What You Can Do about Faulty Lab Results

The recent revelations about botched lab tests in relation to Quebec breast cancer patients has the public scratching their heads and those affected reeling.
The real question remains;
What can you do if you are affected and how can you prevent your test from being botched in the future?

In the case of the breast cancer tests that are the center of the controversy, it's important to understand that;

In 20 to 30 per cent, there are disagreements between labs and individuals on whether a result is negative or positive because of variables in technique and interpretation, said Jared Schwartz president of the College of American Pathologists, a world authority on lab quality control and accreditation.

"The problem is there is no gold standard anywhere on how you call a specific test positive or negative," Schwartz said, also co-chair of an international team that's developing universal guidelines on process and criteria that pathologists will use.-The Gazette

That's a pretty scary statement. I bet your doctor didn't tell you that little fact when you received your diagnosis and your treatment regimen.

Perhaps we should all be mindful of the Russian proverb and heed it's advice;

"doveryai, no proveryai" - “Trust but verify.”

And here's something we can all do as patients to take back a little control in our care-.

GET A SECOND OPINION!

It's not such a foreign concept but it's something most patients don't bother doing.
Remember;

"About 85 per cent of decisions that doctors make about the diagnosis and treatment of their patients are based on lab tests," said Nathalie Rodrigue, president of the Ordre professionnel des technologists médicaux du Québec." - -The Gazette

Now the government isn't saying which labs have screwed up and isn't unlikely to do so. All labs are not alike, some better and some worse.

In the case of a serious illness, I'd certainly pay for a second test out of my own pocket, regardless the cost and I'd send the sample to a top notch lab.

How to differentiate between the good and the sloppy?

There are standards. The College of American Pathologists (CAP) does accredit labs that have achieved and maintain the highest possible standards.

"The CAP Laboratory Accreditation Program is an internationally recognized program and the only one of its kind that utilizes teams of practicing laboratory professionals as inspectors. Designed to go well beyond regulatory compliance, the program helps laboratories achieve the highest standards of excellence to positively impact patient care.

The program is based on rigorous accreditation standards that are translated into detailed and focused checklist questions. The checklists, which provide a quality practice blueprint for laboratories to follow, are used by the inspection teams as a guide to assess the overall management and operation of the laboratory." LINK

There are just four labs in Quebec that have attained this accreditation.

C.D.L Medical Laboratories Inc

5990 Chemin de la Cote des Neiges

Montreal, QC - H3S1Z5 Cirion Biopharma Research, Inc. Clinical Laboratories 2121 Berlier St Laval, QC - H7L 3M9 DiaTech Oncology Laboratory 740 Dr Penfield Ave Ste 4200 Montreal, QC - H3A 1A4 St. Mary's Hospital Center Main Laboratory 3830 Lacombe Avenue Montreal, QC - H3T 1M5

For CAP accredited labs in your area, you can consult the CAP website for an easy to use lookup database.

Anglophones Leaders Making a Massive Error in Attacking Harel's Lack of English

Not since the Conservative party ran the famous 'crooked face' television ad mocking Jean Chretien's physical handicap, has a political manoeuvre backfired so badly as the concerted Anglophone attack on Louise Harel's lack of English proficiency.

Making the election into a French vs. English affair is a recipe for disaster and one that will backfire badly. Turning Harel into a victim of anglophone oppression may actually win her the mayor's job out of spite.

Considering the fact that ever since de-merger, the anglo percentage of Montreal population has dwindled to about 20%, the numbers don't add up for a language attack.

Harel's image has gone from a jack-booted, sovereignist, hard-liner, to a humble Chretien-like character being mocked for her inability to speak English, a failing incidentally, that is shared by most of the voters in Montreal.

If the Anglophone community wants to live to fight Harel on her record, they better back off and apologize for the language slur.

Otherwise..... CHECKMATE...

The nationalist forces are mounting a spirited and highly successful counter-attack and have already won the hearts and minds of the voters over this issue.

LCN, the French language news network ran a story in which sovereignists Gilles Duceppe (Bloc Quebecois) and Mario Beaulieu (Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Montréal), defended Louise Harel's lack of English. See the Video

According to Duceppe;

"it's useful to speak another language, but not speaking English isn't a handicap."

That simple statement is what this whole issue can be boiled down to. If speaking English is allowed to become the major issue of the election, than Harel will win. There are too many voters in the same shoes as Mme Harel.

