Good Book
The Ethical Canary: Science, Society and the Human Spirit ...As society continues to scientifically and technologically advance, many questions begin to arise of a moral and ethical scope. In The Ethical Canary: Science, Society and the Human Spirit, leading international authority on medicine, ethics and law, Margaret Somerville, presents a challenging examination of the various ethical concerns human society is currently facing at the dawn of the 21st century. Addressing everything from cloning to genetically modified foods, the mapping of a human chromosome and the use of animal organs for human transplants, this highly anticipated volume illuminates some of the most controversial and pressing issues of our time. "The book will bring Margo as many enemies as friends!"
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BOUCHARD & Québec & Jean Charest, the Fedreal Gov.
or Langue & Separatistism, then City Mergers or Media , Legal , Markets Money , Oil, SCI-TECH, CHART NT Nortel, T-BBD_B
http://www.popularpower.com medical research & Dr. Roper-Letter or his menu
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Thu 8/2/01 6:57 AM Premiers defiant on health cash
By: NICOLAS VAN PRAET
Provincial premiers yesterday vowed to push the federal government into ceding more cash for health care, despite warnings by some economists that it wouldn't be prudent for Ottawa to dish out the money.
Federal Finance Minister Paul Martin and Health Minister Allan Rock both insisted that there is no magical money to be had.
cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2001/08/01/rock010801
Wed 8/1/01 7:00 PM ROCK ANNOUNCES MORE MONEY FOR PRIMARY CARE
Federal Health Minister Allan Rock has announced a four-year $240
million effort to encourage innovation in primary health care.
cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2001/08/01/rock010801
Wed 8/1/01 6:57 AM Drug approval is going to pot
Last fall, Grant Krieger of Calgary went to court to fight a charge of cultivating marijuana. He told the judge that pot alleviated his symptoms of multiple sclerosis. Judge Darlene Acton was sympathetic, and then some. She threw out the charge, said it violated Krieger's security rights under the federal Charter of Rights and Freedoms and gave Parliament 12 months to amend drug legislation so that sick people could get medicinal cannabis.
It's because of the Acton judgment and others like it since 1997 that Canada this week has become the first country in the world to allow people to possess marijuana for medicinal purposes. The new regulations, which took effect Monday, allow sick and dying people to take marijuana for pain or symptom relief, provided they can get one doctor (in some cases, two are required) to prescribe it after attesting that other remedies have been ineffective.
Tuesday, July 31, 2001
QUEBEC DOCTORS NOT KEEN ON MARIJUANA
Quebec doctors say they will not prescribe marijuana.
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18/Jul/2001 1 CP's tab for MUHC cleanup: $10 million
By: JANE DAVENPORT
Canadian Pacific Railway Co.'s contribution to the decontamination of the new McGill University Health Centre hospital site consists in agreeing to sell the land for $10 million less than the property's market value, an MUHC official said this week.
"If the land has an evaluation of $28 million and you agree to take $18 million because it needs to be cleaned up, that means you leave $10 million (in the buyer's pocket) to clean up -?so they've made a contribution," said Dr. Nicholas Steinmetz, the MUHC's planning director.
Sun 7/15/01 Cleanup estimate for MUHC site is months away
By: JANE DAVENPORT
It could be months before Quebecers know exactly how much it will cost to decontaminate the site for the new McGill University Health Centre, local government officials say.
"We know the site is contaminated, but there is a raft of studies to be done before we understand the extent of the contamination," said Daniel Leblanc, Montreal regional director of the Quebec Environment Department.
Jul 12 2001 McGill superhospital to cost millions more
MONTREAL - The building of the McGill super hospital in west end Montreal will end up costing millions of dollars extra, according to an article in La Presse.
The land slated for the hospital is the Glen Rail Yards, where Canadian Pacific parks suburban trains. As a result, the Metropolitan Transport Agency will have to spend millions to move those trains.
Officials say four or five trains could be parked at Windsor station, but even then it would be necessary to install additional facilities at a cost of $2 million. Other trains could be stored at the Côte St. Luc yards. But that solution would require an underpass to be built at a cost of $10 million.
Thu 7/12/01 6:58 AM Problems with hospital site
When the planners of the McGill University Hospital Centre's proposed $1.2-billion superhospital are asked why they chose to buy a 17-hectare piece of property in the Glen Yards on which to build the new hospital, they cite convenience of public transit.
The Glen Yards is near Vendome metro station and the West Island commuter train. Plus, the land is flat and the air quality is good. That's the upside.
