editor, Author at Monitor Telegram

Let’s tackle Canada’s terror funding problem

June 11, 2017

There’s one big “root cause” of terrorism that doesn’t get as much attention as it should in Canada. That’s money.

As we embark on another round of conversations about tackling extremism and terrorism in the West – tragically spurred by a series of attacks on the occasion of Ramadan – we have to look at all the options on the table.

Some cynics and liberal naysayers will tell you there’s nothing much that can be done. We just have to learn to live with the occasional terror attack as the new normal. That’s nonsense.

Open Pharma wants public to know ties between MDs and pharmaceutical industry

June 10, 2017

If you live in the United States, you can easily find out if your doctor receives payments from drug companies. Ditto if you live in Australia, Japan, the United Kingdom, France, Denmark and many other European countries.

But not Canada.

This country is seen as an international “laggard” when it comes to transparency about financial ties between the pharmaceutical industry and physicians.

Woman gets 5-year sentence for health-care fraud

June 9, 2017

BOISE — A Fruitland woman will serve five years in prison for her role in health-care fraud and aggravated identity theft.

Cherie R. Dillon, 62, of Fruitland, was sentenced Wednesday to five years in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release for health-care fraud and aggravated identity theft, Acting U.S. Attorney Rafael Gonzalez announced in a news release.

Whistleblower sues health authority and lawyers, alleging identity revealed

June 8, 2017

Personal care home employee raised alarm bells in 2011 about financial mismanagement.

A whistleblower who sounded the alarm about financial mismanagement, nepotism and fraud at a West St. Paul personal care home is suing the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority and three lawyers after the person’s identity was allegedly revealed in court documents.

Ontario judge finds treatment at mental health facility was ‘torture’

June 8, 2017

An Ontario court has ruled that a provincial mental health facility ran therapeutic programs for years that amounted to torture for the patients involved.

Justice Paul Perell’s ruling came in the midst of a lengthy lawsuit filed by past and present residents of the Oak Ridge division of the Penetang Psychiatric Hospital in Penetanguishene, Ont., that alleges patients were gravely mistreated.

Perell says three programs at the hospital that involved the forced administration of drugs, physical restraint and sleep deprivation, amounted to both physical and mental torture.

‘It is a failure on many levels’: Ontario failing to adequately support the elderly, critics say

June 5, 2017

With thousands of people on waiting lists for long-term care beds in this region, you might expect a new long-term care home in Ottawa to bring some relief.

But the Ontario government’s move to approve a new facility in the city’s west end without adding a single new bed to the mix is drawing criticism and frustration from doctors. It offers a glimpse, they say, into how the province is failing the elderly and not dealing with a growing health-care crisis.

Inquest to examine death at Saskatoon youth custody facility

June 5, 2017

An inquest into the death of a youth in custody will be held later this month in Saskatoon.

Timothy Unger was a resident at Kilburn Hall Youth Centre, a secure custody youth facility in Saskatoon, when he died on July 30, 2015. In the early morning hours he was taken to Royal University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Lack of whistleblower protection has Canadian government missing out on billions

June 5, 2017

One of the leading experts on whistleblower protection law in the United States says that Canada’s “backwards” regulations may be allowing “corruption to flourish” and is causing the government to miss out on “billions of dollars in compensation.”

Stephen Kohn is a Washington, D.C.-based attorney and author of nearly a dozen books on whistle-blowing, including the upcoming “The New Whistleblower’s Handbook.”

Kohn says there is a dearth of protections for workers who put their jobs and reputations on the line to reveal misconduct.

As it stands, Ontario is the only province with a paid whistleblower program. In successful cases, it offers individuals between five and 15 per cent of sanctions, or up to $5 million, for information that led to a prosecution.

9 Of The Most Staggeringly Awful Statements Republicans Have Made About Health Care Just This Year

June 5, 2017

In 2009, Rep. Alan Grayson characterized the Republican approach to health care as “don’t get sick, and if you do, die quickly.” Eight years later, the Florida Democrat’s words ring truer than ever, especially in light of the House’s passage of the American Health Care Act.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, the bill would deprive 23 million of health insurance by 2026, resulting in substantial premium hikes and out-of-pocket expenses for older Americans and people with preexisting conditions. And the more Republicans are confronted with the devastating consequences of Trumpcare, the more evident it becomes how clueless they are on the Affordable Care Act specifically and health care more generally.

Long Wait Times Shouldn’t Be The Price We Pay For Universal Health Care

June 5, 2017

For more than two decades, the Fraser Institute has annually surveyed specialist physicians across Canada to estimate how long patients wait for treatment. Our latest survey found that in 2016, overall, patients were waiting 20 weeks between referral from a family doctor to treatment — the longest wait in our survey’s history and 115 per cent longer than in 1993.

While the intervening years have seen increased measurement and acknowledgment of wait times in Canada, they also produced an unhealthy acceptance of the problem — as though wait times are the necessary price for universal health care. Like the anecdote of the frog in the pot of cold water, which is slowly brought to a boil without the frog’s knowledge or immediate discomfort, the slow but fairly consistent annual lengthening of wait times for treatment has made us sometimes forget that our system fails to deliver timely access to care and real people suffer as a result.