TORONTO OMA DIST.11(appox 10,000 members.) ELECTION OF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

URGENT NEED FOR NOMINATIONS (3 SIGNATURES) FOR DIST.11 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.

INCOME OF COMMITTEE ABOUT $500,000 year. ($60 /year voluntary donation)

Committee has permanent paid Exec Secretary .

For some reason TORONTO is joined with an Eastern suburb: SCARBOROUGH. Not with the Western suburb of MISSISSAUGA..

At present there are no nominations from doctors in Major Toronto Teaching Hospitals.or from  Female MDs.

Elected members are well paid to attend Committee meetings: earn at least $5,000 /year.depending on paid travelling time to OMA office @ 150 Bloor St in fashionable Yorkville. (Next to large "Louis Vuitton " establishment)

Nominations must be submitted.by 5pm Wed. JAN 14. fax: 416- 340-2244 email:sharmann.grad@oma.org

So far Dist 11 Nominations committee recommended MALE DOCTORS ONLY.

DISTRICT CHAIR (1y term) Approx 41y old N/E Toronto GP Javed ALLOO MD(Queen's 1999)

DISTRICT SEC.(1 yr) Approx 53y Toronto Public Health Med.Officer Michael FINKELSTEIN BSc (Chem) (U.Waterloo )MD (U.Ottawa 1995 Magna cum laude) FRCP(C) Community Health.

DISTRICT TREASURER (1 yr) approx 73y N.Tor GP Stanley LOFSKY MD( Tor.1966)
 
2 DISTRICT DIRECTORS (2 yr term)
a) Approx 60y Obs/Gynae N/W Toronto Lawrence COLMAN MD (UWO 83) FRCSC (1988) Surgical
Practice restricted by CPSO to only act as a Surgical assistant
b) Approx 52y Scarborough GP who works as a Surgical  assistant David ESSER MD(U.West Ont. 1987)
c) Approx.60y Scarborough GP Christopher JHU MD(Manitoba 1980) MBA

2 DISTRICT REPS to the Executive comm of the Section of GP.(2 yr term) also can attend two OMA COUNCIL MEETINGS ($5000 average payment)
1) GP Javed ALLOO (see above)
2) Approx 70y West-Toronto GP William RUSSELL MD(Dublin 71)

So far
Two Specialists
Five  GPs
No females

(Prof Antoine )MARFAN'S SYNDROME 1858-1942 TORONTO CLINIC: Prof T..J BRADLEY MD(Otago,New Zealand 1990.)

Bradley, Timothy John CPSO#: 78644

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Doctor Information

Given Name: Timothy John   Surname: Bradley
Former Name: No Former Name
Gender: Male
Language Fluency: ENGLISH

Primary Practice Location

The Hospital for Sick Children
Division of Cardiology
555 University Avenue
Toronto ON  M5G 1X8

Phone: (416) 813-7610
Fax: (416) 813-7547   

Current Registration

Registration Class: Restricted
Certificate Issued On: 07 Jul 2004
Registration Status: Active Member
Effective From: 07 Jul 2004
Graduated From: University of Otago
Year of Graduation: 1990

Specialties

Specialty	Issued On	Type
Pediatrics	07 Jul 2004	CPSO Recognized Specialist

Hospital Privileges

Hospital For Sick Children (Toronto)
University Health Network,Toronto General Hospital Site (Toronto)

HOSPITAL BEDS London UK vs Toronto, Ont.

London UK 100+ Hosps for 8-million

Toronto,On. 12     Hosps for 3-million.

Inefficient policy to try to diagnose and treat as outpatient. Also closure of Toronto convalescent Hosps.

With Catastrophic policies up to $2-mill.& new UK Bupa ins.in Canada, more leaving Ont. for Private medicine with direct med/surg control by Specialist. With public med. Residents and Interns (& GP Hospitalists) make most decisions and many of the operations in Teaching Hosps... Most of the Canuck population (thankfully) are unaware of this important difference.40y since death of Ont Private Medicine

METRO TORONTO ETHNIC AREAS

Top ethnic origin per Toronto neighbourhood (as designated by the City of Toronto; 2006 Census data - total responses)

• English (59): Leaside-Bennington (40%), The Beaches (39%), Rosedale-Moore Park (36%), Kingsway South (35%), Lawrence Park South (33%), Yonge-Eglinton (32.4%), Guildwood (32.3%), Birchcliffe-Cliffside (31.9%), Lawrence Park North (31.5%), Yonge-St. Clair (30.8%), Cabbagetown-South St. James Town (30.1%), North Riverdale (30.0%), East End-Danforth (29.8%), Playter Estates-Danforth (29.7%), Woodbine Corridor (29%), Bridle Path-Sunnybrook-York Mills (27.3%), Centennial Scarborough (27.1%), Princess-Rosethorn (27.0%), Casa Loma (26.8%), Cliffcrest (25.7%), Markland Wood (25.7%), Woodbine-Lumsden (25.6%), Etobicoke West Mall (25.3%), Runnymede-Bloor West Village (25.3%), etc.
• Chinese (23): Steeles (70%), Milliken (65%), Agincourt North (56%), Agincourt South-Malvern West (47.1%), Hillcrest Village (46.9%), Kensington-Chinatown (44%), Tam O’Shanter-Sullivan (38%), L’Amoreaux (37.2%), Willowdale East (36.6%), Pleasant View (36%), Bayview Woods-Steeles (34%), South Riverdale (33%), Newtonbrook East (31%), Don Valley Village (29%), Greenwood-Coxwell (22.1%), Henry Farm (21.7%), Bay Street Corridor (21%), etc.
• Italian (15): Maple Leaf (45%), Humber Summit (34.5%), Pelmo Park-Humberlea (34.2%), Yorkdale-Glen Park (33.6%), Rustic (31.1%), Downsview-Roding-CFB (30.6%), Humber Heights-Westmount (20.4%), Willowridge-Martingrove-Richview (20.4%), Glenfield-Jane Heights (18%), Oakwood-Vaughan (16.8%), York University Heights (16.7%), Briar Hill-Belgravia (15%), etc.
• East Indian (15): West Humber-Clairville (33%), Mount Olive-Silverstone-Jamestown (30%), Thorncliffe Park (24%), Woburn (22%), Rouge (21.1%), Highland Creek (20.7%), Malvern (20.6%), Flemingdon Park (20%), Thistletown-Beaumond Heights (19.4%), Humbermede (19.1%), Crescent Town (19.0%), Morningside (16%), etc.
• Jewish (10): Forest Hill North (32%), Westminster-Branson (31%), Forest Hill South (29%), Bedford Park-Nortown (28%), Bathurst Manor (27%), Englemount-Lawrence (26%), Clanton Park (23%), Humewood-Cedarvale (18.2%), Lansing-Westgate (17.6%), Newtonbrook West (15%)
• Portuguese (9): Little Portugal (38%), Caledonia-Fairbank (37%), Weston-Pellam Park (34%), Keelesdale-Eglinton West (32%), Corso Italia-Davenport (31%), Trinity-Bellwoods (28%), Dovercourt-Wallace Emerson-Junction (27%), Dufferin Grove (25%), Rockcliffe-Smythe (15%)
• Filipino (3): North St. James Town (17%), Ionview (16%), Kennedy Park (13%)
• Jamaican (3): Beechborough-Greenbrook (15%), Black Creek (10.0%), Mount Dennis (9.7%)
• Canadian (2): New Toronto (21%), Alderwood (19%)
• Greek (1): Broadview North (15%)

MYTH: CONFIDENTIALITY OF ONT. MEDICAL RECORDS.

ER records can be easily "hacked" as shown by numerous reported world-wide reports.

Written records can be read  by  Clinic & Hospital staff. (including cleaners & porters).

The Ont College Physicians & Surgeons inspect Ont.MDs every 10 years (if over 70y every 5y). A "peer-reviewer" doctor with time to spend (paid about $1,000 a day)  collecting "Trade secrets" of fellow MDs.at the same time examining charts without patients' permission.