Sat 7/7/01 5:43 PM SUPERHOSPITAL LAND DEAL OKAYED
A new superhospital in the old Glen railway yards is now a sure thing.
montreal.cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?/news/2001/07/07/superhospital010707
14/Jun/2001 SUPREME COURT OF CANADA TO HEAR MOUSE PATENTING CASE
Canada's top court has granted an application to hear arguments on
whether a genetically-modified mouse can be patented.
cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2001/06/14/scoc_harvardmouse010614
14/Jun/2001 TINY ROTATING SCREW COULD HELP DESTROY TUMOURS
Inventors have designed tiny, spinning screws that could drill into
tumours and kill them. cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2001/06/14/tumour_screw010614
MUHC HOSPITAL PROJECT Wednesday Night Salon # 1002
May 16th, 2001 Dr. Mark Roper said the new MUHC hospital project was an exciting project. However, given its location in the Glen yards there is a problem with noise from the nearby freeway and train tracks. His recent op-ed piece in the Gazette urges that the authorities assess the need and set the parameters for the new facility. Among the items of concern is the ratio of beds per 1,000 head of population. This was 2.5/1,000 in 1995 and has been decreased to 2.2/1,000. With a population of some 2.9 million, this implies a need for some 8,000 acute care beds, while the Régie argues that 6,000 should be sufficient. Part of the discussion is the ratio of chronic care beds versus long term care beds. The new MUHC hospital has proposed space for 900 beds. An added problem is the aging of the population with the number of people over 65 expected to double by 2020. Emergency Rooms are still overloaded. One guest described a case where a person spent 5 days in ER and only one day in a ward before being discharged. Wed1002
Fri 6/8/01 8:00 PM HOSPITALS WASTING MONEY: AUDITOR GENERAL
Quebec's Auditor General says hospitals in the province are squandering
money because of poor financial management.
montreal.cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?/news/2001/06/08/quehosp010608
Thu 6/7/01 7:29 AM We're gagged: health groups
By: LIANNE ELLIOTT
Members of a coalition of 35 Quebec health-care organizations wore black gags to a downtown press conference yesterday to symbolize their treatment by the provincial government.
The gags, the Coalition Solidarite Sante said, illustrate the Health Department's refusal to hear its opinions on Bill 28, the draft law that would give the government direct control of health and social services boards.
Wed 6/6/01 8:00 PM
MINISTER HAS "ABANDONED DEMOCRACY": HEALTH WORKERS
A coalition of health workers and unions says Health Minister Rémy
Trudel has abandoned democracy.
montreal.cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?/news/2001/06/06/trudel010606
STOP BILL 28!
>
> The Quebec government is trying to ram legislation called Bill 28 through
> the National Assembly. They want to take control of our health and social
> service institutions away from community-based representatives and give it
> to government appointees.
>
> Say no to Premier Landry and to his Health and Social Services Minister,
> Rémy Trudel. Register your opposition at:
>
www.muhc.mcgill.ca/bill28
--
MML
Sat 6/9/01 8:59 AM Get a grip on health care
At a time when Quebec's health-care system needs every cent it can get its hands on, its teaching hospitals are wasting money subsidizing pharmaceutical companies, blissfully unaware of who is using what in their research labs. Quebec's auditor-general, Guy Breton, reported this week that the money saved by not subsidizing private industry could be spent replacing X-ray machines so old they are a threat to patient health and safety.
In his survey of hospital imaging equipment - for X-rays, mammographies and MRIs - Mr. Breton found that a large number of them are dangerously out of date. A quarter of ultrasound machines are obsolete; about 40 X-ray machines still in use in the province's hospitals are more than 25 years old. This means that not only do patients risk being exposed to high levels of radiation, but the images that are taken are not of good quality and lesions may be missed.
Wed 6/6/01 6:59 AM United against reform
By: ALLISON HANES
Crammed shoulder to shoulder around a table that stretched around a large room, hospital administrators, social-service workers, volunteers and community leaders vowed yesterday to fight together against radical reforms to Quebec's health governing boards.
Borrowing a slogan from municipal-merger foes, opponents of Bill 28 from more than 40 health institutions and community groups turned out in force to send the province a stark message: "Hands off our boards," read the black-and-white signs posted in the room.
Sat 6/2/01 8:00 PM CLONING BEING DISCUSSED IN QUEBEC
About 30 scientists and politicians from the countries of the G8 are
meeting in Montmagny near Quebec City. They're on hand to discuss such
contentious issues as cloning and the human genome.
montreal.cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?/news/2001/06/01/cloning010601
Sat 5/26/01 8:00 PM $35 MILLION DEFICIT AT MUHC
The McGill University Health Centre is carrying the largest deficit of
any hospital network in the province. It has surpassed its budget by
nearly $35 million. montreal.cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?/news/2001/05/26/muhc010526
Sat 5/26/01 8:29 AM Hospital centre overshoots budget
By: AARON DERFEL
The McGill University Health Centre has exceeded its budget by almost $35 million - the largest deficit of any hospital network in the province.
That has MUHC administrators fearing a crackdown by the provincial government, which last year adopted an anti-deficit law for hospitals. Under the law, hospitals that post deficits risk being placed under virtual trusteeship by the Health Department, raising concerns that some medical services might be cut to balance the books.
see W-N on MUHC
Wed 5/16/01 6:59 AM More control over health care
By: NICOLAS VAN PRAET
The provincial government would tighten its control over health care by giving more power to regional health boards under measures proposed yesterday by Health Minister Remy Trudel.
In practice, the minister's changes, tabled as a bill in the National Assembly, give regional health boards the power to say which doctors and dentists can work in specific hospitals. That power now lies with the boards of individual health centres.
Tue 5/1/01 7:00 AM Health cards coming
By: KEVIN DOUGHERTY
By 2004, 80 per cent of Quebecers will have smart medicare cards, similar to the familiar sunset cards now in use, except for a gold-coloured computer chip embedded in the card.
