Advocates don't trust N.B. health minister to do fair investigation into mystery illness
CBC
An advocate for New Brunswickers suffering from unexplained neurological symptoms says a letter obtained by CBC News suggests Health Minister Dr. John Dornan wasn't truthful about his role in the removal of a Moncton neurologist from his post at the clinic treating many of the patients.
The letter dated July 4, 2022, shows it was Dornan — then CEO of the Horizon Health Network — who informed Dr. Alier Marrero his participation in the Moncton Interdisciplinary Neurodegenerative Diseases Clinic would soon cease.
"Despite our repeated attempts to inform you of our expectations and the deficiencies in your performance, you have not demonstrated a sustained ability to meet our expectations," Dornan wrote.
Dornan is now overseeing Premier Susan Holt's pre-election pledge as Opposition leader to launch a transparent scientific investigation into the "mystery illness" that Marrero says is making more than 500 people in New Brunswick and six other provinces sick.
The mandate letter Dornan got when he became minister includes "a scientific review into the mystery brain disease."
Advocate Stacie Quigley Cormier of Dalhousie Junction says she asked Dornan during a meeting last month whether he had "any involvement whatsoever" in Marrero's removal from the MIND Clinic at the Moncton Hospital.
"He said unequivocally, 'No,' and he repeated it about three times," she alleged.
Knowing now that Dornan was behind Marrero's removal "raises a lot of concerns" about whether he can lead an objective investigation, Quigley Cormier said.
"We're calling on Premier Holt to step in and to announce publicly that Public Health Agency of Canada is going to take the scientific lead on this because there's a conflict of interest with members around the table that we can't be satisfied with an investigation that is led by them," she said, referring to Dornan and Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Yves Léger.
Holt, Dornan and Léger did not respond to requests for interviews. Nor did Marrero.
It was early 2021 when the public learned that Public Health was monitoring more than 40 New Brunswick patients with symptoms similar to those of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a rare and fatal brain disease. The first case dated back to 2015, according to an internal memo.
Marrero, who sounded the alarm about a possible mystery disease, said at the time it was not considered genetic, based on preliminary data, and could be contracted from water, food or air.
"It most likely is a new disease," Dr. Jennifer Russell, then-chief medical officer of health, told reporters.
The former Higgs government launched an investigation into the cluster of 48 patients, aged 18 to 85, located primarily on the Acadian Peninsula and in the Moncton region. Quigley Cormier's stepdaughter Gabrielle Cormier, 23, was one of the youngest.
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