Monday, December 17, 2007

Sick Kids staff shocked over pathologist's work habits

"A secretary who worked alongside Dr. Charles Smith for years says she found a bag of dried human tissue, a dish containing bones and a child's hospital bracelet during one of her frequent searches of the pathologist's ramshackle office."

Justice is equal for all in Canada?
Looking at this previous post would make you wonder.
Click here

Hospital 'fines' for patient harm

"The taxpayer should not have to foot the bill for poor care that resulted in longer stays in hospital"

Maybe the idea is catching!
See Aug 19, 2007 post

The new policy raises the possibility of changes in medical practice
as doctors hew more closely to clinical guidelines.

The hospital where octuplets were born in January
has been fined for a second time
for failing to protect the family's medical privacy.

17 July 2009


Monday, December 10, 2007

Signals missed as errors piled up

Lack of oversight, shortage of pathologists contributed to `miscarriages of justice'





Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Monday, November 12, 2007

Smith 'sorry' for autopsy errors

"The doctor at the heart of an inquiry into pediatric forensic pathology in Ontario has apologized for the 'mistakes' he's made in his work."


Was the quality of his work consistent with the standard of care/practice expected of professionals, in this field of practice, by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO)?

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Bereaved 'will agree to donate'

"Despite the organ retention scandals of the last decade, bereaved relatives are willing to donate tissue, a pioneering Scottish research centre has found."

Saturday, November 03, 2007

Doctor Scorecard

"DoctorScorecard encourages doctors
to introduce their service to potential patients.
Making a basic profile takes only about 10 minutes and it's free."

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Patient support safety service (Ontario)

With this service all Ontarians can sleep soundly!?


Man on mission to overhaul healthcare system

After the sudden death of his wife in March 2003, Edward Mendoza has made it his life’s work to heal what he describes as the shoddy Canadian medical system and those at its mercy.

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Bug hospital chief pay withheld

Kent police have launched an investigation into whether the trust should be prosecuted for the deaths.

Encouraging?

The dirty truth on the wards

An Observer investigation has revealed how elderly patients
are often left in squalor by overworked staff, reports Jo Revill.

Monday, October 01, 2007

Acquittals in blood scandal

"the ruling an 'absolute vindication' and a 'complete exoneration"


Confirmation that the high value Canadians place,
and expect,
on our Justice System is justified


Yes, Virginia, there is noSanta Claus!

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Surgical watchdog dithered

"College took no action as family doctors did procedures without oversight or training"

Thursday, September 06, 2007

Hospital `kicks out' senior

"Elderly patient's family claims Peel Memorial security pushed, handcuffed and assaulted him"

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Medicare Says It Won’t Cover Hospital Errors

The new policy raises the possibility of changes in medical practice as doctors hew more closely to clinical guidelines.

Very interesting.
Maybe this idea could be used here, in Canada,
to remove a de facto monetary reward for errors
and replace it with an effective monetary penalty.

In practice would the actual result be a more pronounced,
see no evil, hear no evil?
Duh I saw nothin' !


Botched organ harvesting


Hospital 'fines' for patient harm
"The taxpayer should not have to foot the bill for poor care that resulted in longer stays in hospital"
Monday, December 13, 2007

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

New law sheds light on practices of health care providers

"As many as 23,750 people die each year from in-hospital medical errors – also known as adverse events – according to the Canadian Institute for Health Information."

New law will make health care safer!?

I wonder why I don't feel any safer.
Is there a similarity between English common law
and Ontario/Canadian common law
relating to truthfulness?

I'm not even aware of any serious attempt
to lower the needless death rate from
in-hospital medical errors
to 2 deaths per hour.

At one time surgery staff washed up after
all the surgeries were completed.
Why wash up before? Surgery is a messy, dirty business!

Is this the current rationale for hand washing?
??????

Does self-regulation work for the medical profession?


Wednesday, May 23, 2007

WHO-Hand Hygiene Survey

"Hospital-acquired infections are one of the leading causes of death globally. Becoming knowledgeable about Hand Hygiene is the most important thing you and your healthcare worker can do to prevent an infection and the harm or death which can follow."


...