Non-OHIP paid "Health Professionals" such as ONTARIO REGISTERED Chiropractors, Homoeopaths, Massage therapists, Naturopaths, non-hospital Physiotherapists, Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners do not have the same problems.

QUEBEC provides whole population DRUG INSURANCE: ONTARIO does not; only for Over-65y and WELFARE.

In Québec, everyone must be covered by prescription drug insurance.
Two types of insurance plans offer this coverage:

• the public plan Public plan
  The Public Prescription Drug Insurance Plan is administered by the Régie de l'assurance maladie du Québec and is intended for persons who are not eligible for a private group insurance plan covering prescription drugs, for persons age 65 or over, and for recipients of last-resort financial assistance and other holders of a claim slip (carnet de réclamation). Children of persons registered for the public plan are also covered by that plan., that is, the one administered by the Régie de l'assurance maladie du Québec;
• private plans Private plan
  Private plans are usually available in the form of group insurance or employee benefit plans. Persons may be eligible for a private plan through employment, through membership in a professional order or association, or through their spouse or parents. Persons who are eligible for a private plan are required to join that plan. (group insurance or employee benefit plans).

Only those persons who are not eligible for a private plan may register for the Public Prescription Drug Insurance Plan. The Plan was set up in 1997 to cover all Quebecers who are not eligible for a private plan.
If you are eligible for a private plan, you must join that plan and provide coverage for your spouse Spouse
Two persons (of the opposite sex or the same sex) are considered spouses if they are married and have entered into a civil union, or have been living together for 12 months (separations of less than 90 days do not interrupt the 12-month period), or are living together (regardless of for how long) and together have had or have adopted a child. and children Children
Children are persons who are under age 18 or persons age 18 to 25 inclusive, are full-time students at an educational institution recognized by the Ministère de l'Éducation, du Loisir et du Sport, do not have a spouse and live with their parents. Persons age 18 or over are considered children if they are spouseless, have a functional impairment that began before age 18, are not receiving last-resort financial assistance benefits, and are domiciled with someone who would exercise parental authority over them if they were a minor..
A private plan is a group insurance or employee benefit plan offering basic coverage for prescription drugs. Plans of this type are called private plans because, unlike the public plan, administered by the Régie de l'assurance maladie du Québec, they are offered by private-sector companies.
Private plans are usually available through employment, in the form of group insurance, which an employer may offer to its employees as a fringe benefit. In addition, many professional orders and associations, as well as unions, make such plans available to their members.
Private plans are sometimes called healthcare plans or health insurance plans. Most private plans offer prescription drug coverage along with other services, such as paramedical services or consultations with certain health professionals (chiropractors, physiotherapists, dentists, etc.), but some offer prescription drug coverage only.
Coverage provided may vary from one private plan to another, depending on the agreement entered into between the policyholder Policyholder
A policyholder is the intermediary representing a group of people in the context of a group insurance contract. It may be an employer, a professional order or association, a union or a group of employees. and the insurance company or plan administrator.
However, in Québec, all private insurers Insurer (of persons)
A legal person that holds a permit issued by the Autorité des marchés financiers authorizing it to transact personal insurance in Québec and that assumes, in return for a premium paid, the financial consequences resulting from one or more risks specified in the contract signed by the parties. offering prescription drug insurance must fulfill minimum conditions regarding the coverage they provide and the financial participation they require of the persons they insure.

QUEBEC also more generous in paying for expensive medicine.  For Hep C in ONTARIO Liver biopsy required; in Quebec not required. In OTTAWA,Ont. one standard of medicine across the river in HULL, PQ another standard.

Dr Gavin HAMILTON:"The Nurses are Innocent- The Digoxin Fallacy.":

Overview

In 1980-81, 43 babies died at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children from a supposed digoxin overdose. Serial murder was suspected, leading to the arrest of nurse Susan Nelles. In order to clear Nelles's name, an investigation was launched to find an alternate explanation.
No one on the Grange Royal Commission of Inquiry had expertise in diagnosis. The post-mortem diagnosis of digoxin poisoning was based on a single biochemical test without knowledge of the normal values. Gavin Hamilton's extensive research shows that a toxin found in natural rubber, a digoxin-like substance, might well have been the culprit in the babies' deaths. He clearly demonstrates that explanations other than serial murder account for the cluster of infant deaths at HSC.
What can be learned from this black stain on Canada's judicial system? One lesson certainly stands out: we can't ever again allow a group of unqualified amateur diagnosticians make life-and-death decisions about such important matters as potential serial murders.

Read More

What People Are Saying

From the Publisher

"...The real parallel remains unknown to most Canadians even now; it's not that the wrong person was fingered for murder, but that no murders were commited at all. That's the conclusion meticulously and persuasively argued by retired physician Gavin Hamilton in The Nursses are Innocent.

Editorial Reviews

Maclean's magazine

...The real parallel remains unknown to most Canadians even now; it's not that the wrong person was fingered for murder, but that no murders were committed at all. That's the conclusion meticulously and persuasively argued by retired physician Gavin Hamilton in The Nurses are Innocent.

From the Publisher

...The real parallel remains unknown to most Canadians even now; it's not that the wrong person was fingered for murder, but that no murders were committed at all. That's the conclusion meticulously and persuasively argued by retired physician Gavin Hamilton in The Nurses are Innocent.

Read More

Product Details

• ISBN-13: 9781459700574
• Publisher: Dundurn Press
• Publication date: 12/6/2011
• Pages: 240
• Product dimensions: 5.50 (w) x 8.50 (h) x 1.00 (d)

Related Subjects

• General & Miscellaneous Law
• Criminology
• True Crime

Meet the Author

Gavin Hamilton grew up in St. Thomas, Ontario, and attended UWO Medical School. After practising family medicine for nine years, he studied diagnostic radiology, receiving the fellowship diploma, then practicing as a private radiologist with the rank of assistant professor until retirement. He lives in London, Ontario.

Nurse Susan NELLES sued then Attorney-General Roland McMURTRY for malicious prosecution; Ont Govt then paid for Nurse Nelles legal costs.

Toronto hospital baby deaths

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

  (Redirected from Susan Nelles)

The Toronto hospital baby deaths were multiple alleged poisonings of babies at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children that occurred between June 1980 and April 1981, when charges of murder were laid against a nurse at the hospital. The story was a major news event throughout the year, and ended with the nurse being exonerated. Although suspicion was cast on other people, no further charges were ever laid.
Later analysis suggests that the tests and methodologies that pointed to poisoning were flawed, and may have been generating false positives. Specifically, chemicals used in the manufacture of everyday medical items may have contributed to the test indicating high levels of the alleged poison. It was also demonstrated that a "wave" of similar alleged poisonings were occurring at that time.

Contents

• 1 Initial accusations
• 2 Inquiry and aftermath
• 3 MBT
• 4 References
• 5 External links

Initial accusations

During an investigation of baby deaths in the cardiac unit of the Hospital for Sick Children, abnormally high levels of the heart medication digoxin were found in as many as 43 of the infants. The levels were measured using a newly introduced testing method known as HPLC, and the levels were high enough to suggest that it was the cause of death.
A police investigation followed during which time it was found that a nurse that the hospital had been working shifts during the times that 23 of the deaths occurred. Susan Marguerite Nelles (born in Belleville, Ontario),^[1] was arrested and charged in March 1981 with murdering four babies. The deaths then stopped.
During the case that followed, it was discovered that Nelles had not actually been on duty during the noted times, having swapped shifts with other nurses who had access to the same medication. Although the deaths ended after Nelles' arrest, the hospital had introduced restrictions for access to digoxin and had implemented a policy that kept infants in intensive care longer. Total deaths between the two units remained identical.^{[clarification needed]}
Nelles asked for legal counsel when she was arrested. Her request was interpreted by the investigating police officers to be an indication of her guilt, but the court later ruled that such requests should not be interpreted as evidence of guilt. The court also ruled that the Crown lacked evidence to convict Nelles. The government eventually paid for Nelles' legal costs after she sued the province's Attorney-General, Roy McMurtry for malicious prosecution.