The chip, or microprocessor, will contain a patient's medical records, information that can be made available to doctors and other medical personnel, hospitals and pharmacists. see MedicalNotes Card
April 2001
Tue 4/17/01 7:00 AM Existing hospitals could still do the job
When the McGill University Health Centre announced its intention to hold public hearings on the reuse of the existing five hospitals that would be vacated following the construction of a new facility on the Glen Yards site, architects, planners and other concerned professionals felt that this inquiry was too restrictive, that there would be no discussion of the reuse of these buildings without an examination of the decision to close these major institutions.
While expressing their reservation about the commission's mandate, several presenters offered thoughtful suggestions for reuse of the vacated hospitals. Overwhelmingly, these favoured retaining them for health-care services, including geriatric care, a gerontological institute, post-acute care and care for those suffering from dementia.
Thu 4/5/01 8:31 AM Dr. Romanow's checkup
The choice of former Saskatchewan premier Roy Romanow to review the country's health-care system is a good one. Mr. Romanow, named yesterday by Prime Minister Chretien to head a royal commission on the issue, is thoughtful, experienced in federal-provincial battles and respected across the country. As premier of Saskatchewan, he brought fresh, new approaches to health-care problems.
The trouble with his appointment, however, is the limited mandate it carries. Will Mr. Romanow be encouraged by Ottawa to put all the options on the table and examine every potential solution to our health-care troubles? Or will he be a prisoner of the past, held hostage by old ideologies and beliefs?
Thu 4/5/01 8:31 AM One-man health probe gets booed
By: ELIZABETH THOMPSON and KEVIN DOUGHERTY
Former Saskatchewan premier Roy Romanow said he will circumvent the Quebec government, if need be, and take his one-man commission of inquiry into Canada's health-care system directly to Quebecers.
Speaking to reporters after being named yesterday, Romanow said he would prefer to work with the Quebec government to find solutions for improving health care across Canada. However, he made it clear that he will go ahead with or without the Quebec government.
Wed 4/4/01 7:00 PM ROMANOW TO HEAD INQUIRY INTO HEALTH CARE
Former Saskatchewan Premier Roy Romanow will lead a Royal Commission
into what's wrong with Canada's health care system - the second
major look at what's ailing medicare since the federal Liberals took
power. cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2001/04/04/romanow_health010404
Wed 4/4/01 8:00 PM HEALTH COMMISSION WILL ACCOMPLISH NOTHING: LANDRY
Quebec Premier Bernard Landry says the commission appointed by Prime
Minister Jean Chrétien to study health care in Canada will accomplish
nothing.
montreal.cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?/news/2001/04/04/quehealth010404
Tue 4/3/01 8:00 PM SUPER HOSPITAL GETS $37-MILLION GRANT
Quebec Premier Bernard Landry's cabinet has approved a $37-million grant
to the McGill University Health Centre.
montreal.cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?/news/2001/04/03/muhc010403
Tue 4/3/01 11:01 AM Quebec okays grant for superhospital
By: AARON DERFEL
There are no construction cranes on the horizon yet, but the $1.2-billion superhospital has just taken a step closer to becoming a reality in the west end.
Quebec Premier Bernard Landry's cabinet has approved a $37-million grant for the project by the McGill University Health Centre. That still leaves the MUHC to raise more than a billion dollars in government and private funding, but officials nonetheless were overjoyed that Quebec is beginning to pony up cash after months of restrained enthusiasm.
News: cbc.ca/search/
March 2001
Thu 3/29/01 8:49 AM 210 acres of prime real estate
By: MARY LAMEY
Canadian National Railway Co.'s decision to abandon its intermodal operations at the Turcot Yards means that 9 million square feet of prime industrial real estate will hit the Montreal market by yearend.
That could be a blessing or a curse, depending on how the sale is conducted.
Thu 3/29/01 8:49 AM CN switches yards
By: SHEILA McGOVERN Canadian National Railway Co. is closing its Turcot Yards and transferring all intermodal traffic to its Taschereau Yards, which stretch through Lachine and St. Laurent.
Starting this month, CN will spend $41 million to consolidate the operations and build a new state-of-the-art terminal at Taschereau. By the end of the year, the Turcot Yards, in operation since 1963, will be on the auction block.
Thu 3/29/01 8:49 AM Superhospital is slammed
By: AARON DERFEL
Supporters of the McGill University Health Centre's $1.2-billion superhospital faced a tough audience last night as they extolled the merits of the project.
Nearly every person who asked questions was critical of the proposed superhospital, and many raised concerns about plans to cut the number of beds.
Mon 3/26/01 7:00 PM A LITTLE ENGINEERING COULD IMPROVE YOUR HEARING
British scientists predict in the next five years, researchers will be
able to engineer and replace damaged cells in the ears of deaf people -
helping them to hear again.
cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2001/03/26/ear_cells010326
Mon 3/26/01 7:00 PM TAILORING CANCER TREATMENTS, USING GENETIC CODE
The prospect of personalizing cancer treatment according to genetic
profiles is creating a buzz of excitement at a conference in New Orleans
this week.
cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2001/03/25/cancer010325
Wed 3/21/01 10:02 AM Superhospital super safe: Planner
By: AARON DERFEL
A fungus outbreak of the kind that struck the Royal Victoria Hospital's operating rooms would be far less likely to occur in the proposed super- hospital, the project's chief planner said yesterday.
