Ontario Government reduces`fee for General assessment to $50.This allows for about 25 minutes.
Patients who subscribe to private MEDISYS Health Group & CLEVELAND CLINIC CANADA at about $3,000 a a year will get a FIVE HOUR yearly General assessment.
The fiction of equal medicine for all in Ontario is now obvious..
Officially Private medicine is not allowed in Ontario. The private clinics use a legal loop-hole by naming them
WELLNESS CLINICS.
23 Jan 2013
22 Jan 2013
"APOTEX" Dr.B.S.SHERMAN BSc(Eng. U.Tor) PhD (MIT) loses case
From McCARTHY TETRAULT LLP
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21 Jan 2013
"ALL IN THE FAMIGLIA"
from TORONTO STAR
70 Comments
Mt. Sinai Hospital’s top doctor received $436,000 over seven years
from ORNGE to advise founder Chris Mazza on medical issues — work that
the air ambulance firm’s new managers cannot confirm was performed.
The additional payments to Dr. Tom Stewart — who earns about $607,000 in annual salary and benefits as Mt. Sinai’s physician-in-chief — were not disclosed on the provincial sunshine list that tracks how public dollars are spent.
Stewart’s $75,000-per-year consulting contract at ORNGE is similar to a contract of up to $400,000 annually that Mazza himself had. In both cases, the new managers of ORNGE are now struggling to determine what work was done to justify the payments. The monies paid to both men were public funds.
“Most interactions Dr. Stewart had with ORNGE were directly with Dr. Mazza. As a result, we are unable to confirm the work performed,” ORNGE spokesman James MacDonald said.
In a response to questions from the Star, Stewart said he delivered value for the money as Mazza frequently contacted him with questions. “I saw evidence of my counsel play out in several areas, for example, research development, clinician recruitment and improved critical-care system integration,” Stewart said.
The Mt. Sinai doctor, when asked, told the Star he also provided advice to Mazza on how to potentially sell the ORNGE air ambulance model to United Arab Emirates clients, a Mazza plan that went nowhere.
The consulting contract between ORNGE and Stewart ended in January 2012 after the former chairman of ORNGE alerted the provincial health ministry to his concern that Stewart and Mazza were both being paid for work they did not do. Chairman Rainer Beltzner’s Dec. 23, 2011 letter to the province raising these concerns was made a public exhibit at the Queen’s Park committee investigating ORNGE.
Stewart would not grant the Star an interview but, using Mt. Sinai public relations official Sally Szuster as an intermediary, he provided responses to questions over the past four days. At Mt. Sinai, Stewart is physician-in-chief and chief clinical officer.
Mazza and Stewart first met each other, Stewart says, during the SARS outbreak in 2003. Stewart said he, Mazza and others “led the effort against the SARS outbreak.”
They became social friends, Stewart said. When Mazza created ORNGE in 2005, he asked Stewart to provide ongoing advice. Stewart said he was “clinical care adviser for ORNGE.” He has a contract with ORNGE, but said he could not disclose it at the present time. ORNGE says it will release the contract but requires Stewart’s permission.
Stewart said his annual “stipend” from ORNGE was $75,000. ORNGE’s MacDonald said they have found payments totalling $436,000 to Stewart.
Friday, provincial health minister Deb Matthews released Mazza’s expense records, revealing that the ORNGE boss had a lavish lifestyle, jetting around the world, staying at fine hotels from Rio de Janeiro to Paris to Milan. Conservative critic, MPP Frank Klees, dubbed him “First Class Chris.”
Included in those records are several meals (modest compared to others in the box of documents) with Stewart and also several parking receipts filed when Mazza visited Stewart at Mt. Sinai. In February 2006 he filed for a $62 dinner with Stewart at Café Nervosa in Yorkville, and in July 2007 a $272 dinner at Blowfish restaurant on King St. West.
In his email responses, Stewart said his knowledge of critical care issues at hospitals helped Mazza structure ORNGE. In explaining what he advised Mazza on for $75,000 a year, Stewart said he performed: “The review of clinical care policies and procedures, recruitment of physicians and researchers who specialize in specific areas of critical care and transport, advising on how patient transport services can optimize patient flow.”
Stewart acknowledged that his initial contacts were primarily with Mazza. “I was contacted most frequently by Dr. Mazza who would often refer me to other members of the ORNGE staff.”