Inquiry and aftermath

A Royal Commission, led by Justice Samuel Grange, found that eight infants had been murdered. Although another nurse, Phyllis Trayner,^[2] fell under scrutiny, no one was charged. Moreover, the experimental test that detected digoxin may have given false results for other chemicals.
Nelles has since remained in the medical care world after her trial. In 1992 she became Director of the Belleville Dialysis Unit of Kingston General Hospital. She also counsels nurses on legal issues and on dialysis. In 1999, Nelles received an honorary degree from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario (from which she had graduated with a Bachelor of Nursing Science degree in 1978) for her work in promoting integrity in the nursing field.^[1] She helped establish the Nelles Scholarship for Queen's Nursing Science Students in memory of her father, Dr James Nelles and brother Dr David Nelles.^[3]
As of 2005, only Nelles had been charged with a crime involving the baby deaths.^[4]

MBT

As per 2010 LawNow.org article,^[5] there is some question as to whether any of the infants were murdered – but perhaps killed by a substance called MBT (mercaptobenzothiazole) that was used in the manufacture of the syringes used to medicate the babies and can mimic digoxin in autopsies. To quote from the epilogue, "Today, no one can even say with certainty whether any crimes were ever committed on the pediatric cardiac ward."
Gavin Hamilton, M.D., of London, Ontario, published a book, The Nurses are Innocent – The Digoxin Poisoning Fallacy,^[6] proving that very high blood digoxin levels should be expected in autopsy blood samples. He described an epidemic of baby poisoning occurring at the same time as the Toronto baby deaths (Hammersmith Hospital, London, England),^[7] caused by a cumulative toxin leached from pharmaceutical rubber (syringes, ampoules, and I.V. apparatus).^[8] Any babies receiving multiple injections (such as the seriously ill Toronto babies), worldwide, were exposed to this contaminant, MBT. In the FDA's National Center for Drug Analysis, MBT was proven to give falsely high digoxin readings by HPLC testing,^[9] the test method used by the Toronto Centre for Forensic Sciences during the criminal investigation.

Ont Min Health: Dr Eric HOSKINS' new task force on "SEXUAL ABUSE" with former Ont. Chief Justice Roland McMURTRY & Lawyer Marilou McPHEDRAN

Task force "to review and modernize " laws that deal with sexual abuse of patients by health professionals"

Lawyer McPhedran Chaired a similar Task Force in 2000. Was previously married ,with two biological sons, by a Lawyer, previously Chmn Toronto Stock Exchange..Lawyer McPhedran now lives with a female member of the wealthy Jackman family..

Lawyer Roland  McMurtry is remembered for Prosecuting Nurse Susan Nelles when he was Ont. Attorney-General.

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VIEWS for PAST MONTH

France	373
Canada	206
Germany	172
United States	154
Ukraine	58
Poland	19
Russia	11
China	7
United Kingdom	3
Bulgaria	2

SPECTACLES QUALITY CONTROL OPTOMETRIST OD (+/-PhD) vs OPTICIAN RO.

Quality control varies especially in discount optical stores. To ensure that the lenses are made to the exact prescription it is important to request a print-out of an auto-lensometer. It's also  important that the interpupillary distance is measured with a pupilometer.(not just a ruler). Safest to get glasses from an OPTOMETRIST with 7 years University education compared with an OPTICIAN with 2y full-time or (4y part-time) at a  Community College). It is absurd that insurance companies and Unions pay for for new specs very two years. Unless there is eye disease, lenses in an adult before 45y need not change After 45y a change every 5-7 y is usual. A good frame can last for life., e.g. if gold. Only the lenses require changing..
A problem is the use by some optical chains of cheap Chinese frames costing as little as a dollar.or two. The mark-up is magnificent. .

LMC ENDOCRINE CLINICS (Alberta, Ontario, Quebec)

LMC founded by Dr.Ronnie ARONSON MD(Tor.1990) FRCP(C) Int Med 1994/ Endo.1995.
Head office @ Can Nat.Institute for Blind 1929 Bayview Av., North Tor. Financed by Montreal PERSISTANCE CAPITAL PARTNERS  (portfolio includes  MEDISYS.)

As well as offering OHIP-paid Specialist services, LMC also has its own Pharmacies which supply meds & Diabetic equipment,(inc$7000 Insulin pumps). LMC also runs Drug trials.Patients are asked whether they take more than 3 meds/day. If so the LMC Pharm can bill OHIP $50/yearly for  Pharm. med. review. LMC pharms also offer home delivery.

Patients are first given a questionnaire (which includes income) and Wt & BP taken by a non-nurse "medical assistant" dressed in jeans,boots etc.

"CLOTHES MAKE THE MAN" Samuel.L.CLEMENS 1835-1910

USA firm Jos.A.Bank now selling on-line to Canuck clients. In Ontario Chiropractors (in  suits) look more professional than many MDs who try to appear as "working-class" operatives. No white coat, No jacket, No tie.. The Ont College of Phys & Surgeons Registrar appears at OMA Council meetings in  bomber-jacket, jeans, and work-boots.

www.JosBank.com

CENTRIFUGAL MOVE of TOP SPECIALISTS from TORONTO to cheaper Cities.

Three top Minimally Invasive Surgeons left Toronto. Two to Ottawa and one to London,Ont. Same phenomenon happened in London, UK where bright Doctors would work for a while in a London Teaching Hospital for the CV status then move away from the high-cost of housing to Provincial cities where a 4-bedroom house could be bought on a single NHS salary.. An upper-middle class home in Toronto is at least $1.5-mill. Unlike USA mortgages are not tax-deductible in Canada.

UK DAILY MAIL: ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE Predicted fiscal disaster

Mr O'Neill heads the Review on Antimicrobial Resistance, which was set up in July by Prime Minister David Cameron and publishes its findings today.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2869706/Superbugs-kill-10-MILLION-people-year-2050-cost-world-economy-100-TRILLION-unless-urgent-action-taken-tackle-growing-resistance-antibiotics.html#ixzz3LeG9Z4fw
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Mr O'Neill stressed the importance of nations across the world working together to avert the potential economic and health crisis.

He said: 'Drug-resistant infections already kill hundreds of thousands a year globally, and by 2050 that figure could be more than 10 million.

'The economic cost will also be significant, with the world economy being hit by up to 100 trillion US dollars (£63.6 trillion) by 2050 if we do not take action. 

WHAT IS ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE?  

In 1928 a piece of mould fortuitously contaminated a petri dish in Alexander Fleming's laboratory at St Mary's Hospital.

It produced a substance, later called penicillin, that killed the bacteria growing in the dish.

Twelve years later Fleming and others had taken this finding and created the 'wonder drug' of their time, which could cure patients of bacterial infections.

Further antibiotics were developed, revolutionising healthcare and paving the way for many of the most notable medical advances of the 20th century.

The breakthrough meant illnesses like pneumonia and tuberculosis, which until then had been deadly, could be cured.

A small cut no longer had the potential to be fatal if it became infected, and the dangers of childbirth and surgery were greatly reduced.

In recent years, advances in antiviral medications, have transformed HIV from a probable death sentence into a largely manageable lifelong condition. 

But bacteria and other pathogens are constantly evolving to resist new drugs.

Resistance is increasingly becoming a problem, because the pace at which scientists are discovering new antibiotics has slowed drastically, while antibiotic use is rising.

It is a problem not solely confined to bacteria, all microbes have the ability to mutate to beat drugs.

The great strides made in the past could be reversed, with diseases including malaria, TB, pneumonia once again spiralling out of control. 