A modern facility with the latest ventilation systems would provide a much better defence against the aspergillus fungus that appears to have infected two patients, Dr. Nicolas Steinmetz said in an interview.
Tue 3/20/01 1:33 PM Fewer beds, more concern
In recent weeks, The Gazette's Comment page has published several Montreal doctors' critiques of the proposed McGill University Health Centre. These separate analyses have all raised the same question: will the MUHC's planned superhospital have enough beds for patients?
The issue is serious. Jammed into corridor cots, patients already have too few regular beds. And the new scheme would provide even fewer.
Mon 3/19/01 8:00 PM WOMEN DEMONSTRATE FOR MORE MONEY
About 100 women demonstrated in front of the Montreal office of Health
Minister Rémy Trudel on Monday morning.
montreal.cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2001/03/19/healthcentres010319
Fri 3/2/01 7:02 AM Quebec told to face medical errors
By: ELIZABETH THOMPSON
Quebec has to do more to reduce the number of avoidable medical errors being committed by health professionals across the province, a government committee recommended yesterday.
However, after nearly a year of study and scrutinizing every available source of information, the committee said it is impossible to know just how many medical errors are being made in Quebec.
[If these guys have an I.Q. above room temp. we will have to ware an overcoat! DTN]
Fri 3/2/01 7:02 AM Hospitals get major injection
By: ALLISON HANES
From dialysis machines to cardiac defibrillators, Montreal's hospitals learned yesterday they are getting $35 million from the Quebec government to replace aging medical equipment and keep up with advancements in technology.
Each hospital will receive items they listed as their top priority on wish lists submitted to the Health Department.
Thu 3/1/01 8:00 PM
HOSPITALS NEED $600 MILLION MORE TO KEEP UP: ASSOCIATION
The Quebec Hospital Association says it needs $600 million more in the
upcoming 2001-2002 provincial budget than it received this year.
montreal.cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2001/03/01/hospmoney010301
Thu 3/1/01 8:00 PM
NEW MONEY FOR HOSPITAL EQUIPMENT
The provincial health ministry is spending more than $35 million to
replace equipment in Montreal hospitals. The money will be used to buy
high-tech medical equipment.
montreal.cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2001/03/01/hospitalsmoney010301
Febuary 2001
Wed 3/7/01 7:02 AM Beds for baby-boomers
By: STEVEN A. GROVER
I read the thoughtful commentary by Allan Sniderman, where he analyzed the plans for the new MUHC superhospital and concluded that it might be a supermistake.
Sniderman's analysis was critical and balanced, reflecting his long experience as a physician and McGill professor. Perhaps more important, his comments recognized that physicians, nurses, hospital staff and administrators share one common reality with the public - we all one day will be patients. Accordingly, if the new superhospital turns out to be less than promised, we will all suffer the consequences.
Sat 2/24/01 8:32 AM Flu, etiquette work hand in glove
By: JOSH FREED
Cough, cough. Sniffle, sniffle. Pass the echinacea, please. Like many of you, I've been sick all week, sucking on Sinutabs, swallowing fistfuls of Aspirins and fighting the grippe that grips Montreal every February.
The worst part is that I could have avoided it.
Thu 2/22/01 7:00 PM CANADIANS WORRIED ABOUT STATE OF HEALTH CARE: STUDY
A new survey by the Conference Board of Canada shows a majority of
Canadians believe their health care system is deteriorating. The board
looked at Canadians' values and attitudes towards health care over the
last decade.
cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2001/02/21/health_study010221
Thu 2/22/01 8:00 PM
GOVERNMENT TABLING LEGISLATION TO HALT PHARMACISTS
The National Assembly is sitting in an emergency session to pass
legislation that will keep the province's drug insurance plan
functioning.
Thu 2/15/01 6:53 AM EMERGENCY ROOMS OVERCROWDED AGAIN
Some hospital emergency rooms in the Montreal area are badly
overcrowded.
Thu 2/15/01 6:53 AM A question of dignity
(The following article was adapted from a letter to Premier Lucien Bouchard from Claude R. Beauvais, chairman of the Regroupement des CHSLD in the Montreal region. It was signed by the chairmen of 31 Montreal-area CHSLDs, or long-ter-m care centres.)
We are deeply concerned about the living conditions endured by the 14,000 elderly people in Montreal-area CHSLDs due to a lack of financial resources.
13/Feb/2001 Humbled by the genome
Before two rival teams of researchers published their versions of the human genome yesterday, scientists were expecting the number of genes to be in the hundreds of thousands. Surely, if the fruit fly has 13,000 genes and the roundworm has 19,000, then the human brain alone would need 100,000 genes to allow it to perform its hugely complex operations.
But in fact, the number of genes in a human being is estimated to be between 26,000 and 40,000. Further eroding our notion of ourselves as a higher life form comes the finding that very few traits or diseases are caused by a single gene. Ninety-eight per cent of human genes are shared by chimpanzees and a dog is 85-per-cent identical to a human in terms of genetic sequence.
