Federal health officials weren't aware N.B. mystery cluster autopsy findings were made public
CBC
The Public Health Agency of Canada says it didn't know an Ottawa neuropathologist working for the department had published autopsy findings online, concluding eight people who were thought to have a mystery neurological illness did not die from something new and unknown.
The federal agency "did not approve the use of the data obtained from the autopsies for this purpose," a spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
Dr. Gerard Jansen had been contracted by the federal health agency to do the work.
Both the agency and Jansen declined interview requests.
The information was published in an abstract from Jansen, which was posted on the Canadian Association of Neuropathologists' website this month. CBC News hasn't seen the full body of research.
The abstract says the patients died from known diseases, such as cancer, Lewy body dementia and Alzheimer's disease.
Provincial health authorities first raised alarm bells about the cluster of patients with an unknown neurological illness earlier this year.
But now public health officials are questioning the validity of the idea of a mystery illness, after referencing the autopsy results on Wednesday. An epidemiological study released on Wednesday didn't find any significant links between members of the cluster.
"To date, there has been no evidence of unknown syndromes identified in the autopsy reports," said Dr. Susan Brien, who is a Horizon Health executive and co-chair of the government committee investigating whether members of the 48-person cluster have an unknown neurological illness.
That the findings were posted online was also news to New Brunswick Health Minister Dorothy Shephard, who said on Wednesday that health officials found the information "by accident."
Dr. Alier Marrero, who has treated almost all the patients who make up the cluster, also told Radio-Canada that he was surprised to see the findings shared online.
"I was also a bit surprised to see there was a communication on our patients' pathology without consulting me or other doctors involved," Marrero said earlier this week.
Some family members of patients who are part of the cluster have also questioned why they did not know about the findings before they were made public.
When asked why results weren't given to families sooner, Brien suggested on Wednesday that Marrero should have done that.
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WARNING: This story contains disturbing details about gruesome deaths and sexual abuse.