Corner Brook woman refused cancer screening

A Corner Brook woman is speaking out after she was told she couldn't receive breast cancer screening because she doesn't have a family doctor.

Laura Lavers said she couldnt believe what she heard when she showed up for a scheduled mammography exam.

"They told me they can't give me the exam because I didn't have a family doctor," she said.

The policydictates women who don't have a family doctor cant receive a mammogram.

"That's a provincial policy," said Dr Ken Jenkins, a vice president of Western Health.

Lavers says shes in a high-risk group.

"I had just turned 51 and my sister got breast cancer at 51," she said.

This year her family doctor moved away, so when she went for a screening test this year she was turned away and told the results of her exam must be sent to a family doctor who would then give them to her.

As of Tuesday, Western Health has arranged for a doctor to do follow-up so women without afamily doctor can get mammograms.