'We cannot allow these projections to materialise for any of us, especially our fellow citizens in the Bric (Brazil, Russia, India and China) and Mint (Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey) world, and our ambition is such that we will search for bold, clear and practical long term solutions.'

He told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme, 'whatever we do in the UK, we are not going to solve the problem on our own', adding that the picture 'gets bleak' if the world does not take steps to counter the problem.

As well as stressing the importance of international cooperation, he suggested that an 'innovation fund' could help with the huge costs involved in developing new medicines. 

Politicians and scientists have warned of the need to find a cure for infections that have become resistant, with Mr Cameron this year stating it was a 'very real and worrying threat' that could send medicine 'back into the dark ages'. 

Professor Dame Sally Davies, chief medical officer for England, said the latest research is 'compelling'.

She said: 'We all know that antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is important. 

'This is a compelling piece of work, which takes us a step forward in understanding the true gravity of the threat.

'It demonstrates that the world simply cannot afford not to take action to tackle the alarming rise in resistance to antibiotics and other antimicrobial drugs we are witnessing at the moment.  

'I look forward to the ideas that Jim will recommend in due course for how we can begin to turn this tide globally.'

Professor Anthony Kessel, director for International Public Health at Public Health England, said 'if ever we needed a reminder of what a public health catastrophe looks like, then this has to be it'. 

'Stopping resistance developing should be straight forward: prescribing the right antibiotic for the right infection for the right time and stopping infections spreading by practicing good infection control,' he said.

'However, in reality this can be difficult to achieve, particularly in countries where antibiotics are freely available or there is lack of sanitation and healthcare is limited.

'For bacteria, the development of resistance to antibiotics is a natural evolutionary process in terms of survival. 

TORONTO STAR: OSHAWA LAKERIDGE HEALTH (aka Oshawa Gen Hosp) "STAFF SNOOPED INTO 500 FILES".

"Fourteen have been disciplined for accessing data in the Oshawa facility's mental health program" for the past ten years.

WSIB insurance for MDs & Staff not noted by OMA Review in 45 years.

WSIB INSURANCE for MEDICAL OFFICES

Although NOT MANDATORY, Ontario MDs can insure themselves and staff for Occupational injury, illnesses, and death cheaply by WSIB at the rate of 73 cents per every $100 of OHIP income and staff salary. For $200,000, yearly premium would be $1460,(about $28 a week) The Late WSIB Chmn Hon.Lincoln Alexander QC stated in a letter that provided contact with communicable disease is noted in an office diary, the MD and Staff would be covered by WSIB if infected. Estate of SARS-killed GP Nestor YANGA received nothing from the Ont Govt as he`was "self-employed". Had he been covered by WSIB his Estate wiould have received approx $100,000.

MDs not part of the $2.3-million 7 Local Health Integration Networks Primary Care Low Back Pain Pilot program

OMA members are not part of the $2.3-million LHIN "Primary Care Low Back Pain clinics.

Two will be Nurse Practitioner led. "Chiropractors, Physiotherapists, Occupational.Therapists, Kinesiologists & Registered Massage Therapits" will make up the Teams according to Health Minister Dr.Eric HOSKINS  MD(McMaster 1985) D.Phil(Oxon) FRCPC(Comm.Med 1994) today at 333 Sherborne St Medical Centre (previously the Canadian -Hungarian Drs REKAI  Central Hospital.). No OMA Board or Staff member was present at the announcement which was advertised by email to the medical media. An OMA member asked the Minister whether medically trained Osteopaths could apply.. Dr Hoskins replied that his Staff would reply to the question. (Misses Levi & Wilkinson).

(There was no discussion about this program at the $2-million OMA Council meeting Nov.22-23).

ontario.ca/health-news.

OMA ELECTION RESULTS of DIRECTORS ELECTED BY COUNCIL

Council has approx 250 paid delegates coming from all areas of the Province for the 2 day meeting (22-23 Nov.). Delegates are paid for time at Council + travel time from home + costs of travel and hotel (Hilton,145 Richmond St.Tor.)..Elections are held on Sunday morning. There are usually only about 190 still at Council.

DIAGNOSTIC ASSEMBLY: Cytologist ; Ont. Director of LIFE LABS (BC & Ont.) since 2011 Virginia WALLEY, MD(Western Ont,,London 1978) re-elected.

GENERAL PRACTICE ASSEMBLY : NORTH BAY GP James STEWART MD(Tor. 2001) beat incumbent Ottawa GP Alicia DONOHUE MD (Ottawa 1985).

MEDICAL (Specialist) ASSEMBLY: Only one nominee RICHMOND HILL (Northern Toronto suburb)
PAEDIATRICIAN Hirotaka YAMASHIRO MD (Tor.1993) Licensed in Ontario & Japan(2004)

MEDICAL INSURANCE: NON DISCLOSUREcosts couple $918,000

Couple still do not understand difference of MD's certificate of Fitness to Travel and FULL  DISCLOSURE f pre-existing conditions. Importance of insisting that patients declare any previous illness.

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HUMBOLDT, Sask. - A Saskatchewan mother says she is facing more than $900,000 in medical bills after giving birth unexpectedly in the United States and being told the costs won’t be covered by insurance.

• 
  

Jennifer Huculak was nearly six months pregnant when her water broke while on vacation in Hawaii in October 2013. After a lengthy hospital stay, Huculak’s daughter, Reece, was born prematurely and required a two-month stay in the neonatal intensive care unit.

Before her trip, Huculak said she purchased Blue Cross insurance and got the green light to travel from her doctor.

The total bill of $950,000 included more than $160,000 for Huculak’s hospital stay and $40,000 for a medical evacuation, she said. The rest of the cost went to care for Huculak’s daughter.
So far, she said Saskatchewan Health has paid for $20,000 of the bill and the U.S. picked up the cost of Reece’s delivery, at $12,000. That leaves $918,000, she said.
Blue Cross denied her claim, citing a pre-existing condition.

“I had a bladder infection and I hemorrhaged a bit at four months,” she said. “My doctor saw no reason for me not to go.

She said her doctor sent a letter to Blue Cross confirming that Huculak’s pregnancy was stable when she went on vacation, but the claim was still denied.

Alberta,BC,Ontario private sexual services for the disabled

http://www.sensualsolutions.ca/companionship/our-founder-trish-st-john/

2005 Sexual Health and Disability Alliance
 Dr. Rosalind Mary "Tuppy" Owens (born 12 November 1944) is a British sex therapist, consultant, campaigner, and writer.^[1][2]
Tuppy Owens was born in Cambridge. She gained a degree in zoology from Exeter University, and then worked in ecology in Africa and Trinidad^[1] during three years as a scientific administrator at the Natural Environment Research Council.^[3] She settled in London, where at first she continued that work. Then, in the late 1960s, she established a sex education book publishing company, for which she wrote and published The Sex Maniac’s Diary^[4] successfully between 1972 and 1995, and which she operated as a thriving and attention-grabbing business from her Mayfair flat^[3] — for example, the 1975 Sex Maniac's Diary was launched in August 1974 with a reception at the Bristol Hotel in London which was reported on the following day in the Financial Times.^[5]
From 1974, Owens also began lecturing on the subject of sex.^[6] In 1979, she started Outsiders Club, for people with disabilities seeking new friends and partners. From 1984, the Sex Maniac's Diary was published as The Safer Sex Maniac's Diary and provided the first visual instructions to the public on how to put a condom on securely; it also reviewed condoms and offered safer sex advice, all at the beginning of the outbreak of HIV.^[7]
Also in the 1980s, Owens trained as a sex therapist at St George's Hospital Medical School in London, where she gained a diploma in Human Sexuality in 1986.^[2] She was also subsequently awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the Institute of Advanced Study of Human Sexuality in San Francisco.^[2] In 2009 Tuppy was named one of the Family Planning Association‘s 80 most influential achievers in the field of family planning.
In the 1990s, after more than 30 years living in London Dr Tuppy Owens moved away and has, since then, lived in a croft in the North of Scotland.^[8]
In 2005, Tuppy Owens founded the Sexual Health and Disability Alliance (SHADA)^[1] to bring together health professionals interested in sex and disability. In November 2009, a conference with the title "Disability: Sex, Relationships and Pleasure" was held by SHADA with the Royal Society of Medicine.^[9] Tuppy produced the Sexual Respect Tool Kit and started the sexual advocacy service, ASAP. Tuppy also answers the Sex and Disability Helpline. Her book "Supporting Disabled People with their Sexual Lives will be published by Jessica Kingsley on 19 November 2014.
Dr Tuppy Owens remains active in running Outsiders.^[10] At the same time, she also runs the Sex Maniacs Ball to fund Outsiders, and is the founder of another fundraiser, The Erotic Awards,^[11] now called The Sexual Freedom Awards and run by Charlotte Rose. Tuppy is the chair of the Sexual Freedom Coalition^[12]

TORONTO STAR Nov.15 HAMILTON Regional Lab mistakes SARCOID for Stage-four Ca.lung.