At no time, Stewart said, did he hear any rumblings that “the terms of my engagement were not being met.”
At ORNGE Sunday, officials told a different story.
ORNGE spokesman MacDonald said that “objections were raised regarding this contract within ORNGE, but Dr. Mazza gave direction that it remain in effect.” The contract was renewed “automatically,” MacDonald said.
At the public hearings into ORNGE last August, former chair Rainer Beltzner said that in late December 2011 (three weeks after the Star broke the first part of the ORNGE story) he learned that Mazza had an annual contract as medical director and it was unclear what, if anything, Mazza did to earn up to $400,000 a year for the job. Just that portion of Mazza’s salary over the years totalled $2.2 million.
Beltzner wrote a letter Dec. 23, 2011 to a top provincial health official, raising the issue of both Mazza’s and Stewart’s payments.
“On another matter brought to my attention yesterday … it appears that the company, through Dr. Mazza’s authorization and insistence, was paying a Dr. Tom Stewart at Mount Sinai Hospital for services that do not appear to have been needed or delivered. This relationship has been going on for some time apparently, and there is a need to examine the underlying motive and authorization for these payments and the acceptance of these monies by Dr. Stewart.”
It is unclear who ended the contract, ORNGE or Stewart. ORNGE said the contract was “terminated.” Stewart said he resigned in January, 2012. By that point, Mazza had left ORNGE, first on sick leave then permanently. The for-profit ORNGE company he was employed by was put into bankruptcy.
As to his annual ORNGE payments not being part of the Sunshine List, Stewart said he was “not aware of how ORNGE reported its salaries.”
The Sunshine List records public officials paid more than $100,000 in public monies, but it is not clear how an individual is dealt with if they receive funds from more than one public source
ORNGE paid $436,000 to top doctor to advise Chris Mazza
University of Toronto
Tom Stewart MD OTTAWA 1988 FRCPC (Int.Med) received $436,000 from ORNGE, and the company would like to know what he did to earn it.
The additional payments to Dr. Tom Stewart — who earns about $607,000 in annual salary and benefits as Mt. Sinai’s physician-in-chief — were not disclosed on the provincial sunshine list that tracks how public dollars are spent.
Stewart’s $75,000-per-year consulting contract at ORNGE is similar to a contract of up to $400,000 annually that Mazza himself had. In both cases, the new managers of ORNGE are now struggling to determine what work was done to justify the payments. The monies paid to both men were public funds.
“Most interactions Dr. Stewart had with ORNGE were directly with Dr. Mazza. As a result, we are unable to confirm the work performed,” ORNGE spokesman James MacDonald said.
In a response to questions from the Star, Stewart said he delivered value for the money as Mazza frequently contacted him with questions. “I saw evidence of my counsel play out in several areas, for example, research development, clinician recruitment and improved critical-care system integration,” Stewart said.
The Mt. Sinai doctor, when asked, told the Star he also provided advice to Mazza on how to potentially sell the ORNGE air ambulance model to United Arab Emirates clients, a Mazza plan that went nowhere.
The consulting contract between ORNGE and Stewart ended in January 2012 after the former chairman of ORNGE alerted the provincial health ministry to his concern that Stewart and Mazza were both being paid for work they did not do. Chairman Rainer Beltzner’s Dec. 23, 2011 letter to the province raising these concerns was made a public exhibit at the Queen’s Park committee investigating ORNGE.
Stewart would not grant the Star an interview but, using Mt. Sinai public relations official Sally Szuster as an intermediary, he provided responses to questions over the past four days. At Mt. Sinai, Stewart is physician-in-chief and chief clinical officer.
Mazza and Stewart first met each other, Stewart says, during the SARS outbreak in 2003. Stewart said he, Mazza and others “led the effort against the SARS outbreak.”
They became social friends, Stewart said. When Mazza created ORNGE in 2005, he asked Stewart to provide ongoing advice. Stewart said he was “clinical care adviser for ORNGE.” He has a contract with ORNGE, but said he could not disclose it at the present time. ORNGE says it will release the contract but requires Stewart’s permission.
Stewart said his annual “stipend” from ORNGE was $75,000. ORNGE’s MacDonald said they have found payments totalling $436,000 to Stewart.