Sun Feb 11 00:09:18 2001 SCIENTISTS PUBLISH FINDINGS OF HUMAN GENOME PROJECT
The race to be the first to map the entire sequence of the human genetic
code is over, and it appears to be a tie.
cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2001/02/11/human_genome010211 [good read]
9/Feb/2001 PUSHING THE LOVE BUTTON
Scientists have discovered how to create orgasms in women at the touch
of a button.
cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2001/02/09/button_orgasm010209
6/Feb/2001 HEALTH CUTS DESIGNED TO SAVE $560 MILLION
The government plans to get rid of some free health services to save
money, according to newspaper La Presse.
montreal.cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2001/02/06/healthcuts010206
4/Feb/2001 Family doctors are the key
By: NICOLAS STEINMETZ
The recommendations of the Clair Commission are not revolutionary. They build upon a sound base. Mostly they are realistic and concrete and they make sense.
With some exceptions - not many - reaction to the commission's report on health- care reform has been positive. It's hard to argue with a report that, throughout several hundred pages, puts the patient at the centre of our health-care system. That's basic common sense. What's needed is better organization - team effort and tighter management - to achieve greater integration and efficiency in health and social services. Therein lies the primary conclusion of the work accomplished by the commissioners.
1/Feb/2001 MS PATIENTS DON'T FACE RISK WITH VACCINATION: MCGILL STUDY
A new study indicates that people with multiple sclerosis can safely get
vaccinations against hepatitis B and other possible infections. For
decades, doctors have been concerned that these shots could worsen MS.
1/Feb/2001 DOCTORS AGREE WITH CLAIR REPORT
The federation of general practitioners says the recommendations of the
Clair report would improve the health care system and help boost morale
among GPs.
January 2001
26/Jan/2001 Good year for BioChem
By: SHEILA McGOVERN
Core earnings at BioChem Pharma Inc. jumped 66 per cent in the last quarter of 2000 as sales of its much-touted hepatitis drug finally took off.
For the whole year, core earnings were up 41 per cent, to $107.4 million from $76.4 million.
26/Jan/2001 Pharmacists threaten boycott
By: AARON DERFEL
Thousands of low-income Quebecers will be forced to pay hundreds of dollars up front for their prescriptions if the province's pharmacists carry out their threat to boycott the public drug-insurance plan.
The pharmacists say they'll resort to the pressure tactic in 30 days, hoping to jump-start stalled talks with the government. They want fee hikes amounting to an additional $140 million.
25/Jan/2001 CANADA'S MEDICARE CRISIS A MYTH: REPORT
"Enemies" of Canada's health care system are exaggerating its problems
to try to push the country into accepting more private medical services,
according to a report published Thursday.
25/Jan/2001 TOO MANY ANTIBIOTICS MEAN TOUGHER BACTERIA
Many doctors and pharmacists are warning overuse of antibiotics is
helping to spawn a new generation of drug-resistant bacteria.
montreal.cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2001/01/24/antibiotics010124
English health care is essential
By: ANTHONY HOUSEFATHER Freelance Reports that health professionals refuse to communicate in the language of the patient, despite being capable of doing so, should be treated seriously.
Alliance Quebec has recently received an increasing number of complaints from various regions of the province that health-care workers are not making an adequate effort to treat patients in English. This is especially worrisome given the Missisquoi Institute's preliminary report on the omnibus survey of English-speaking communities, which found that access to English-language health and social services was rated as the issue of primary importance for those communities.
22/Jan/2001 : Lakeshore ER swamped
By: CHARLIE FIDELMAN
Overcrowding and staff shortages at the Lakeshore General Hospital had officials diverting ambulances to other institutions yesterday.
With an occupancy rate of 150 per cent, Lakeshore forged a temporary arrangement with Centre Hospitalier de Lachine to accept "some ambulances" since mid-morning, said Dr. Jacques Nadeau, Lakeshore's chief of emergency.
20/Jan/2001 Private health care - for free
By: JEFF HEINRICH
Quebec patients would no longer have to pay for minor surgery or diagnostics like ultrasound and MRI scans in private medical clinics, if negotiations between doctors and regional health authorities succeed.
Following Alberta's lead, the talks to eliminate a "gray zone" of medical practice in the province were spurred by this week's Clair Commission report on Quebec health-care reform.
19/Jan/2001 MIXED REACTION TO CLAIR REPORT
Most health professionals are reacting favourably to the Clair report,
saying it highlights problems in all aspects of the health-care system.
But many groups still have concerns about how the recommendations will
be implemented.
18/Jan/2001 Prescription is no cure
If the signs weren't obvious already, Quebec's health-care system is in danger of hitting the wall. The explosion of medical costs could make a publicly financed system unsustainable within 10 years. An aging population, along with the spread of cancer, heart disease, strokes and other conditions, has already put immense pressure on the system. This will only increase as the cost of new technologies and pharmaceuticals rises.
A commission headed by former Quebec cabinet minister Michel Clair yesterday outlined the issues in stark arithmetic. Health costs are growing faster than the economy. With current trends, Quebec will spend half its operating budget on health and social services by 2010, up from 30 per cent in 1985. This will occur in a province with a tax load 20 per cent higher than the rest of the country, and with a debt load that is 51 per cent of its gross domestic product (compared with 29 per cent in Ontario and 13 per cent in Alberta).
