St. John's class action lawyer Ches Crosbie has outlined the breakdown of the financial settlement involving breast cancer testing mistakes at Eastern Health on his website. (CBC)

A lawyer who represents many of the patients in the multimillion-dollar settlement involving breast cancer testing mistakes in Newfoundland and Labrador has revealed how the money could be paid out.

A $17.5-million settlement was reached at the end of October in the class action lawsuit against Eastern Health, the province's largest health authority.

A notice posted on the website of Ches Crosbie, a class action lawyer in St. John's, says that under the proposed breakdown, patients or their estates would get up to $75,000, pending court approval.

The mistakes, which led to a judicial inquiry that called for massive changes to the way medical laboratories are operated in the province, involved more than 400 cancer patients who received inaccurate results from tests done to determine breast cancer treatment between 1997 and 2005.

The proposed financial breakdown has been approved by more than 300 of the thousands of people who signed on to the suit.

The money payout is broken down into five categories:

• People whose test results changed from negative to positive, did not receive timely hormone therapy and suffered a breast cancer recurrence within 10 years of original diagnosis would get $75,000.
• People whose test results changed from negative to positive, did not receive timely hormone therapy and had stage IV breast cancer at the time of initial testing or had not suffered a breast cancer recurrence would get $15,000.
• People whose test results changed from positive to negative as set out in the settlement and who received hormone therapy would get $10,000.
• People who don't fit in either category but who suffered a psychological injury as defined in the settlement would get $5,000.
• All other class members would get $1,000.

There are no separate payments for family members of people who are involved in the suit.

If a patient has died, the money would go to the estate.

The payout information is currently just a public notice to class members. It needs a judge's approval when it goes back before the courts on Feb. 2.

A judge will also decide how much of the $17.5 million will go to the lawyers involved in the class action suit.

The lawyers expect to receive more than $5.3 million from the settlement.

That's in keeping with a 33 per cent retainer agreement made with people who joined the class action group.

The legal fees have also been approved by more than 300 of the thousands of people in the class action.