Friday, provincial health minister Deb Matthews released Mazza’s expense records, revealing that the ORNGE boss had a lavish lifestyle, jetting around the world, staying at fine hotels from Rio de Janeiro to Paris to Milan. Conservative critic, MPP Frank Klees, dubbed him “First Class Chris.”
Included in those records are several meals (modest compared to others in the box of documents) with Stewart and also several parking receipts filed when Mazza visited Stewart at Mt. Sinai. In February 2006 he filed for a $62 dinner with Stewart at Café Nervosa in Yorkville, and in July 2007 a $272 dinner at Blowfish restaurant on King St. West.
In his email responses, Stewart said his knowledge of critical care issues at hospitals helped Mazza structure ORNGE. In explaining what he advised Mazza on for $75,000 a year, Stewart said he performed: “The review of clinical care policies and procedures, recruitment of physicians and researchers who specialize in specific areas of critical care and transport, advising on how patient transport services can optimize patient flow.”
Stewart acknowledged that his initial contacts were primarily with Mazza. “I was contacted most frequently by Dr. Mazza who would often refer me to other members of the ORNGE staff.”
At no time, Stewart said, did he hear any rumblings that “the terms of my engagement were not being met.”
At ORNGE Sunday, officials told a different story.
ORNGE spokesman MacDonald said that “objections were raised regarding this contract within ORNGE, but Dr. Mazza gave direction that it remain in effect.” The contract was renewed “automatically,” MacDonald said.
At the public hearings into ORNGE last August, former chair Rainer Beltzner said that in late December 2011 (three weeks after the Star broke the first part of the ORNGE story) he learned that Mazza had an annual contract as medical director and it was unclear what, if anything, Mazza did to earn up to $400,000 a year for the job. Just that portion of Mazza’s salary over the years totalled $2.2 million.
Beltzner wrote a letter Dec. 23, 2011 to a top provincial health official, raising the issue of both Mazza’s and Stewart’s payments.
“On another matter brought to my attention yesterday … it appears that the company, through Dr. Mazza’s authorization and insistence, was paying a Dr. Tom Stewart at Mount Sinai Hospital for services that do not appear to have been needed or delivered. This relationship has been going on for some time apparently, and there is a need to examine the underlying motive and authorization for these payments and the acceptance of these monies by Dr. Stewart.”
It is unclear who ended the contract, ORNGE or Stewart. ORNGE said the contract was “terminated.” Stewart said he resigned in January, 2012. By that point, Mazza had left ORNGE, first on sick leave then permanently. The for-profit ORNGE company he was employed by was put into bankruptcy.
As to his annual ORNGE payments not being part of the Sunshine List, Stewart said he was “not aware of how ORNGE reported its salaries.”
The Sunshine List records public officials paid more than $100,000 in public monies, but it is not clear how an individual is dealt with if they receive funds from more than one public source
DEATH CERTIFICATES
From American Medical Association
Manner vs. cause
In signing death certificates, physicians need to be aware of the difference between the “manner of death” and “cause of death” entries, Dr. McDonald said. He often sees certificates where physicians have mistakenly filled out the manner of death portion of a certificate.
In most states, the manner of death would be either natural, suicide, homicide, accident or undetermined. In many states, such as Pennsylvania, only a medical examiner or coroner can answer that question on the form. Errors can have serious consequences, Dr. McDonald said.
In one instance, a person died of a seizure, and the physician thought it was a natural death. It turned out that the seizure occurred as a result of injuries from an assault, making it a murder.
“In that case the homicide was almost missed, and a murderer almost went free,” Dr. McDonald said.
For the cause of death, it’s important that physicians list a disease and not a mechanism, said Yul Ejnes, MD, immediate past chair of the ACP’s Board of Regents. For example, one would list “pneumonia” and not “respiratory arrest,” he said.
Manner vs. cause
In signing death certificates, physicians need to be aware of the difference between the “manner of death” and “cause of death” entries, Dr. McDonald said. He often sees certificates where physicians have mistakenly filled out the manner of death portion of a certificate.
In most states, the manner of death would be either natural, suicide, homicide, accident or undetermined. In many states, such as Pennsylvania, only a medical examiner or coroner can answer that question on the form. Errors can have serious consequences, Dr. McDonald said.
In one instance, a person died of a seizure, and the physician thought it was a natural death. It turned out that the seizure occurred as a result of injuries from an assault, making it a murder.
