After a tumultuous 2010 in which St. Joseph鈥檚 Hospital lost its accreditation and was criticized for a restructuring sprung HST-style on stakeholders, 2011 looks like more of the same.

The revelation that a longtime St. Joe鈥檚 radiologist has been added to a provincewide investigation of apparent CT scan misreads has the potential for a full-blown scandal.

Dr. Jose Zanbilowicz has worked at St. Joe鈥檚 for more than 30 years. A health ministry news release said he was 鈥渨ell-respected by his peers,鈥� so any misreading might be recent.

Maybe he鈥檚 just been doing it too long. Maybe St. Joe鈥檚 couldn鈥檛 find a replacement.

We need answers from Dr. Doug Cochrane鈥檚 investigation, ordered after similar problems surfaced with radiologists who worked in Powell River and Abbotsford.

Is it possible patients had CTs misread in Powell River and were referred to Comox, where the same thing happened?

Surviving cancer relies on early detection, so this is literally a life-and-death issue.

As if all this didn鈥檛 put St. Joe鈥檚 in a bad light, a Cumberland woman says she had to press her family doctor for a surgical referral after Zanbilowicz failed in 2008 to detect cancer in a painful ridge in one of her breasts. A biopsy found cancer, but both of her breasts had to be removed.

Imagine Yvonne Kafka鈥檚 emotions when she heard Zanbilowicz was still reading scans at St. Joseph鈥檚 until the hospital suspended him in mid-January due to concerns about the quality of his work.

Hospital officials did not inform the Ministry of Health Services or Vancouver Island Health Authority until last Friday after almost a month of seeking legal and 鈥渞isk-management鈥� advice. VIHA and Health Minister Colin Hansen have criticized St. Joe鈥檚 for not alerting them sooner.

Now they know what we in the Comox Valley already did 鈥� officials at Catholic-run St. Joseph鈥檚 share information grudgingly, perhaps to the detriment of patients.

editor@comoxvalleyrecord.com