Larry REECE, 46y after biopsy lung in June 2014 was given a year to live and referred to Juravinski Cancer Centre for chemotherapy. Mr.Reece's employer Burlington THERMO FISHER SCIENTIFIC (Consulting Chief MO Dr.Paul BILLINGS) paid for PRIVATE biopsy in USA which showed SARCOIDOSIS.in October 2014.  Legal action underway. Hamilton, St Joseph Hosp ("Healthcare") Chief of Staff Dr Hugh FULLER MBBS(London,UK1973) FRCP(C 1978)admits mistake.by HAMILTON REGIONAL LABORATORY.

LONGWOODS Breakfast with the Chiefs @ TELUS, ,25 YORK St.,Toronto 14 Nov.2014

Dr Farzad Mostashari MD

Taking an Aggressive Stance on EMRs

View Full Bio

Visiting Fellow, Economic Studies, Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform

Dr. Farzad Mostashari is a visiting fellow of the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform at the Brookings Institution. Dr. Mostashari's work covers a range of topics related to helping clinicians improve care and patient health through health IT, focusing on small practice transformation by developing innovative payment models that can better support these types of practices. This work will include expanding the reach of the Accountable Care Organization (ACO) Learning Network, a Brookings-Dartmouth project that provides participating organizations the tools necessary to successfully implement accountable care.

About 300 Medical policy execs attended the luxurious auditorium of TELUS.  Buffet breakfast catered by "Playing with Fire". included smoked salmon, egg frittata, yoghourt & berry parfait, fruit salad.etc.

OMA had 3 attendees. From Ontario MD 2 employees: Anne FINLAY & Shafiq HABIB. OMA member
Alex.Franklin DPH &DIH(Tor.).

BROOKINGS INSTITUTE, WASHINGTON,DC

Robert Somers Brookings

Robert S. Brookings was born and acquired his early education in Cecil County, Maryland, before moving to St. Louis, Missouri at age 17. He began as a clerk and later traveling salesman for Cupples and Marston, manufacturers and distributors of woodenware. In less than four years he became a partner in the firm at age twenty-one and helped build the business into one of the largest wholesale traders in the United States.

He achieved remarkable success in business at an early age, and began to reach out for a broader perspective through education and travel. At 24, he spent a year in Berlin and traveled throughout Europe, nursing a dream to become a musician. He eventually returned to America and resumed his successful business career that carried him into the twentieth century.
As a civic leader and philanthropist, Brookings turned his creative energy to building Washington University and other St. Louis institutions until, with the coming of World War I, he moved to Washington, D.C. and onto the world stage. He served on the new War Industries Board as commissioner of Finished Products and chairman of the Price Fixing Committee. In this role he became the link between the government and hundreds of industries. He achieved remarkable results under very difficult circumstances, and for his war service he was recognized with the U.S. Distinguished Service Medal, the French Legion of Honor, and Italy's Commander of the Crown.
His work within the government during the war showed him the need for improved economic research and a trained corps of civil servants. In 1916, Brookings worked with other government reformers to create the first private organization devoted to the fact-based study of national public policy. The new Institute for Government Research became the chief advocate for effective and efficient public service and sought to bring "science" to the study of government.
Brookings created two sister organizations: the Institute of Economics in 1922 and a graduate school in 1924. In 1927, the institutes and the school merged to form the present-day Brookings Institution, with the mission to promote, conduct and foster research "in the broad fields of economics, government administration and the political and social sciences."

Dalla Lana FREE 3-day meeting at MaRS.building, 101 College St. Toronto.

SANOFI PASTEUR et al SPONSORED 3-day MaRS building meeting of Dalla` Lana School of Public Health on "Creating a Pandemic of Health-Contagious Ideas for a Healthy Future".

Sanofi Pasteur ($100,000) and others paid for several eminent speakers to visit Toronto..

At 85y Past (1972-77) Fed.Min.Health Hon.Marc LALONDE LLM (Mont.) MA(Oxon.) DESD(Ottawa) is an elegant example of good health and first-class rhetoric.He stayed for three days.

T & G Angelopoulos Prof. & Dean of Harvard Public Health (2009)  Julio FRENK MORA MD(Nat.U.Mexico) MPH & PhD(Michigan). Mexican Min. of Health 2000-2006.

Nuffield Dept.Population Health U.Oxford Prof.(Epid.) Zhengming CHEN MBBS(Shanghai 1983) PhD(Oxon. 1993) Director of CHINA KADOORIE BIOBANK: 512,000 adults.(Blood and physical measurements).

About the Study

During recent decades, China has experienced a rapid transition in the main disease patterns of its population, with a substantial decrease in maternal and child mortality, as well as infectious and parasitic diseases. On the other hand, as a consequence of large changes in lifestyle and increased use of tobacco, mortality from many chronic non-communicable diseases has been increasing steadily. As a result, most of the premature mortality now involves the chronic diseases of middle age, such as stroke, ischaemic heart disease (IHD), diabetes, cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). It is estimated that chronic diseases now account for over 80% of deaths and 70% of disability-adjusted life years lost in China (Wang et al. Lancet 2005).
Chronic diseases which are normally associated with affluence (e.g. IHD, diabetes) are more prevalent in urban and coastal regions, whereas chronic diseases associated with poverty (e.g. COPD, oesophageal and stomach cancer) are more common in inland and rural areas. However, for each major disease there is also large unexplained variation in age-specific death rates between different parts of China (Chen et al. JECH 2007). These large unexplained differences in disease rates among areas suggest that avoidable causes of these diseases still await discovery. Moreover, even within one area substantial differences between individual genetic composition, physical characteristics, blood biochemistry, or lifestyle could eventually affect the likelihood of an individual developing a certain disease.
Large prospective cohort studies are an important way of investigating many slow-acting causes of the common chronic diseases in the population. Although there have already been several prospective studies of major chronic diseases in China, each had its limitations, including small numbers of participants, lack of blood samples, involving just one city or occupational cohort, and limited data collection on risk exposures and outcome measures. Consequently, the aetiology of many common chronic diseases in China is still poorly understood, and there is still substantial uncertainty about the present and future relevance to population mortality of many common risk factors, such as smoking. In 2004, we launched a large blood-based prospective study, the China Kadoorie Biobank study, with the goal of recruiting and assessing 0.5 million people and then following their health for a few decades.

What are the main objectives of the CKB?

The CKB is an open-ended study with very broad research aims. The main objectives of the study are: 1) To assess reliably the effects of both established and emerging risk factors for many diseases, not only overall but also under various circumstances (e.g. at different ages and at different levels of other risk factors); 2) To determine the complex interplay between genes and environmental factors and between different genes on the risks of common chronic diseases.