18/Jan/2001 How do we pay for it?
By: SEAN GORDON
Health care is just too expensive, so the province is going to need help paying for it, says a newly released report.
During its deliberations, members of the Clair Commission pulled out their fiscal divining rods and identified a plethora of possible solutions aimed at rooting out new sources of funds for Quebec's increasingly expensive health network.
17/Jan/2001 Health is top anglo concern
By: SUE MONTGOMERY
Receiving health and social services in English is the top concern of anglophones in Quebec, while the language of signs is their least concern, a CROP poll indicates.
A very high percentage - 72 per cent, compared with 47 per cent of francophones - said they would turn to family members for aid in case of illness.
11/Jan/2001 MRI CLINIC OPENS ON PARLIAMENT'S DOORSTEP
If the federal government plans to pick a fight over private MRI
clinics, it won't have to look far for a target. A new clinic has opened
up on Parliament's doorstep, in Hull, Que. cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2001/01/10/mri_clinic010110
11/Jan/2001 The Montrealer who saved Merck
By: GARDINER HARRIS Wall Street Journal
For 15 years, Edward Scolnick, head of Merck & Co.'s drug research, knew the company would be facing a crisis about now. For much of that time, he secretly feared that Merck might not survive as an independent company.
"I had some doubts that I didn't share with anybody," Scolnick said.
9/Jan/2001 ER overcrowding begins to ease
By: IRWIN BLOCK The Gazette
Bursting at the seams was more than a cliche at one of Montreal's busiest hospitals yesterday.
With 109 patients using every square metre of its emergency-room corridors and all 34 stretchers, Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital officials appealed to ambulatory patients yesterday to stop coming because overcrowding had become "dangerous."
9/Jan/2001 Hospital proposal hits snag
By: AARON DERFEL The Gazette
A plan to relocate the Shriners Hospital for Children from its home on Mount
Royal to the west-end Glen Yards is bogged down in a dispute over
decontamination of polluted land.
The Shriners want to build a $100-million hospital on the site of the old
railway yards, straddling Westmount and Notre Dame de Grace. The Shriners
facility would be erected next to the proposed superhospital of the McGill
University Health Centre.
8/Jan/2001 ALZHEIMER'S NUMBERS ONLY GETTING WORSE: EXPERT
The Alzheimer's Association says there is a serious lack of resources in
Quebec to treat the disease. montreal.cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2001/01/08/alzheimers010108
7/Jan/2001 Taxpayers to shell out for girl's implants
By: CATHERINE SOLYOM
Quebec taxpayers will get the bill for a 15-year-old's breast implants after the girl's psychiatrist deemed them necessary for her mental health.
The provincial health-insurance board originally denied the parents' request for reimbursement because the surgery - done in a private clinic, at an estimated cost of $5,000 - was considered purely cosmetic. But the board changed its mind when the parents returned, armed with a note from their daughter's psychiatrist.
4/Jan/2001 Canada Health Act is pie in the sky
By: CHARLES W. MOORE Freelance
In his televised yearend conversation with CTV's Lloyd Robertson and Craig Oliver, Prime Minister Jean Chretien reaffirmed his determination to maintain nominal single-tier health-care delivery in Canada. He referred to the five points of the Canada Health Act in reverential tones, as if they had been handed down by the Almighty on stone tablets (as opposed to being the legislative legacy of leftist activist Trudeau cabinet minister Monique Begin). Chretien pointed out none of the country's other significant political parties are willing to advocate abandonment of the single-tier sacred cow, either, referring in particular to that moment during the party leaders' debate on Nov. 9 when Stockwell Day bitterly disappointed many of his supporters by holding up a hand-lettered placard reading "No two-tier health care."
However, according to a yearend poll, conducted by Maclean's magazine and Global Television, both Chretien and Day, as well as the other federal politicos, are out of step with a majority of Canadians on this issue, 54 per cent of whom affirmed they would accept user fees as a way of addressing spiraling health-care costs; a near-majority of respondents - 47 per cent - said they would accept a private system operating in tandem with the socialized system as a solution to the nation's health-care crisis.
Wed 1/3/01 7:00 PM SASKATOON RESEARCHERS ADVOCATE ANNIHILATING BACTERIA
Researchers in Saskatoon say doctors should be more aggressive in using
antibiotics to fight infections. That way, they say drug-resistance can
be prevented. cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2001/01/03/superbugs010103
4/Jan/2001 The General turns off tap for renovation
By: CHARLIE FIDELMAN The Gazette
Ambulances with urgent cases were redirected to hospitals other than the Montreal General, which launched a $7-million renovation yesterday by shutting off its water.
But the 24-hour water disruption isn't expected to aggravate the current overcrowding in emergency wards, as Montreal-area hospitals reopen beds after the usual holiday season closings.
3/Jan/2001 OPERATING ROOMS CLOSED AT MONTREAL GENERAL
Some services at the Montreal General Hospital will be shut down or
disrupted over the next few days as repairs are done to the hospital's
water system.
