Ian Stedman always wore long sleeves and pants to hide his rash. As a child, he didn’t go swimming with other kids. He’d miss a few days of school each month because of severe joint pain and headaches. He spent his childhood and early adult life “bouncing around from doctor to doctor.” No one knew …
Early last month, the Ontario government announced its intention to go forward with an expanded plan to fund in vitro fertilization (IVF) in the province. While Ontario has long funded three cycles of IVF for women with double blocked fallopian tubes, the new program, set to begin in December 2015, will enable all women in …
This summer, record numbers of forest fires in Western Canada made air pollution impossible to ignore. Eerie photos of the smoky skies of Vancouver made the news – then disappeared after the air cleared. But the threat remains. Air pollution contributes to asthma, COPD and cardiovascular disease. And high background levels are often more harmful than …
For the third time in three years, the Ontario government has moved to unilaterally cut the fees it pays to Ontario physicians. In response, Ontario doctors have taken to the social media airwaves, engaging in a Facebook and Twitter campaign opposing the cuts and attempting to convey that cuts to physician compensation will lead to …
It’s a question that’s been weighing on the minds of health care managers in Canada and many countries around the world: how will society meet the home and community care needs of an aging population? In trying to answer this question, it can be instructive to look at models around the world, and one that’s received …
Over the past two decades, delivery of inpatient care at acute care institutions has changed dramatically in Canada, with fewer family doctors following their patients in hospitals and the emergence of a growing number of hospitalists. Despite this growth, there is no uniform understanding of who hospitalists are, what they do and what types of …
In her 20s, Nancy Fornasiero’s dentist told her that her wisdom teeth should come out. They were impacted, which means they were stuck below the gums because they didn’t have enough room. She was warned that the teeth were more prone to decay and infection than other teeth, and that they should be removed before …
Serious mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, have a profound impact on the lives of the people affected by them. About 1% of the Canadian population has schizophrenia and 1% suffers from bipolar disorder, according to the Canadian Mental Health Association. People with major mental illnesses also have higher rates of other acute …
As questions mount regarding what legislation the federal government will enact around doctor-assisted suicide, one end-of-life medical practice receives little public attention. It’s called Continuous Palliative Sedation Therapy (CPST). Formerly known as “terminal sedation,” the therapy is used when all other attempts to relieve a patient’s excessive suffering have failed, and the only option is to …
The Ontario Nurses Association (ONA) recently won an arbitration against Sault Area Hospital striking down their ‘vaccinate-or-mask’ policy. The arbitrator Jim Hayes found the policy was unreasonable, and a “coercive” tool to force heath-care workers to get a flu shot. While this decision is only binding to Sault Area Hospital, many hospitals across Ontario will …
Genetically modified foods have been met with consumer backlash since they were first introduced in the 1990s. Recently, however, calls for non-genetically engineered options have gotten even louder. In April, Major North American fast food chain Chipotle announced it would endeavor to provide non-genetically engineered menu options (which is, albeit, not 100% possible). This past …