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Year-long wait for skull surgery

Anywhere else but Ontario, the provincial ombudsman's office could have investigated

Saturday, May 05, 2007

Patients win right to know

"Ontario moves to end medical secrecy"

Why don't I feel relieved?

I'm not a pessimist, I can see that the glass is half full.
Others might regard it as, half empty.
My concern is;
What's really in the glass?

You really don't want to know do you?
Power to probe hospitals urged


Friday, April 06, 2007

Organ-donor rules wait till after Ontario election

Reverse-onus provisions that say that your organs can be harvested whether you like it or not equate us to produce from an agricultural enterprise that provides life sustaining food for us.

Is this morally or ethically acceptable reasoning to equate organ donation to organ harvesting in this manner?

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

WHO DRAFT GUIDELINES FOR ADVERSE EVENT REPORTING AND LEARNING SYSTEMS

Imagine a jet aircraft which contains an orange coloured wire essential for its safe functioning. An airline engineer in one part of the world doing a pre-flight inspection spots that the wire is frayed in a way that suggests a critical fault rather than routine wear and tear. What would happen next? I think we know the answer. It is likely that – probably within days – most similar jet engines in the world would be inspected and the orange wire, if faulty, would be renewed.
When will health-care pass the orange-wire test?


Does this article indicate that it will be soon?

Many staff would not want to be
patients in own hospitals





Friday, March 23, 2007

Ont. family cites lax hospital hygiene in death

"'I think there needs to be a culture change within our health care facilities that says if you're not washing your hands, if you are not using gowns and gloves appropriately, that needs to be addressed,'"

One would hope that that the above was only an isolated incident(s).
Obviously this is a wishful, naive, belief
that respect for human life is paramount in this unnamed profession.

Is this following example further evidence that improvement is required?

Alberta hospital closed after super bug, sterilization problems

Is it my imagination, but it appears that whenever it seems that there have been two or three steps forward in improving the system there are three or four steps in reverse that effectively wipe out any improvement and especially any hope for improvement?




Saturday, March 17, 2007

The unkindest cut

What does "Standard of Care" mean?


Coming clean on errors
Does that mean washing hands
before and after
each patient examination or visit?

Thursday, March 01, 2007

How do you diagnose death?

The doctors said they had never heard of anyone coming round
after 30 minutes of apparent lifelessness,
let alone a young baby.



Misdiagnosing death apparently is not very uncommon.
It's disgusting when a procedure,
euphemistically called an autopsy,
is used to verify the death diagnosis.



Some interesting comments

...which is the reason I want to be cremated.
I remember watching a programme when I was younger
which had a man waking up to find he was in his own coffin,
6 feet under.
At least if they make a mistake and I'm alive,
it won't take long to prove them right and me wrong.


Blimey.
If I'm going to wake up in my own coffin,
I REALLY don't want either to find I've been buried 6 ft under and can't get out,
or to be burned alive.
Think I might request a very long lying-in-state.


30 minutes remarkable!?
Baby declared dead revives after hours in cold storage



Parents find preemie breathing in morgue freezer five hours after she was pronounced dead

Premature baby 'comes back to life'

Sunday, February 04, 2007

Woman Becomes Quadruple Amputee After Giving Birth

The hospital, in a letter,
wrote that if she wanted to find out exactly what happened,
she would have to sue them.


Thursday, January 25, 2007

Advocates join fight to sue pathologist

The Association in Defence for the Wrongfully Convicted has been granted intervenor status to assist in petition to sue forensic pathologist

Friday, January 19, 2007

Court makes man pay for life-saving surgery

A simple choice.
Die of liver cancer within six months or treatment overseas.

OHIP does not owe man his life

Pressure builds on OHIP over foreign surgery
Advocate calls for new standards
after court upholds `disgraceful' denial of payment


Wednesday, January 03, 2007

RateMDs.com

Patients rate doctors on website



RateMDs.com Receives its 50,000th Doctor Rating


Doctors cry foul over anonymous rating website

Is it effective to use the CPSO to handle a complaint?
Click here to see an example.

Does this post (click here) also apply to the ethics
that Canadian doctors hold dear?


Call for faith-based health services
In an ideal world doctors would ask about a patient's beliefs
not so that they can be categorised
but because it might be important for the patient in their illness.



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