Sunday, December 14, 2008

Avoidable Harm?

CIHI releases HSMR trends for Canadian hospitals

Hospital standardized mortality ratio allows hospitals to track quality of care improvements over time


Another Canadian view!?


We are improving though?


First developed in the United Kingdom and used in several countries throughout the world,
the HSMR was adapted for use in Canada by CIHI.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Chief medical officer condemns organ donor decision

"The government's chief medical officer last night lashed out at the decision to ditch planned reforms for organ donations, warning that dying patients had been left on a 'knife-edge of despair'."

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Hannah's choice

"Hannah Jones has refused the heart transplant that could save her life.
But is a 13-year-old too young to make that decision?
Or is she the only person who can?"

"........., a former nurse who had worked in intensive care, and Hannah's father, Andrew, an auditor, are furious that the doctors appeared to assume that not only were they not acting in their daughter's best interests, but that Hannah was incapable of making a life-or-death decision."

Friday, October 31, 2008

Reusing Syringes

A hospital in Lloydminster, Sask., has been reusing syringes to inject medication into intravenous lines, a practice that recently raised widespread concern in Alberta.

A common practice?

Saturday, October 25, 2008

A guide to the Hippocratic Oath

When I asked my medical students to name famous doctors in the history of medicine, their first answer was Harold Shipman, the GP who murdered hundreds of patients.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Discussions after Harm in the Healthcare Setting

“ If you take my pen and say you are sorry
and don’t give me back my pen,
nothing has happened.”

– attributed to Bishop Desmond Tutu.


OOPS, Sorry!




Thursday, July 24, 2008

Doctors facing 'five-year MOTs (relicensing)'

"The government committed itself to introducing a system of relicensing the UK's 150,000 doctors last year to test their basic competence as a medic."

They have a year and a half to get it right!

"Written laws are like spider's webs;
they will catch, it is true, the weak and the poor,
but would be torn in pieces by the rich and powerful."
(Anacharsis--Scythian Philosopher...600 B.C.)



Saturday, June 07, 2008

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Friday, March 21, 2008

the charles smith blog

"An Extraordinary Development in Canada:
Three Inquiries Based on Flawed Pathology In One Country At The Same Time;
Crisis?"

Not really an extraordinary development.
Pathology standards, as well as all other medical standards,
appear to have been consistent for years.

Is this another example?


Tuesday, March 18, 2008

CPSI launches first-ever Canadian Disclosure Guidelines

Guidelines aim to cut medical errors


Another view?


Not right to remain silent about errors, medical guidelines say



This would be an extraordinary, dramatic change from the apparent current practice of cover up with detailed all encompassing meaningless explanations. One can expect the word "appropriate" to be used liberally in a "double entendre" fashion, in an attempt to confound the gullible. Here's an example!?

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Equal Justice For All?

Premier's fan accused of death threats

And is the following an example of consistency in the application of justice?

If an organization repeatedly reiterates what they know will be interpreted as a threat, then is it not logical to assume that they have knowingly given the threat? Isn't a threat to cause harm or death a criminal offence in most of Canada?

Maybe the perceived difference is due to the fact that the second example deals with the exemplary ethical, self regulating, law respecting honest medical profession?

Probably so!

The Current Inquiry into Pediatric Forensic Pathology in Ontario is clearly an investigation, of a possible aberration, of the profession's ethics?
Maybe the
"Shipman Inquiry", in another jurisdiction, is another example?




Sunday, January 20, 2008

Doctors 'must own up to blunders'

"A new culture of honesty and openness should see such patients receive a personal apology from the doctor concerned and a detailed explanation of what went wrong"

One wonders when signs of this "NEW CULTURE" will become evident!

A new culture‽


A continuing culture




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