Christina Spencer's blog

Today is Doctors’ Day in Ontario: Thank your Doc!

Ontario's doctors treat more than 400,000 people every day and these interactions are the foundation of our health system. Whether at the hospital, the long-term care facility, or the patient's home, doctors work hard to make sure Ontarians get the care they need. To help recognize the important work of Ontario's physicians, Reza Moridi, the Liberal MPP from Richmond Hill, successfully introduced a motion recognizing May 1 as Doctors' Day in Ontario in 2010. The date is symbolic: it's the birth date of Emily Stowe, Canada's first female practicing physician.

Blog category: 

Globe and Mail: When Surgery does more Harm than Good

Adriana Barton -- Despite a health care system burdened by high costs and patients facing long waits for medical procedures, many Canadians are getting unnecessary diagnostic tests and surgeries that may leave them worse off, physicians say.

To Err is Human: What Every Patient Should Know About Medical Errors

On Saturday, April 13th, the Patients' Association and Oakley & Oakley hosted To Err is Human: What Every Patient Should Know About Medical Errors. The purpose of the conference was to shed light on the nature of medical error in Canada, and many participants left feeling like they had gained a lot of information. We were lucky to have the expertise and perspective of speakers from many backgrounds including malpractice law, medical science, and risk management. Many of the speakers were happy to share their presentations; please find them attached below.

Blog category: 

'After the Error' Recounts Positive Changes in the Wake of Medical Mistakes

Charlie Smith -- Working as a B.C. coroner for 10 years, from 1993 to 2003, Susan McIver became well-acquainted with death. Over the phone from her home in Summerland, McIver emphasizes to the Straight that coroners don’t find fault—they merely report the facts. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t troubled by some of their grisly discoveries. “I saw things happen that shouldn’t happen,” she concedes... Read the full article here.

Blog category: 

The Patients’ Association Holds First Ever Conference of Patient and Family Advisers

Yesterday, the first ever meeting of Patient and Family Advisers (PFAs) was held at Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital in Toronto. Patient and Family Advisers from Thunder Bay to Halifax were there to get to know each other and work on issues that they felt strongly about. Everyone there wanted to build a strong national network of advisers in order to bring a helpful patient and family voice to healthcare.

Blog category: 

HealthyDebate: Why Canadian Healthcare Needs a new Kind of Patient Engagement

Modern health care systems emerged in the late 19th Century from the ascendance of scientific medicine. The major killers at the time of Robert Koch and Louis Pasteur were infectious diseases such as anthrax, tuberculosis and typhoid fever.

Find the full article here.

CNN: U.S. Manages Disease, not Health

Andrew Weil -- "... How can we improve medical care so that it's worth extending it to more people? In other words, how can we create a health care system that helps people become and stay healthy? I have argued for years that we do not have a health care system in America. We have a disease-management system."

Read the full article here.