December 2000
16/Dec/2000 Mayor's race for megacity is crucial
By: NORMAN WEBSTER The Gazette
It might be naive, but some of us persist in the belief that there is a penalty to be paid for bad governing - even in Quebec. Surely an administration that can't tie its own shoelaces has to take a hit at the polls eventually. And where, save in British Columbia and perhaps Zimbabwe, have we seen a consistently worse performance in recent years than here in la belle province under the hand of the Parti Quebecois?
Everything these guys touch turns to ratpoop. The health system has been riddled and raddled by dumb decisions. Anyone who deals with the health bureaucracy in Quebec City reports almost total incompetence and gridlock.
16/Dec/2000 Flawed from the outset
Five years ago, the Quebec government closed down seven Montreal hospitals, offered early retirement to thousands of health-care workers and then assured a horrified public that it was all for the best. Patients could be in and out of surgery the same day. They would be looked after in the comfort of their own homes. And, not incidentally, the state would save tons of money and get to a zero deficit all the faster.
Not many people actually swallowed this cheerful prognosis hook, line and sinker, but it still came as a shock this week when the Montreal region's chief of public health came out with a report admitting that the restructuring was flawed from the outset. Frontline services should have been bolstered before such a radical restructuring was undertaken, said Dr. Richard Lessard, head of public health. Instead, community health clinics and home-care services were left underfunded and understaffed to struggle with the overflow caused by the closings.
15/Dec/2000 Lab discovery might help us live longer and lose weight By: AP
Mutation of a gene whimsically named "I'm not dead yet" can double the life span of fruit flies, a laboratory discovery that researchers said may lead to drugs to help people live longer and perhaps lose weight.
Researchers at the University of Connecticut Health Centre have found that the life span of fruit flies was extended from an average of 37 days to 70 days when a gene was modified on a single chromosome. Some flies in the study lived 110 days.
15/Dec/2000 A costly misdiagnosis
By: JEFF HEINRICH
Where did the reform of Montreal's health system go wrong?
Right at the starting gate, a top health bureaucrat said yesterday.
14/Dec/2000 A place for heroes
By: DAVID SHERMAN
If you're looking for heroes for all seasons, they're here, gathered in a few hundred square feet of the fourth floor of the Hopital Sacre Coeur. This is not a unique group. Similar souls can be found holding up palliative-care units throughout the world.
When we first began the nightly commute to the rooms lining the lilac-coloured corridor to help my father-in-law die, I could find no grace here. I could see only unrelenting misery in drab, claustrophobic, airless cells. It seemed a gulag, scented with fouled linen and overheated air, and, for the few still capable of digesting, cold, institutional mush that smells the same in every hospital, everywhere.
14/Dec/2000 Get off the pot
When the federal government decided, more than a year ago, to allow certain individuals to use marijuana for medical reasons, its policy came from good intentions. Marijuana appears to have many medical benefits, including easing pain for sufferers of multiple sclerosis, curbing weight loss in AIDS patients and alleviating chemotherapy-related nausea in cancer patients.
While the longer-term health effects seem far from beneficial, such concerns matter little to those who are desperate for relief.
13/Dec/2000 New uses for the old
The four buildings that will be vacated if the McGill University Health Centre builds its superhospital near the Vendome metro station all occupy prime real estate. The Royal Victoria Hospital is the most stunning of them, a vast, 19th-century stone creation offering views over the St. Lawrence River. The Montreal General and Montreal Chest Institute are farther west along the side of the mountain, and the fourth building, the Montreal Children's Hospital, is housed in a heritage building at the corner of Rene Levesque Blvd. and Atwater Ave.
Attendance at the hearings designed to promote public discussion of the fate of these buildings has been sparse to date. Only about 50 people showed up last month to hear the ideas of urban planner Paul Lecavalier and architect Mario Saia. There are a number of reasons few people have come forward to discuss the $1.2-billion complex, scheduled to be built by 2006, or the empty buildings it will leave in its wake..
13/Dec/2000 Swing and a miss
Because big figures seem so abstract, it's hard to wrap one's mind around the 10-year, $252-million U.S. contract that a single baseball player inked this week.
It translates into $383 million in Canadian money, which is more than 13 times the payroll of the entire Expos team last season. It is seven times what Quebec is spending this year on developing recreation and sports through community organizations. And it's more than half of the sum that McGill University is seeking as Quebec's contribution to its superhospital.
13/Dec/2000 Fix frontline services: panel
By: SEAN GORDON The Gazette
An expert panel is calling for an $85-million overhaul of Quebec's frontline medical emergency services to include an integrated, provincewide network of first responders and better training for ambulance attendants.
The government-appointed committee that prepared the report said the reform should be financed by increasing user fees for ambulance trips, jacking up traffic fines by 15 per cent and instituting a monthly 50-cent levy on all phone lines in Quebec.
11/Dec/2000 Shire buys BioChem Pharma for $4bn in shares
Shire Pharmaceuticals, the fast growing UK company, is to acquire BioChem
Pharma, the Canadian biotech company, in an all paper deal that values the target
at about $4bn based on the closing price of Shire shares in the US on Friday.
17:07 | Read FT
news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT3VM4NVLGC&live=true&tagid=IXLYK5HZ8CC
9/Dec/2000 Wanted: Cardiac surgeons
By: AARON DERFEL
Quebec is suffering from a severe shortage of cardiac surgeons - one of the main factors in the lengthy waiting lists, the chief heart surgeon at the Jewish General Hospital said yesterday.