Funding Agencies

Kadoorie Charitable Foundation	www.chinadevelopmentbrief.com
Wellcome Trust	www.wellcome.ac.uk
Medical Research Council	www.mrc.ac.uk
British Heart Foundation	www.bhf.org.uk
Cancer Research UK	www.cancerresearchuk.org
National Natural Science Foundation, China	www.nsfc.gov.cn
Ministry of Science and Technology, China	www.most.gov.cn/eng/

Northwest International (Australia,Brazil,Canada,Germany)Healthcare Properties Paul DALLA LANA DONATED ANOTHER $25-million to U.TORONTO DALLA LANA SCHOOL of PUBLIC HEALTH

OMA RECOGNISES HOMOEOPATHY

OMA has sent out details of coming Toronto "HOMEOPATHY" courses at cost of $1.60 per mailing.:(:large brown envelope -with OMA crest- for a thin brochure). Homoeopathy is NOT a benefit of OHIP and so can be billed privately at free-market rates.Courses to held at WESTIN PRINCE HOTEL.in East Toronto.

Royal HOMOEOPATHS include

Classical Homoeopathy.
By Dr Margery Blackie CVO, MD, FFHOM.
Edited by Drs Charles Elliott and Frank Johnson.
Beaconsfield Publishers, Beaconsfield 1986.
Pp. 320.
9.50 pounds

Margery Grace Blackie 1898 – 1981

Margery Grace Blackie 1898 – 1981 was an orthodox doctor who converted to homeopathy to become the homeopath of Queen Elizabeth 

Margery Grace Blackie was born at Redbourn, Hertfordshire, England in 1898. She qualified in medicine at the London School of Medicine for Women in 1923, and in the following year joined the staff of the London Homeopathic Hospital.
 She obtained her M.D. from the London School of Medicine for Women in 1923.

During her career she combined a busy homeopathic general practice with her hospital work, which culminated in her appointment in 1966 as Honorary Consultant Physician to the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital.
She was Dean of the Faculty of Homoeopathy from 1965 to 1979. She was appointed Physician to Queen Elizabeth II in 1968.

 Homeopathic pioneer Margery Blackie was commemorated with an English Heritage Blue Plaque on 12 October at 3pm at 18 Thurloe Street, London, SW7 where the homeopathic physician lived and worked from 1929 to 1980. The Blue Plaque was unveiled by HRH Princess Alexandra.

Margery Blackie was born in Hertfordshire in 1898, the daughter of a leading homeopath. At the age of five Blackie declared that she wanted to become a doctor, such was the influence of her uncle James Compton Burnett, a leading homeopath himself, and his work upon her.
Blackie entered the London School of Medicine for Women in 1917 and before qualifying became a Resident at the London Homeopathic Hospital. Her experiences at the hospital confirmed her belief in homeopathy, and in 1926 she set up her own practice in Kensington. Here, she developed sound consulting room methods and encouraged patients to tell their story in their own way, while also making a clinical diagnosis of her patients, using conventional methods such as x-rays and pathological tests. Her aim was simple – to understand her patients as deeply as possible.
During the 1930’s, Blackie continued to work at the London Homeopathic Hospital, but spent most of her time developing her own practice. Her flair for diagnosis had become legendary. Patients included a number of public figures such as Julia Myra Hess and Julia de Beausobre Lady Namier.
In 1949, Blackie was elected President of the revitalised Faculty of Homoeopathy. This was a major achievement; she was the only woman office holder in the Faculty – and marked a phase in her life. She took the lead amongst her British colleagues and mixed frequently with homeopaths from all over the world.
In 1964, Blackie was elected Dean of the Faculty of Homoeopathy, with responsibility for all teaching. It was from this position that Blackie influenced a whole generation of homeopathic doctors.
In 1969, in a moment which marked the climax of her career, Blackie was appointed Physician toQueen Elizabeth II. By the mid-1970’s, Blackie’s own health was in decline, but she continued to see patients at 18 Thurloe Street, London, SW7 until 1980, when she left London to retire to Hedingham Castle in Essex. It was there that she died on 24 August 1981.
18 Thurloe Street, London, SW7 was ideally suited to Blackie and served as her home as well as her consulting room. It had a homely atmosphere, and there was always an open fire in the consulting room to welcome patients, students and homeopaths, who would travel from all over the world to sit in during her surgeries.

Dr. Margery Blackie and Sir John Weir

Sir John Weir, GCVO, Royal Victorian Chain (19 October 1879 – 17 April 1971), MB ChB Glasgow 1907, FFHom 1943, Physician Royal to several twentieth century monarchs.
Born in the town of Paisley, in Renfrewshire, Scotland, Dr Weir was to become Physician Royal to King George V (reigned 1910–36; Weir his physician from 1918), King Edward VIII (reigned 1936), King George VI (reigned 1936–52), Queen Elizabeth II (physician 1952-68), and King Haakon VII (1872–1957) of Norway, whose wife Maud (1869–1938) was the youngest daughter of King Edward VII (1841–1910).
Weir attended Allan Glen's School in Glasgow, a school noted for its emphasis on science. He received his medical education first at Glasgow University MB ChB 1907, and then on a sabbatical year in Chicago under the tutelage of Dr James Tyler Kent of Hering Medical College during 1908-9, along with Drs Harold Fergie Woods (1883–1961) and Douglas Borland (1885–1961).
He returned to the London Homeopathic Hospital as Consultant Physician in 1910, and was appointed the Compton-Burnett Professor of Materia Medica in 1911. He rose to become President of the Faculty of Homeopathy in 1923.

He spoke on homeopathy before the Royal Society of Medicine in 1932, and was knighted by King George V that same year. The renovated Manchester Homoeopathic Institute and Dispensary was opened in Oxford Street by Sir John Weir in May 1939. Weir said in an “address: homeopathy…is no religion, no sect, no fad, no humbug…remedies do not act directly on disease; they merely stimulate the vital reactions of the patient, and this causes him to cure himself.” [Sir John Weir, 1931, 200-201]

Having advanced through all levels of the Royal Victorian Order he was, as a rare distinction, awarded the Royal Victorian Chain in 1947, possibly as a mark of the medical care he gave to the ailing King George VI.

TORONTO: HOSPITALS SECURITY DEFICIT

(BLOG COMMENT)
Unlike in USA, Toronto Hospitals have no security control at entrances or requirement of a visitor badge to be admitted to in-patient floors. Some e.g. Toronto General and Toronto Western havemany  retail food vendors and shops. In Toronto Western lobby the arm chairs are used as sleeping facilities by local "homeless": with their bags.Toronto East General  and St Joseph Hosp.have least entrances and retail stores.

OMA COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINE MEETING: Jackson Hall of Art Gallery Ontario 16 Oct.: Conservative MP (Oakville) Terence YOUNG on proposed punitive federal legislation on Pharmaceutical Executives.(incl 2 years prison).

At the meeting MP T.YOUNG  said that Bill C-17 which began as`a Private member's Bill is now backed by Fed.MOH Hon Ronalee Ambrose PC..

According to Mr Young, his 15y daughter Vanessa suffered from BULIMIA (Nervosa). For some reason a local MD prescribed cisapride (Prepulsid) a`serotonin receptor agonist which increases acetylcholine release
in the enteric nervous system. Prepulsid was indicated for GERD & diabetic gastroparesis.'.Mr Young said he knew that the prescription was "off label" : there was no indication for use in children with bulimia.

Vanessa died in hospital from arrhythmia .It was known that Prepulsid was a drug that could prolong Q-T interval. 2.5% of popn have prolonged Q-T. 10-15% with LQTS (Long Q-T syndrome) have normal ECGs. LQTS can be an inherited condition: usually AUTOSOMAL DOMINANT. . TORSADE de POINTES is a complication.

Mr Young did not say whether his daughter had been treated by a Paed. psychiatrist or attended an Eating disorder clinic.Bulimia nervosa,"an ominous varient of Anorexia nervosa" first described by UK Psych Prof . G.F.M. RUSSELL BMBCh(Edin 1950) FRCP in PSYCHOLOGICAL MEDICINE.