Now for some silliness...
In that same piece by LCN, Mario Beaulieu dropped this doosy.

"it isn't a big deal, nobody makes a fuss about the unlingual English mayoress of Beaconsfield."

That statement led me to do a double-take.-"Unilingual mayoress of Beaconsfield"?

Is he talking about Anne Myles who hasn't been mayor of Beaconsfield since 2005, when Bob Beneditti won the mayor's job?
Must be..

When I looked back to check my facts and dates, I found this pearl of a comment in a CBC News report by then leader of the Parti Quebecois, Bernard Landry;

Bernard Landry

Commenting on the 2003 election win of Anne Myles as mayor of Beaconsfield, he said;

"You have seen the election of a unilingual person in a municipal council," he said. "That's not progress. A public person in Quebec, most of the time, must be fluent in both languages."

Hmmmm. I wonder if he'd like top repeat that statement today....


Now, back to Mr. Beaulieu, who should probably hire a fact-checker before speaking.

If he did hire one, he'd know that while Myles is no longer around, there remains at least one unilingual English mayor in Quebec after all, a man who is presiding over town council in the small, wealthy and under the radar town of Hampstead.

That's right, Mayor William Steinberg can't carry on a conversation in French, in spite of being a life long resident. According to the mayor, it's because of a hearing disability. Hmm..

The tiny bedroom community of predominantly wealthy and highly educated Anglophones doesn't seem to mind his lack of French at all.
So I ask you, why should francophone voters in Montreal object to Harel's lack of English?

For those opposed to Harel's candidacy, it's time to re-group and re-think strategy, otherwise Montreal will be led by a sovereignist, unilingual francophone who will quickly revert to her nasty old self once the election is won.

Municipal elections boast notoriously low voter turnouts. The winner won't be the one who wins over converts but rather the one that can turn out his or her own constituency on voting day.

That's what the candidates should be concentrating on, getting out the vote by figuring what hot buttons to push that will inspire people to vote.

Up to now, it's 1-nil for Harel.

Montreal budget Highlights

Here are some interesting fasts and figures, in relation to the $4 billion, City of Montreal 2008 budget.

First, here's a breakdown of how each dollar that the city gets, is spent;

For every single man, woman and child (1,800,000), that lives on the island, Montreal spends - $2,200;

• $470 a year for the police and the fire department.
• $191 to subsidize city buses and metro (whether you ride or not)
• $123 for water purification & distribution, sewers
  
• $66 for roads
• $59 social housing

• Every single day the city issues $306,000 in tickets and fines.

What if You Give a Demonstration & Nobody Shows Up?

For weeks, the Mouvement Montréal français has been touting a demonstration in support of French usage in the public service and an end to bilingual services.

The rally which took place on Saturday in an east-end Montreal park had been hawked widely in nationalist circles and I even received my very own invitation via an email from the organization.

Gilles Duceppe, leader of the Bloc Quebecois, addressed the 'crowd' and reminded them that 200,000 workers in Quebec are not subject to the application of Bill 101, the language law that decrees French as the only official language of business.

Too bad none off these people showed up to the demonstration.

The rally, which promised a multitude of speakers as well as musical entertainment, attracted a mere 200 people.

There were probably more organisers than demonstrators.

The fact that the rally was a complete bust remained conveniently unreported in the mainstream press.

One would think that in view of the current brouhaha about the unilingual mayoral candidate, Louise Harel, that even more people would want to show support, but I guess it was not to be.

Last August, on a similarly nice summer day, over ten times as many people showed up to demonstrate against the Tory governments funding cuts to the arts programs.

I guess when it comes down to it, money is more important than language....

Study Shows Quebeckers Overwhelmingly Happy With Their Jobs

Not many people read the annual reports released by the various government departments and it's unfortunate that the press doesn't pay much attention to them.

Mostly self-serving and designed to put a positive spin on their operations, many interesting facts and figures can be culled, even with the most cursory of reads.

If there is any department that you'd think would put out a boring type document, it would be the Commission des normes du travail, Quebec's labour board, who's annual report is actually quite well-written, but alas only available in French, a disturbing trend for government documents today.

Buried at the end of the report is an interesting survey concerning job satisfaction.
I was quite surprised at the generally high level of job satisfaction and the improvement since the last survey. Here's a screen grab with my very rough translations in red.