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Patients suing the Miramichi Regional Health Authority are looking for damages totalling tens of millions of dollars, their lawyer says.

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A lawsuit seeking damages for 50 people has been filed against the Miramichi Regional Health Authority, operator of the Miramichi Regional Hospital, shown above.

Details of a class action suit were released Tuesday with more than seven of its point-form pages listing exactly how the Miramichi Regional Hospital and its pathology lab failed the public.

"It could be between 6,000 and 8,000 people, could be more, could be less," said Halifax lawyer Raymond Wagner, of the number of patients that could qualify for damages if the lawsuit is successful.

Wagner, who filed the claim with Court of Queen's Bench in Miramichi, said there will be two major groups of patients.

In the first group are people diagnosed as having cancer who later discovered they were cancer-free and people who were told they were cancer-free but subsequently found out that they did have the disease.

"Some may have had treatments they didn't need, and (people with) negative results may not have received treatment in a timely fashion," said Wagner.

The second group is comprised of people who faced the stress of being informed a test administered was under review, but were then told their original test was valid.

"They have suffered a lot of anxiety, uncertainty, stress, both for themselves and their family," said Wagner.

A review of pathologist Dr. Rajgopal Menon's work earlier this year found discrepancies in 18 per cent of the 226 breast and prostate cancer reports. The results sparked a provincial inquiry into what went wrong in the Miramichi pathology lab.

A total of 28 witnesses and 10 members of the public have been heard to date, including Menon himself. The commission resumes its hearings in September.

All of the cases reviewed by Menon over his tenure in Miramichi from 1995 to 2007 are under review.

The results of those tests will determine the numbers of patients involved in the suit. Currently more than 50 people have signed on.

The statement of claim lists 21 different allegations of negligence, one allegation of vicarious liability, three for breach of contract, one for breach of fiduciary duty and one of equitable fraud.

The documents then include a list of damages ranging pain and suffering, mental distress, loss of faith and confidence in pathology, past and future loss of income and cost of care.

None of the allegations have been proven in court.

Wagner said the claim could be worth roughly in the tens of millions of dollars.

"I can't say precisely how much," he said. "There is a lot of people."

Spokespersons for the health authority declined comment Tuesday saying the matter is currently before the court, but the authority's communications co-ordinator did provide an update of the more than 24,000 cases currently under review.

"Reports are coming through and our priority is to make sure that the physician is getting those reports and that it is being communicated back to the patients," said Sonya Green Haché. "We're working now to hopefully give an update in the next few weeks."