Psychol Med. 1979 Aug;9(3):429-48.

Bulimia nervosa: an ominous variant of anorexia nervosa.

Russell G.

Abstract

Thirty patients were selected for a prospective study according to two criteria: (i) an irresistible urge to overeat (bulimia nervosa), followed by self-induced vomiting or purging; (ii) a morbid fear of becoming fat. The majority of the patients had a previous history of true or cryptic anorexia nervosa. Self-induced vomiting and purging are secondary devices used by the patients to counteract the effects of overeating and prevent a gain in weight. These devices are dangerous for they are habit-forming and lead to potassium loss and other physical complications. In common with true anorexia nervosa, the patients were determined to keep their weight below a self-imposed threshold. Its level was set below the patient's healthy weight, defined as the weight reached before the onset of the eating disorder. In contrast with true anorexia nervosa, the patients tended to be heavier, more active sexually, and more likely to menstruate regularly and remain fertile. Depressive symptoms were often severe and distressing and led to a high risk of suicide. A theoretical model is described to emphasize the interdependence of the various symptoms and the role of self-perpetuating mechanisms in the maintenance of the disorder. The main aims of treatment are (i) to interrupt the vicious circle of overeating and self-induced vomiting (or purging), (ii) to persuade the patients to accept a higher weight. Prognosis appears less favourable than in uncomplicated anorexia nervosa.



(The following is a full text of Terence’(YOUNG) speech.)
Mr. Speaker I am very pleased to stand here in the Parliament of Canada today to endorse Vanessa’s Law, the Protecting Canadians from Unsafe Drugs Act.
I am honoured to be a member of the first Canadian government ever to tackle the insidious and largely hidden problem of the injuries and deaths routinely caused by prescription and over-the counter drugs.
I thank two consecutive Ministers of Health, and our Prime Minister who have acted boldly to make Canadians safer, directly taking on the most influential industry in the world, Big Pharma, and the status quo in the practice of medicine, which has been corrupted by that industry.
Today is a milestone for me and the Young family, as well as one for the Government of Canada.
I stand here today due to a tragedy in our family that took place exactly fourteen years ago last week, on Saturday March 18, 2000.
Without warning, our fifteen year old daughter Vanessa—for whom this act is named—fell down dead in front of me, her heart stopped by the Johnson and Johnson blockbuster prescription drug Prepulsid, a drug we later discovered she should never have been given.Despite emergency ambulance services and valiant efforts of doctors at two hospitals, Vanessa never regained consciousness and died the next day.
We never had a chance to say goodbye.
On March 20, 2000 I began the journey that led me to the House of Commons this morning.
The facts of this tragedy shock every lay-person who hears them. Yet I was to quickly discover the insiders: doctors, researchers, and people at Big Pharma were never shocked. They knew all along that potentially life threatening drugs were being pushed on patients with non-life threatening conditions, as the drug business had become all about Wall St. And they were all benefiting financially, big time.
Our doctors are groomed through highly sophisticated Big Pharma relationship marketing programs and get their first free lunch the first week of medical school. They go on to naively accept up to $ 4 billion a year in North America in gifts, lunches, dinners, event tickets and free trips from drug companies, imagining these debts of gratitude don’t change their prescribing behaviour. Sometimes I’d ask them, “Do you think the drug company takes doctors to Bahamas out of kindness?”
They also accept and hand out – without any prescription – $3 Billion a year worth of free samples of new prescription drugs, creating debts of gratitude in their own patients; a dangerous practice because patients get no safety warnings. In November 2010 eighteen year old Brennan McCartney of Bolton, Ontario took a free sample of antidepressant Ciprolex with no safety warning for suicide which is written right on the drug’s label, and went out and hanged himself from a tree in a public park.
Four doctors knew Vanessa was taking Prepulsid for bloating and a mild form of bulimia. Yet neither Vanessa nor we, her parents, were given any warning that the drug was already responsible for 80 deaths. Why?
How could this happen to the beautiful innocent child her doctor described as “the picture of perfect health?” How could four doctors, people we totally trusted, allow Vanessa to continue taking a drug that could stop her heart?
I began the next day to find out how Vanessa died, and why, and uncovered many dark secrets.
Prescription drugs taken as prescribed, the right way, are the fourth leading cause of death in North America — over 106,000 deaths a year just in hospitals. Another 100,000 occur outside hospitals. That’s about 20,000 deaths a year in Canada, with 200,000 drug injuries.

What They Never Talk About

The drug industry representatives who infest parliament hill love to talk about when doctors make errors, or patients take the wrong drug, or too much of a drug.
What they never talk about is when a drug used the right way injures or kills a patient, causing 10,000 deaths a year in Canada.
In fact one in nine patients in Canada suffer serious drug reaction in hospitals.

1. All drugs are poisons. Any drug can be toxic. It’s just a matter of dose. And all drugs cause adverse effects. Some people think OTC drugs are totally safe. Yet ordinary Acetaminophen (Tylenol) causes hundreds of deaths every year, and more cases of acute liver failure than all other medications combined. Too much taken with alcohol, and it can destroy one’s liver.
Yet has your doctor ever mentioned that?
Ordinary aspirin and Ibuprofen cause thousands of deaths every year across North America, mostly by internal bleeding. Yet most patients have never heard this. Why not? There is only one reason: Because the people that market them — Big Pharma — don’t want patients to know the truth. That would reduce sales!
What happened to Vanessa, and Brennan McCartney, could happen to anyone who takes drugs without proper safety warnings. Nothing significant has changed since 2000 except the current introduction of plain language labelling for drugs, and this Bill.
Vanessa’s Law will empower the Minister of Health to compel drug companies to change their labels to clearly reflect the true risks to patients from their drugs, so patients can make an informed decision to take that drug... or not. Patients can then take drugs only when they are relatively safe.
2. Twenty seven drugs have been pulled off the Canadian market since 1997 for injuring and killing patients. Propulsid is one. Another, painkiller Vioxx, killed 55,000 to 65,000 patients worldwide in four years on the market. Why don’t most Canadians know that? Because the drug companies never admit their drug harmed anyone; they spends months and months investigating serious reactions. Then they attempt to blame the patient, concluding –
“He must have taken too much;”
“She must have had a previous undiagnosed and unknown condition;”
“It must have been the combination of our great drug with the other drug he was taking. We hereby contraindicate our great drug with their drug.”
So they change the fine print on the 50-page label that few doctors and even fewer patients ever read.
Then they carry on promoting it, often off label, which means for conditions it has never been proven safe or effective.
Doctors can prescribe any drug, at any time, for any condition, for any patient, even if it’s never been proven safe for such use. In fact, 70% of doctors prescribe off-label sometimes. Modern medicine is the Wild West.