“In that case the homicide was almost missed, and a murderer almost went free,” Dr. McDonald said.
For the cause of death, it’s important that physicians list a disease and not a mechanism, said Yul Ejnes, MD, immediate past chair of the ACP’s Board of Regents. For example, one would list “pneumonia” and not “respiratory arrest,” he said.
19 Jan 2013
BERMUDA: Dr.Sidney LOWRY:"The End of Medicine & the Last Doctor"
From the Bermuda ROYAL GAZETTE
Are machines replacing your doctor?
-
Could robots like this one day replace humans as doctors? File picture.
It's looking like the end of an era for
patient-doctor relationships in the hands-on way that we have grown up
with, according to Sidney Lowry, a former Edward VII Memorial Hospital
oncologist.
Patients are increasingly
demanding test results and place much less weight on a doctor's physical
examination findings, Dr Lowry believes.
He's put his views in a new book, ‘The End of Medicine and the Last Doctor'.
“Patients
no longer want to be examined. They want an MRI,” he said. “The
physician is being gradually replaced by a range of health
professionals, and the machine.
Dr Lowry contends that technological advancements are well on the way to displacing the traditional physician.
17 Jan 2013
Employer vs Employee
http://www.webmd.com/cancer/what-to-expect-from-radiation-therapy?page=4
From Toronto BLANEY McMURTRY LLP
Even without a valid restrictive covenant, senior employees are required to act in good faith towards their employer and not exploit the vulnerability which flows from the nature of the relationship. For example, although such an employee is entitled to compete following employment, in doing so, he/she must not do so unfairly. This means that for a reasonable period of time following resignation, he/she is not to utilize confidential information or affiliations developed during employment in a manner detrimental to the former employer. Doing so is considered unfair and a breach of this obligation of fidelity. Provided the status with the employer was senior enough, a court will enforce these obligations by way of requiring the departed employee to disgorge the profits earned from the improper activity.
From Toronto BLANEY McMURTRY LLP
January 2013 |
When Can an Employer Sue an Employee for Damages?
Property Damage
Emily Anne Maclean worked in a farmer’s market. On August 1, 2003, she placed eggs on a hot plate to boil in order to make them ready for the next day’s sandwiches. She got distracted in another part of the store. Upon smelling smoke, she returned to the hot plate only to find “full blown flames”. The farmer's market was destroyed and Ms. MacLean was sued in negligence by the market’s insurer. In dismissing this claim, the Court concluded:
Emily Anne Maclean worked in a farmer’s market. On August 1, 2003, she placed eggs on a hot plate to boil in order to make them ready for the next day’s sandwiches. She got distracted in another part of the store. Upon smelling smoke, she returned to the hot plate only to find “full blown flames”. The farmer's market was destroyed and Ms. MacLean was sued in negligence by the market’s insurer. In dismissing this claim, the Court concluded:
- employees are not generally held
liable for ordinary negligence or carelessness in the performance of
their duties;
- the imposition of liability in such
a case would be unjust and/or unfair;
- an employer accepts the risk of employee fallibility and takes that into account in the costs of doing business, supervising the employee and insuring the enterprise.
Accordingly,
although it is clearly reasonable for an employer to expect its
employees to exercise reasonable care in the performance of their
duties, it will only be where the degree of fault by the employee goes
beyond mere negligence, that a claim for damages will have any chance
of success.
The
inability to recover damages in negligence does not preclude the
employer from alleging cause for dismissal in an appropriate case.
A Suit to Recover Damages Payable to a
Third Party
It is settled law that employers are vicariously responsible for the harm caused by an employee in the performance of the employee’s duties. The question then becomes whether the employer can recover the damages it paid to the third party from the negligent employee. As one might expect from the analysis above, the likely answer is that recovery will be restricted to those situations where the employee’s conduct was grossly negligent. Again, inability to recover does not prevent discipline and, where justified, dismissal for cause.
It is settled law that employers are vicariously responsible for the harm caused by an employee in the performance of the employee’s duties. The question then becomes whether the employer can recover the damages it paid to the third party from the negligent employee. As one might expect from the analysis above, the likely answer is that recovery will be restricted to those situations where the employee’s conduct was grossly negligent. Again, inability to recover does not prevent discipline and, where justified, dismissal for cause.
