delivered to the Commission office at 50 Tiffany Lane, St. John's, NL A1A 4H7.
Symposium Transcripts