The inquiry developed ramifications for regional and national politics as the opposition Liberal Party questioned why the regional Progressive Conservative Party government had not intervened sooner in the crisis, and said that former deputy health minister Robert Thompson, who had been appointed to chair the inquiry, should stand down, prompting Newfoundland and Labrador premier Danny Williams to accuse the Liberals of a smear campaign.
[3] In May 2005 Eastern Health discovered errors in hormone receptor breast cancer test results from a histology lab in St. John's, Newfoundland.
[4] The board commissioned the re-testing of results from up to 1,500 patients and alerted the office of premier Danny Williams of this development and of potential ensuing media interest.
[6] After retesting, Eastern Health concluded that 386 patients had received erroneous results,[2] of whom 117 required a change to their treatment programs[7] In December 2006 the board held a series of media briefings on the hormone receptor test errors, downplaying the seriousness and extent of the problems.
In May 2007 the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC) published reports showing that Eastern Health knew the error rate for the screening tests to have been around 42%, considerably higher than the figure they disclosed in the December 2006 media briefings.
"[10] Jones also said that former deputy health minister Robert Thompson, a Progressive Conservative who had been commissioned to oversee the inquiry, had a conflict of interest and should stand down.
[1] Peter Dawe of the Canadian Cancer Society objected to Williams's perceived attempts to speed up the inquiry, saying that patients deserved a full investigation however long it took.