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The pain became so disabling that Dr. Allen was forced to sell his dentistry practice in July 2009. In desperation, Dr. Allen underwent surgery at his own expense in December 2009. The surgery was successful, relieving his pain and signalling a return to health. The cost of the surgery was $77,000.

Dr. Allen argued that section 26(2) of the Alberta Health Care Insurance Act, RSA 2000, c A-20 prevented him from obtaining private health care insurance and covering the cost of his surgery. The section in question prohibits insurers from issuing private health care insurance for basic health care already covered under the Alberta Health Care Insurance Plan. It gives the public Plan a monopoly on health care insurance for basic health care services. Dr. Allen argued that this was unconstitutional, infringing his section 7 Charter rights

The chambers judge held that the unconstitutionality of section 26(2) was dependent on whether Dr. Allen could demonstrate that this particular restriction on private health insurance in this specific context offended section 7. In his view, the connection between state-caused effect and the harm suffered by Dr. Allen had not been satisfied. This was because there was no evidence indicating either that the prohibition caused Dr. Allen’s wait time in the Albertan health care system, or that private health care insurance would have been available for this type of surgery anyway.

by Vanessa Milne, Joshua Tepper & Jill Konkin (Show all posts by Vanessa Milne, Joshua Tepper & Jill Konkin) March 24, 2016

It was part of her pledge to wear a hospital gown for one day for Alberta’s Change Day – an initiative that asks health care workers and others to think of one positive change they can make to the system. “When Change Day was introduced, I thought I should look at every strategy through the eyes of my patients,” says Patenaude, a registered nurse and project director with Integrated Quality Management at Alberta Health Services. “To make that more concrete, I made a pledge that I would wear a patient gown to get that sense of vulnerability.”

Practitioners have pledged to remember to introduce themselves to patients or to shadow another doctor for a day, and the public have vowed to walk more or to help prevent bullying. 

North Bay Nugget Sat Apr 2 2016

The president and CEO of the North Bay Regional Health Centre disputes the results of a poll about employee safety released Friday. In a prepared statement, Paul Heinrich said he is "disappointed in the relentless nature of the Canadian Union of Public Employees/Ontario Council of Health Union's efforts to position our organization and our staff negatively." Heinrich said the campaign "is not based on fact and is harmful to our staff and their care of our patients."

The CUPE/OCHU poll indicated that 67 per cent of hospital staff who took part in the Union Calling poll this week do not believe the hospital is doing enough to protect employees from violence in the workplace, and that 72 per cent have experienced physical violence in the past year. Heinrich said the health centre conducts an "organizationwide staff survey" annually, with 75.5 per cent of staff reporting "my organization takes effective action to prevent violence in the workplace," while "73.7 per cent of staff report my workplace is safe."

Toronto Sun Tue Apr 5 2016

Ontario nurses face many of the same dangers and horrors as first responders but are excluded from new legislation designed to strengthen protections for workplace Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, their union says. "Nurses walk into situations, or run into situations, they don't run away from them," Vicki McKenna, of the Ontario Nurses' Association, said Monday. "We have nurses that go into people's homes, we have nurses working on the street, working along with police and paramedic teams."

Bill 163 - to be voted on in the legislature on Tuesday - would deem PTSD a workplace-related illness for paramedics, firefighters and police officers, as well as nurses and officers working in jails.

February 15, 2016 |

Drug diversion – a more polite term for theft of narcotics by hospital employees, nurses, doctors, pharmacists and other health professionals – is the dirty little secret hospital administrators and health leaders prefer not to talk about.

The problem is so pervasive that a new non-profit organization has sprung up in the U.S. to help hospitals outsmart their internal thieves. It’s called the International Health Facility Diversion Association (IHFDA) and its inaugural international conference will take place in Cincinnati, Ohio in September.

The Daily Gleaner (Fredericton) Wed Apr 6 2016

Representatives from the Department of Health and stakeholders across the provincial ambulance service are busy completing the work needed to launch an advanced-care paramedic pilot project, which would finally lift regulations that prevent these highly trained paramedics from using all of their skills in the field.

New Brunswick is the only province in Canada that doesn't use some form of advanced-care paramedic within its pre-hospital emergency system. It has legislation that mandates Ambulance New Brunswick use primary-care paramedics throughout the province. Advanced-care paramedics have completed more training than their primary-care paramedic colleagues, which allows them to administer certain types of medications and perform advanced, potentially life-saving interventions at the scene of an accident or in a patient's home.

The Globe and Mail Thu Apr 7 2016

A majority of Canadians do not want minors or people with mental illnesses and psychiatric conditions to be given access to doctor-assisted dying, a new Nanos Research/Globe and Mail poll has found.

The poll suggests Canadians would prefer that the federal government follow a restrictive path as it decides which patients have the right to end their suffering in a medical setting. While there is no doubt that doctorassisted dying will become legal, there is a continuing debate about exactly who will have access, and under which conditions.