That’s what the Johnson and Johnson detail reps did to Vanessa’s doctors. They whispered to them that Prepulsid was effective for teens that threw up after meals. Yet it was contraindicated, dangerous for anyone throwing up. That was the official warning. But they didn’t whisper that in her doctor’s ear. Because Prepulsid was heading for blockbuster status: the golden calf: a billion dollar a year drug!
And Just before Health Canada is about to take action to expose the risks, the drug companies will pull deadly drugs off the market “voluntarily.” That way they can keep selling them in over a hundred other countries in the world – because they never admitted their drug caused any harm.
That’s the drug business.
Vanessa’s Law will give the Minister of Health the power to order drugs that present a serious or imminent risk of injury or death off the market without delay. Had this been done with Prepulsid, instead of negotiating over weeks with Janssen-Ortho, Prepulsid would have been recalled.
Vanessa would be alive today, along with many others.
3. Drug companies refuse to provide the true number of serious adverse drug reactions to health Canada. They report what they hear about, but what does NOT appear on the label is this crucial fact: only 1% of serious adverse drug reactions are actually reported by doctors. Most doctors have never reported an ADR! In fact, outside of the doctors I’ve met who specialize in drug safety, I’ve never met a doctor who reported an ADR. And despite my advocacy in this matter for 14 years – that reporting adverse drug reactions saves lives by providing a widely based early warning system for dangerous drugs – the Canadian Medical Association and Ontario Medical Association to this day do not support making adverse drug reaction reporting a standard practice or mandatory.
Doctors are fooled by their own negligence in not reporting lifesaving information. Patients die as a result.
On October 9, 2011 eighteen year old Allison Borges of Oakville was found in a stairwell of her residence at Queen’s University dead, having suffered a pulmonary embolism caused by a birth control pill her doctor told her was safe. She received no warning that the newer birth control pills are more likely to cause deadly blood clots than the older ones. No woman should be given a birth control pill without a clear warning of deadly blood clots. Yet it happens all the time. Sadly, 18 year old Merit McKenzie of Calgary suffered the same fate in January 2013. Vanessa’s Law, if implemented, would have prevented these two tragic deaths.
Vanessa’s Law wil, for the first time, impose a duty on healthcare institutions to report all serious ADRs, which will capture any ADR that causes the patients to end up in a hospital or clinic. That will hopefully capture the majority of serious ADRs, so officials can be alerted to dangerous drugs faster. This will help get them off the market faster and save lives. We must rely on the provinces to persuade doctors to stop covering up adverse drug reactions caused by their prescriptions.
4. Over half of the serious side effects of new drugs won’t be revealed during testing. In fact, in the first two years on the US market, one in five –20%– of new drugs will be pulled off the market for injuring or killing patients, or be assigned the highest level of warning – a Black Box warning to be handed to each patient with their prescription – a more effective warning Canada has never had.
In May 2007 18 year old Sara Carlin of Oakville stopped taking her prescription antidepressant Paxil abruptly, then doubled up, to catch up two days later. She had no warning that Paxil could cause suicidal ideation and akathesia in those circumstances. Her father found her the next day, hanged by her own hand in the basement of their home. Neither Sara nor her family heard about the five Dear Doctor letters warnings that Health Canada had sent out about Paxil.
Vanessa’s Law will for the first time allow the Minister to order an new assessment of a drug, including conducting tests or studies and report them to Health Canada – to change the drug label to better reflect the newly identified risks.
Proposed regulations for drug labelling will empower Health Canada to order drug companies to issue labels and patient information leaflets that are written in plain language with the rare but dangerous potential side effects listed up-front on page one, so doctors and patients can decide if the true dangers are worth risking treating their condition.
5. In 2003 Dr. Allan Roses, World-Wide Vice President of genetics at GSK – the world’s second largest Big Pharma company – made this statement at a scientific meeting, not knowing a journalist was present: “The vast majority of drugs, more than 90%, only work in 30 or 50% of people.” What this means is, with a worldwide market of $800 billion for prescription drugs, as much as $400 billion a year is not only wasted on drugs, but millions of patients are exposed to the dangers with no chance of benefitting. According to The Canadian Pharmacist Association between $2 billion and $9 billion is wasted in our drug system every year. This means that as patients increasingly reject the drug industry’s pill for every ill, our health care system will save billions of dollars, hopefully to be invested in preventative care.

Mr. Speaker, 70% of adverse drug reactions are preventable. They are caused by the aggressive over-marketing of drugs, the misleading sales pitches, and the covering up of harms that victimize patients.
How could any moral corporate executive push a drug that could stop a child’s heart to treat bloating? Because that’s exactly what the executives at Johnson and Johnson’s drug arm Janssen-Ortho did. And they broke the law doing it. This is quite normal in the drug business.
Drug safety is about one thing: Does the potential risk of this drug outweigh the potential benefits for me? Yet the Big Pharma companies do everything they can to make sure patients have no way to know the answer to this question. They exaggerate the benefits, and hide the risks.

Does This Sound Outrageous?

I know this sounds outrageous. It sounds like a father who lost his daughter AND has lost his objectivity.
So let me give you just a few factual examples of hundreds, where Big Pharma companies have openly admitted to crimes to increase sales of their drugs:
In 2012 GSK — the people who made our H1N1 vaccine in Canada — paid a fine of $3 billion, the highest in history, to US governments for illegally marketing three drugs: Paxil, an anti-depressant which causes suicides, Avandia, a diabetes drug that causes heart attacks and strokes, and Wellbutrin, another antidepressant which causes suicides.
Yet GSK had grossed $26 billion in sales for these three drugs in the previous six years. And with markups in drugs in the hundreds and thousands of percent, a $3 billion fine was just a cost of doing business for GSK. Like paying a parking ticket.
Shortly after Vanessa died I asked ADR expert Dr. Neil Shear why drug companies don’t just take dangerous drugs like Prepulsid off the market. He replied “In the drug industry, killing people is not bad for business. As long as it’s not too many.” Nothing has changed since that time.
Big Pharma companies put the legal costs from injuries and deaths right in their business plans.
Here are some more examples of Big Pharma corporate crimes:

• Merck has paid $1.6 billion in settlements since 2008 in part for paying illegal kickbacks to health care providers;
• Ely Lilly paid $ 1.3 billion in 2009 for illegally promoting Zyprexa, leading to the deaths of many seniors;
• Novartis paid $422 million in 2010 for off-label promotion of Trileptal;
• Forest Labs paid $313 million in 2010 for off-label promotion of Celexa and Levothyroid;
• Allergan paid $825 million in 2010 for off-label promotion of Botox;
• AstraZeneca paid $520 million in 2010 for misleading doctors and patients about the safety of Seroquel;
• Johnson and Johnson paid $81 million in 2010 for off-label promotion of Topomax;
• Elan paid $203.5 million in 2010 for illegally marketing Zomegran;
• Sanofi-Aventis paid $ 96.5 million in 2009 for illegal pricing of a nasal spray;
• Abbott paid $22.5 million in 2010 for blocking 23 states from getting a cheaper alternative for Tricor;

And these offences are just some of those that occurred since 2008.

How do they get away with all this?

Power. And influence. They are some of the wealthiest companies in the world, with no loyalty to any country.
And above all else, despite the thousands of deaths, no Big Pharma executive ever goes to jail. Imagine if murderers, or rapists, or extortionists could simply negotiate payments with some government official to keep out of jail... and keep on doing what they have been doing.
The only way these companies will ever stop their corrupt practices is (1) if the practices become unprofitable... and (2) if those responsible face real jail time.
So Vanessa’s Law for the first time will impose tough new penalties for unsafe products, increasing fines from $5,000 a day to $5 million a day and include jail time for up to two years. That’s the only way to actually get their attention and change their ways.
And if these serious violations are caused intentionally, court imposed fines could be unlimited. My hope is that, when life threatening dangers were intentionally covered up, judges will fine offenders like this the entire amount of their sales of a blockbuster drug or more. Nothing less will change their practices.
Mr. Speaker, Vanessa’s Law is the beginning of the end for the unscrupulous and corrupt marketing practices in the Big Pharma companies in Canada. It will no doubt reduce drug injuries and deaths in Canada by thousands. It is much needed and long overdue.

We can never have Vanessa back in this life; or Sara Carlin; or Alison Borges; or Brennan McCartney; or Merit McKenzie.
But we can change things moving forward. We can do what governments are supposed to do: protect vulnerable people. Vanessa’s Law represents the highest calling of a government. When the death of an innocent child can lead to definitive action by the government of Canada to help prevent others from the same fate, our democracy is at its best.
Mr. Speaker, every school day across Canada millions of school children sing “From far and wide, Oh Canada, we stand on guard for thee.” But that promise has to be a two way street!
Vanessa Young would be proud to see that, with Bill C-17, Canada is standing on guard for its school children, and seniors, and other vulnerable patients.

(Comment: no mention of prescriber)