At present, there are 38 cardiac surgeons for the whole province when ideally there should be 48, said Dr. Yves Langlois. Compounding the problem is that half of the surgeons are expected to retire within the next 10 years.
7/Dec/2000 Heart-surgery waiting list up by 28 per cent
By: AARON DERFEL
The number of patients waiting for heart surgery has jumped by about 28 per cent this year on Montreal Island, despite millions of dollars in provincial spending to shorten waiting lists.
Some patients at Notre Dame Hospital have been biding their time at home for more than a year as surgeons struggle with a mounting backlog of cases, the chief of cardiology said yesterday.
5/Dec/2000 Skeptical on superhospital
Apoll showing that many doctors doubt the need for superhospitals deals a
blow to supporters of the ambitious schemes at the McGill University Health
Centre (MUHC) and the Centre Hospitalier de l'Universite de Montreal (CHUM).
Nonetheless, supporters may find the poll valuable. Like an unwelcome
medical diagnosis, it identifies an important problem and highlights the
need to treat it urgently.
In this case, the treatment should be a redoubling of efforts to convince
not only the general public but also the medical community itself of the
value of the superhospital projects, which together would cost more than $2
billion.
3/Dec/2000 MRIs at centre of health debate
By: JEFF HEINRICH The Gazette
Three weeks ago, as the federal election campaign buzzed with debate over ''two-tier'' health care in Canada, Johanne Roy decided she needed to see her doctor again.
The 40-year-old La Prairie mother had a sore neck and sore arm, right down to her fingertips, and the cortisone and painkillers her orthopedist had already given her didn't seem to work.
November 2000
Roper-Letter new
23/Nov/2000 PULLING ALL-NIGHTERS WON'T HELP YOU LEARN - STUDY
According to researchers at Harvard Medical School, cutting back on your
sleep is not a good way to learn. The scientists say when it come to
remembering how to do something new, sleep is key to success.
cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2000/11/22/allnight001122
24/Nov/2000 FATE OF OLD MONTREAL HOSPITALS STILL UNDECIDED
The planning of what to do with the buildings from the McGill University
hospitals is well underway.
montreal.cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2000/11/23/hospitals001123
the Chris Goodfellow auction site info www.laurentian.com/auction.cgi?hotel is the link....there are great deals
there for people in Westmount! It's a lovely hotel and they are very keen on using the net as a sales vehicle. As the accountant here at the hotel quite rightly pointed out ...the opening
price for the auctions at $280 for a 2 night package is $92 US per night
and this includes 2 five course dinners and 2 breakfasts...in New York $90
bucks will buy you 1 lunch...so Americans will continue to buy us up! Thanks to our 59 cent man! next 50?]
16/Nov/2000 Hospitals stack up very well
By: DON MACPHERSON The Gazette
The chairman of the government's Office de la Langue Francaise, Nicole Rene, is worried.
But then, Rene is a professional worrywart. It is her job to worry about the situation of French in Quebec. If she ever stops worrying, it will be because she can no longer find anything to worry about. Then there will be no further need for her services, and she will be out of a job. So she makes it her business to find things to worry about.
>
16/Nov/2000 Clear violation of health act
By: CHARLES S. SHAVER Freelance
Health care has become a key issue in the federal election campaign. The Liberal Party maintains that it has been a defender of the principles of the Canada Health Act while Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe says there is no role for Ottawa in health care.
The Canada Health Act was passed in 1984 to ensure comprehensive, universal, portable, accessible health care for all Canadians. Most Canadians can vacation in any part of Canada, send a child to a university or summer camp in another province, or move to another province where job opportunities are greater. They do this with the knowledge that hospital and medical costs from an unforeseen illness will be covered regardless of previous medical conditions.
16/Nov/2000 CANCER PREDICTED TO BE LEADING CAUSE OF DEATH BY 2010
The Canadian Cancer Society says that if current trends continue, cancer
will overtake cardiovascular disease as the most common cause of death
in Canada by the year 2010.
cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2000/11/15/cancer001115
16/Nov/2000 PORTABLE EMERGENCY ROOM TO HELP EASE HEAVY LOAD
Cité de la Santé Hospital in Laval, Que. will open a portable emergency
room on Monday.
montreal.cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2000/11/15/lavalhosp001115
RESIDENTS FEAR VIEW OF MOUNT ROYAL WILL DISAPPEAR
Montreal's Urban Development Commission got an earful on Wednesday night
from opponents of a condominium project on Mount Royal.
montreal.cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2000/11/02/heritage001102
2/Nov/2000 HEALTH CARE DEBATE SIMMERS IN FEDERAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN
Health care continues to dominate the election agenda, as NDP Leader
Alexa McDonough sarcastically welcomed other party leaders to the
medicare debate.
cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2000/11/02/elexn001102
Scientists close to mapping male gene
Three geneticists in the U.S. are on the verge of decoding malehood
– the Y chromosome.
cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2000/10/31/ychromosome001031
Heart attack survivors don't take symptoms seriously: study
A new study says people having a heart attack aren't quick to call 911
because they don't believe they're having one.
cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2000/10/31/heartattack001031
