My body starts convulsing; my blood pressure continues to drop. I’m exhausted and weak. This is it I think to myself. I’m not going to make it. There’s a call for help and a doctor rushes into the room. Her voice booms orders as she takes control of the situation, “OK guys, ABCs,” she says [...]
I know how difficult it can be for a patient trying to navigate our public health care system in search of access to high quality care or some accountability for the lack thereof. I can only imagine how difficult it must be for the doctors, nurses and other health care providers forced to work within [...]
One of Saskatchewan’s former premiers, Roy Romanow, recently spoke out about the federal government’s plans regarding future health care funding for Canadian provinces. With limits being set on the federal dollars available for health care, provinces will be forced to explore and expand alternatives to government delivery of medical services. Romanow’s staunch defence of a universal, government-run health [...]
One of the dangers of socialized medicine is that population health and minimizing public health care costs always trump what’s best for individual patients. As part of its harm reduction program the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority is now handing out crack pipe kits to drug addicts in Vancouver. This is in addition to funding and operating a supervised [...]
An editorial on Parking-centred health care recently appeared in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. Dr. Rajendra Kale, a neurologist in Ottawa, shares his views about the unfairness of patients having to pay for parking while at the hospital. He believes that parking fees are a barrier to health care and can interfere with the quality [...]
Charles Cruden volunteers much of his time to advocating on issues of concern to seniors. He’s deeply concerned about the sustainability of the Canadian health care system. Over the last few years he’s dedicated many hours to compiling publicly available information on administrative costs within his health region in Manitoba. With nearly thirty years of [...]
Sisters Leslie Worthington and Val Lee had many questions surrounding the medical care their father John received prior to his death. The search for answers would lead their family through a bureaucratic maze, one that is replicated throughout the Canadian health care system. In today’s video clips Leslie Worthington and Val Lee talk about the bureaucracy of regional health authorities in the Canadian health [...]
When it comes to issues of patient safety, Alice Little isn’t afraid to ask tough questions. She’s determined to “fight on for others caught in an increasingly strange web where the Patient, for whom the system exists, counts least of all.” In today’s video clip Alice Little talks about transparency and accountability in Canadian health care. You can [...]
Patient safety advocates Mimi Raglan and Blake Taylor know firsthand the importance of being able to access the personal health information of a loved one. They started advocating for changes to their provincial legislation following the death of Mimi’s mother Frances. In today’s video clips Mimi and her husband Blake talk about improvements made to [...]
Canadian Patient Safety Week starts today and I thought it would be a good time to share videos about patient safety issues in our health care system. I don’t mean the usual wash your hands message directed at our health care providers. What I mean is straight talk about some of the underlying problems in [...]