A private company is going to move to B.C. and profit off of our blood unless we stop them now.

Tainted blood infected 30,000 Canadians with HIV and Hepatitis C in the 1980’s during one of the worst preventable health crises of our time.

Mondaq Wed Aug 24 2016,

In Passamaquoddy Lodge v CUPE Local 1763 2016 NBQB 056 the Court of Queen's Bench upheld an original arbitration decision condemning an employer for suspending an employee pending the outcome of a psychiatric evaluation. The Facts

Mr. Lister worked in the maintenance department at a nursing home in St. Andrews, New Brunswick and was represented by CUPE, Local 1763. The employer had become concerned for Mr. Lister's mental stability, contending he was acting "erratic" and "non-predictable". The grievor also had a history of "causing trouble" for the employer and was the object of a police investigation for a non-work related incident.

The Globe and Mail Tue Aug 23 2016

Climate change is the "greatest global health threat of the 21st century," so it is incumbent that physicians take a stand to protect their patients, one of the world's leading human-rights advocates says. "Responding to climate change is not just a scientific or technological issue," James Orbinski, a founding member of both Medecins sans frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) and Dignitas International, told the general council of the Canadian Medical Association in Vancouver on Monday. "It's time for the CMA to step up and step out, to be genuinely courageous on climate change," he said.

Cindy Forbes, president of the CMA, said the message was heard loudly and clearly by physicians. "We heard clearly about the absolutely critical need for action to address the very real and growing effects of climate change," she said. "As a nation and as a planet, we cannot ignore climate change." Dr. Forbes said the CMA has a long-standing concern about the impact of climate change on health both globally and domestically but, given the seriousness of the issue, needs to do more.

PREVENT THE PRIVATIZATION OF NOVA SCOTIA'S HOSPITALS

CMAJ October 18, 2016 vol. 188 no. 15 First published September 19, 2016, doi: 10.1503/cmaj.109-5327

Steve Mertl

It was the British Columbia government’s turn Sept. 12 to rebut a Charter challenge barring doctors from operating both inside and outside the public health care system. However, anyone who came to the BC Supreme Court expecting an impassioned defence of medicare was disappointed. Instead, lawyer Jonathan Penner attacked the legal underpinnings of the case filed by Cambie Surgeries Corp., which operates a Vancouver private clinic, and its co-plaintiffs.

Toronto Star Wed Oct 19 2016

Provincial and territorial health ministers are imploring Ottawa not to diminish its role as a funding partner in health care any further. Ontario Health Minister Eric Hoskins, who co-chaired a meeting of his counterparts from across the country on Tuesday, said funding from Ottawa will be "inadequate" if the federal government proceeds with its plans to cut the annual increase in health transfers next year.

"(It) will result in a declining partnership," he told a news conference at the King Edward Hotel in Toronto. "What we are asking as provinces and territories is that the federal government ... not withdraw further, that we want them to sustain the level of partnership that traditionally has been there," he said. Canadians have seen that partnership "very seriously erode" since medicare was created about a half century ago when the federal government footed half the bill, Hoskins said. Today, Ottawa is paying only 20 per cent of the tab, a share that will decrease further if Ottawa next year cuts the annual increase in the Canada Health Transfer to 3 per cent from 6 per cent.

Winnipeg Free Press Wed Oct 19 2016

OTTAWA - Provinces may get additional money for health care but only for specific initiatives such as home care or mental health, federal Health Minister Jane Philpott signalled at the end of a meeting with her provincial counterparts in Toronto. The tensions from the meeting spilled into the post-event news conference, as provincial ministers talked about federal cuts to health care and Philpott fought back, saying provinces never delivered promised health-care innovations when the 10-year health accord was signed in September 2004. That accord guaranteed six per cent annual increases in health care for a decade, and that formula was extended for two more years. The provinces argue Ottawa's plan to cut the annual increase in health transfers to the provinces from six per cent to three per cent will result in $60 billion less in federal cash going to the provinces over the next 10 years. They call that a "cut" to health care. "We are being asked to do more with less," said Quebec Health Minister Gaétan Barrette.

"All provinces and territories will have to make difficult choices." Philpott disagreed with his assessment. "There will be no cuts," she said. "There will be increases." Canada transferred $36.1 billion to the provinces for health care this year. A six per cent increase next year would be $2.2 billion more. The previous Conservative federal government announced intentions to reduce the increase in health transfers to three per cent, and the Liberals have taken up that plan. Additional funds will be available for health care but in targeted ways, such as for home care or mental health. During the election, the Liberals promised to spend $3 billion on home care over four years, money that has yet to materialize. "Canadians want to see their health-care system get better," said Philpott. Developing a new multi-year health accord with the provinces was the first task assigned to Philpott in her mandate letter in November 2015. Philpott said when the previous accord was signed, it put a lot of money on the table and it was negotiated in good faith by all parties involved that "there would be the changes that needed to take place."