Suing for Breach of Contract
It is quite common for employers to require senior employees to execute covenants which prevent or restrict certain activities. Examples include maintenance of confidentiality and prohibiting the soliciting of clients or co-workers for a reasonable period of time following resignation or termination. Provided these clauses are carefully drafted to meet current judicially mandated standards and are incorporated into a properly executed employment agreement, they can form the basis of a successful lawsuit against an employee who ignores contractual terms to which the employee agreed.
It is quite common for employers to require senior employees to execute covenants which prevent or restrict certain activities. Examples include maintenance of confidentiality and prohibiting the soliciting of clients or co-workers for a reasonable period of time following resignation or termination. Provided these clauses are carefully drafted to meet current judicially mandated standards and are incorporated into a properly executed employment agreement, they can form the basis of a successful lawsuit against an employee who ignores contractual terms to which the employee agreed.
In this type of lawsuit, the employer must act quickly after learning
of the breach, seeking a mandatory order prohibiting the continuation
of the offensive action. While an order actually prohibiting
continuance of the breach (an injunction) may not be granted, the
employee will be required to pay the damages suffered by the employer
resulting from the competitive activity. Furthermore, the very act of
commencing the lawsuit may cause the offending employee to cease the
prohibited activity.
Breach of Duty of FidelityEven without a valid restrictive covenant, senior employees are required to act in good faith towards their employer and not exploit the vulnerability which flows from the nature of the relationship. For example, although such an employee is entitled to compete following employment, in doing so, he/she must not do so unfairly. This means that for a reasonable period of time following resignation, he/she is not to utilize confidential information or affiliations developed during employment in a manner detrimental to the former employer. Doing so is considered unfair and a breach of this obligation of fidelity. Provided the status with the employer was senior enough, a court will enforce these obligations by way of requiring the departed employee to disgorge the profits earned from the improper activity.
29 Dec 2012
OMA District 11(Toronto) COMMITTEE ELECTIONS
With over 10,000 members few stand for election to the NINE posts available.
NOMINATIONS are due Wed. JAN. 16 ,2013.( ONLY THREE WEEKS NOTICE)
AGM FEB. 13 (LOCATION STILL NOT PUBLISHED)
VOTING by Wed. FEB. 27.(2 pm)
At present, chances of being elected are 50/50.
Dist 11 with approx $250,000 in the bank, employs a full-time Secretary (Mrs.K.BUGEJA)
OMA pays well for time spent in Committees. Many have been committee members for over TWENTY YEARS.
Between about $870 and $1250 a day up to approx. 46 days a year
DISTRICT CHAIR gets BONUS OF 25% ..
.
A well-paid SECOND CAREER for many Toronto Docs.(easily $46,000/year + free food)
OMA HOURLY RATE for meetings and travel increases with the number of committees:
up to 15 days/year HALF-DAY $380 TRAVEL:/HOUR $108
15.5- 25 $465 $133
25+ $547.50 $156
HALF-DAY = 2.5-4.5 hrs
FULL-DAY = 5 - 8.5 hrs.
ONLY THREE NOMINATORS NEEDED.
NEW IDEAS URGENTLY REQUIRED.
NOMINATIONS are due Wed. JAN. 16 ,2013.( ONLY THREE WEEKS NOTICE)
AGM FEB. 13 (LOCATION STILL NOT PUBLISHED)
VOTING by Wed. FEB. 27.(2 pm)
At present, chances of being elected are 50/50.
Dist 11 with approx $250,000 in the bank, employs a full-time Secretary (Mrs.K.BUGEJA)
OMA pays well for time spent in Committees. Many have been committee members for over TWENTY YEARS.
Between about $870 and $1250 a day up to approx. 46 days a year
DISTRICT CHAIR gets BONUS OF 25% ..
.
A well-paid SECOND CAREER for many Toronto Docs.(easily $46,000/year + free food)
OMA HOURLY RATE for meetings and travel increases with the number of committees:
up to 15 days/year HALF-DAY $380 TRAVEL:/HOUR $108
15.5- 25 $465 $133
25+ $547.50 $156
HALF-DAY = 2.5-4.5 hrs
FULL-DAY = 5 - 8.5 hrs.
ONLY THREE NOMINATORS NEEDED.
NEW IDEAS URGENTLY REQUIRED.
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