Shirley and Dr. Paul Brown | Submitted photo
Shirley and Paul Brown share how the CRH pathologist shortage impacted their lives
Ever since the Vancouver Island Health Authority started reducing pathologist services at Comox Valley and Campbell River hospitals in 2013, North Island citizens have endured longer wait times for their biopsy and other lab results.
Many have complained. And health care professionals and some local government officials have added their voices to the need to restore full laboratory services to the North Island hospitals.
But VIHA, sometimes called Island Health, has denied that reduced pathologist services have created delays in test results.
Now, a well-known Campbell River physician and his wife have come forward with their personal story about how Island Health’s policies have impacted their lives.
MORE: Patients suffer from reduced pathologist services
Dr. Paul Brown, a Campbell River family doctor for 40 years, has launched a series of complaints to Island Health, the College of Physicians and Surgeons, the BC Health Ministry and local officials regarding a significant delay in a cancer diagnosis that caused his wife anxiety and altered her cancer treatment plan.
Brown told Decafnation this week that his wife, Shirley, had a routine surgical procedure on Dec. 9 at CRH to remove an ovarian cyst.
Five weeks later, the pathology report was still unavailable. Shirley was anxious to learn the outcome of her surgery.
Because Brown knew the system, he called the pathology department at Campbell River Hospital and discovered the problem. There was only one pathologist working during the time that Shirley’s samples were being processed.
The pathologist had not yet reviewed the slides and had not made a diagnosis. He was prompted to review her slides and consult with his colleague who had just returned from holiday.
Two days later, Shirley learned that she had cancer.
It took another 10 days for a specialist pathologist in Victoria to confirm the diagnosis. Shirley saw an oncologist at the Victoria Cancer Clinic two months after her surgery.
PATHOLOGIST SHORTAGE
The hospital has two full-time pathologists, but when Island Health unilaterally transferred all clinical pathologist services to a private corporation in Victoria, called the Vancouver Island Clinical Pathology Consulting Corporation, CRH lost funding to hire a needed third pathologist.
Currently, CRH’s two pathologists must cover each other’s shifts, vacation time, sick time and other required absences. That means that for a third of the year, up to 18 weeks, CRH may have only one pathologist on duty.
The delay in receiving the confirmed diagnosis moved the oncologists to start chemotherapy before the recommended surgery to stage the cancer and remove any visible tumour. Shirley completed chemotherapy in June.
At the end of July, she had surgery to complete staging and to remove visible cancer. A small deposit of cancer was found at her second surgery and more chemotherapy has been prescribed.
If the pathology report had been delivered in the recommended time frame, she would likely have had surgery first, followed by chemotherapy a couple of weeks later.
It is impossible to predict the outcome of that scenario but the treatment plan would have been completed much sooner, and Shirley would have experienced much less anxiety by knowing the stage of her cancer.
DISINGENUOUS REPLY FROM ISLAND HEALTH
Seven months ago, Brown initially complained to Island Health’s Patient Care Quality Office and he’s still waiting for a response. Every 20 days or so, he receives an email saying they are still working on the file.
He has also contacted North Island MLA Claire Trevena, Health Minister Adrian Dix and his deputy minister. He has not received a reply from any of them.
It’s an understatement to say the Browns are “frustrated by the lack of engagement by elected officials.”
Brown did get a reply to a letter he sent to Dr. Robertson, Island Health’s executive director of lab and pathology, on March 16 of this year. In this letter, Brown described what he considered were the troubling aspects of his wife’s case, including the delay in getting a diagnosis.
“I cannot express the anguish that this delay in diagnosis has caused us … (and it has) left me with concerns regarding the safety of the current delivery of lab and pathology services at CRG,” Brown wrote to Robertson.
In a reply dated May 20, Robertson denied any knowledge that having one pathologist on duty presented a problem.
Brown replied to Robertson on May 25 to refute this claim.
“The fact that you, as you have asserted in your letter, were unaware of concern regarding delays in surgical turnaround times when one of the pathologists was on holiday is incorrect,” Brown wrote.
Brown’s reply refers to several meetings that Roberston attended where the concerns were openly discussed, including the July 22, 2019 Campbell River City Council meeting and the April 11, 2019 meeting of the Comox Strathcona Regional Hospital Board.
Brown told Robertson that to profess no knowledge of the concerns was “disingenuous to say the least.”
INFO TO KNOW ABOUT OVARIAN CANCER
Symptoms
Early-stage ovarian cancer rarely causes any symptoms. Advanced-stage ovarian cancer may cause few and nonspecific symptoms that are often mistaken for more common benign conditions.
Signs and symptoms of ovarian cancer may include:
Abdominal bloating or swelling
Quickly feeling full when eating
Weight loss
Discomfort in the pelvis area
Changes in bowel habits, such as constipation
A frequent need to urinate
When to see a doctor
Make an appointment with your doctor if you have any signs or symptoms that worry you.
If you have a family history of ovarian cancer or breast cancer, talk to your doctor about your risk of ovarian cancer. Your doctor may refer you to a genetic counsellor to discuss testing for certain gene mutations that increase your risk of breast and ovarian cancers.
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I’ve been waiting NINE WEEKS for biopsy results for my already diagnosed malignant melanoma. I had surgery on August 23rd to remove cancer left behind from my first surgery. A large skin graft on my face, a sentinel node biopsy, and a donor site on my thigh. The pathologist just got to my specimen yesterday, October 16th. He finished today, October 17th… and I still can’t access my OWN medical records via the B.C. Services Card online app…?! I had bad news in June, and July. Cancer grows. I either still have cancer or I don’t. Why can’t I know? I didn’t fly to my father’s funeral October 12th, because I’ve been WAITING FOR MY BIOPSY RESULTS. It’s been so depressing, and frightening. No counselling, and no social worker to speak to in hospital. What is going on? (Victoria area). I found the pathologist’s name and email address and sought him out. If you don’t advocate for yourself, good luck. And even then, well, if I still have cancer, and it is aggressive, then waiting nine additional weeks might kill me. I’m not that old. If they got all the cancer, great, but the last five months have been hell. I almost don’t care anymore. On the verge of a breakdown, and with suicidal thoughts. Horrible.
Dr. Brown saved my life on two separate occasions with his quick diagnosis of cervical cancer and a kidney that was literally ready to explode, he had me seeing a specialist for my kidney in two hours after he saw what was happening. He knows how important quick results are, I would not be here without him. I am so sorry his wife had to go through this.
I blame a lot of the problems that create the overcrowding in the Hospitals on the greedy
Real estate Developers. I don’t care what anyone says, but we just finished building two
new Hospitals and now they say they cannot accommodate people when it comes to serious
problems, like lab results regarding cancer and heart problems, to say the least. I think
that it is up to the Doctors to take a stand and say “no more” nonsense. Who do these
people in the Vancouver Island Health Authority think they are???? I can imagine if they
had a member of their family that required immediate treatment for said illnesses – that
they would be first in the lineup. Maybe I am being very bitter, but my husband and I have
chronic illnesses and we know how it is. I have also had mental illness problems, in the past
and I was treated very shabbily, but that is another area, of which requires a lot more introspec-
tion!
I have been following this very serious problem in both CVH and CRH and it seems to me that until you experience something like needing a Bx done you really cannot appreciate the anxiety of the invasive procedure and the waiting. My story is this, I’m a 54 yr old healthy woman and few days before my 2nd total knee replacement in 4 months a shadow was seen on my x-ray and I’m immediately thrown into a possible Dx of bone cancer. after lab tests, skeletal CT I was booked for a bone marrow Bx. You have to know that until I met the pathologist Dr.Bellamy at the CVH the stress and anxiety was unbearable. Every hospital should have Dr. Bellamy, he was the most calm and comforting man. We went ahead with the Bx which he comforted me through the whole procedure and it is not pleasant. So now we wait and wait. Turns out he was right, as he stated he did not feel that I had bone cancer but MGUS and he was right. I went ahead with my knee surgery. It was the worst month of my life but thanks to a caring Pathologist I was able to cope somewhat with the waiting. I was sad to hear he has left the CVH, what a loss for the Valley. I guess until some of these government officials and higher ups in the healthcare system go through cancer testing they just won’t understand. Thank you for reading my story I hope you can use it for any help in getting more Pathologists to the North Island, we count up here as well.
Thank you to Dr. Paul and Mrs. Shirley Brown for sharing your own story in an effort to bring awareness to the public about the deficiencies created by Island Health in our CR and CV Hospital Labs which impacted Shirley’s treatment and surgery times. It takes a lot of courage to share your story publicly and I sincerely thank you both. We hope your efforts will bring about badly needed change and an independent investigation into the contract between VICPCC and Island Health. In spite of what Island Health says there is no denying there are very serious problems with the CR and CV hospital labs. I sincerely wish Shirley a full cancer free recovery.