editor, Author at Monitor Telegram

Grey matters: Mistreatment and abuse of patients in long-term care homes is anything but rare

May 16, 2017

It was over 3 decades ago, but I still remember the elegant surroundings I saw when I stepped out of the car: the freshly clipped lawn, the stone façade, the oak door. It was the first day of an audit at a long-term-care facility. I’d come equipped with my briefcase, working papers and calculator. But nothing prepared me for what I’d find inside.

When I opened the door, I was greeted by the smell of bleach, of institutional food, of despair.

To reach the accountant’s office, I walked past people sitting in wheelchairs who reached out, trying to catch my attention. I walked past people in rooms, calling out from their beds. And I walked past a nursing station where staff talked and laughed, seemingly oblivious to the misery around them.

Every day I walked down that hall; every night I went home and wept. It may be 30 years later, but the problems remain.

Canada’s border stations letting vehicles through without required inspections, audit shows

May 16, 2017

Canadian border officers have been allowing people into the country at land crossings without conducting the necessary checks, the auditor general has revealed.

Auditors reviewed a sample of 19 million vehicles that entered Canada over a 12-month period and found anomalies in 511,000 cases.

When auditors drilled down to a small 66-vehicle sample, they found 38 cases where border officers didn’t scan or manually enter information from traveller documents.

Auditors figure two per cent of those 19 million vehicles didn’t go through the required inspections.

“Since each vehicle could contain more than one individual, this meant that more than 300,000 individuals likely entered the country without a full inspection,” the audit says.

Less than 20 per cent of Health Canada staff received mandatory ethics training

May 16, 2017

Fewer than 20 per cent of employees at Canada’s health and public works departments received mandatory training on ethics, values and conflict of interest between 2013 and 2016, a report from Canada’s auditor general, Michael Ferguson, has found.

The audit on fraud risk management published Tuesday examined both Health Canada and Public Services and Procurement Canada, along with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) and Global Affairs Canada (GAC). It examined how well the five organizations were equipped to deal with the risk of fraud between April 1, 2013 and October 21, 2016.

Bullying, harassment thrive at RCMP, watchdog says in calling for major reforms

May 15, 2017

Bullying and harassment remain serious problems within the RCMP and only major changes to the way the police force is run will make a difference, says a national watchdog.

In a report Monday, the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP said the force lacks both the will and the capacity to address the challenges that afflict its workplaces.

The commission urged the government to usher in civilian governance or oversight for the paramilitary-style police force.

A second federal report released Monday, a review by former auditor general Sheila Fraser of four harassment lawsuits from female members, also called for substantial reforms.

‘How many children do we have to lose?’ Ontario Children’s Aid joins call for inquest into aboriginal deaths

May 15, 2017

TORONTO — The Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies is joining a call for a coroner’s inquest into the recent deaths of aboriginal youth living in group homes in the province.

First Nations in Ontario and the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth called for an inquest earlier this month following the deaths of two girls who lived in group homes in the Ottawa area.

Chiefs with the Nishnawbe Aski Nation, which represents 49 First Nations communities in Ontario, then renewed their demand last week, just days after the body of Tammy Keeash, who had also been living in a group home, was found in a floodway in Thunder Bay, Ont.

The chiefs said four aboriginal youth living in group homes had died in the province in six months.

It’s not just Americans who need to worry about health-care costs: Pape

May 12, 2017

Last week, I spent four days in hospital for a surgical procedure (don’t worry, nothing life-threatening). When I was discharged, I was presented with a bill for $1,055. That covered semi-private accommodation (the hospital had no facilities that qualified as “wards”) and some recommended post-op massage therapy. None of the expenses were covered by OHIP.

I have a family member who suffers from a rare and debilitating disease. His specialists have prescribed a very rare drug, which costs about $3,000 a month. It is not covered by OHIP.

A friend of mine has a very serious eye condition. He requires monthly shots just to maintain the limited vision he has left, at a cost of $1,500. Since he is under age 65, he has to pay for these out of his own pocket. OHIP doesn’t cover it.

Stop being a ‘safe haven’: How Canada could do a better job keeping ‘dirty money’ out of the country

May 11, 2017

The discovery of $2 million sent to Canadians from a suspected money-laundering network designed to hide dirty Russian money highlights the weaknesses of a financial intelligence system with too many loopholes and not enough teeth, say experts.

International banking documents provided to CBC News reveal 30 Canadian companies and individuals received dozens of payments between 2008 and 2013 from accounts in Cyprus and Lithuania.

The accounts are suspected to belong to an international web of companies created to obscure the movement of hundreds of millions of dollars connected to elaborate Russian tax frauds.

Canadians with disabilities face alarmingly high tax rates, new report reveals

May 11, 2017

A new report reveals that low-income working Canadians with disabilities are facing tax rates of over 100% and advocates say that has to change.

The alarming report from the Library of Parliament shows that federal and provincial taxes combined with various benefit clawbacks make many working disabled taxpayers worse off for working longer hours, getting raises or in some cases even working in the first place.

It’s an issue that disability advocates have long known about, but this marks the first time it’s been formally tabulated by the government.

Hawaii joins call for increasing authority in Medicaid fraud investigations

May 11, 2017

Hawaii Attorney General Doug Chin has joined the attorneys general of 37 states and the District of Columbia to widen their authority in the investigation of Medicaid fraud.

The National Association of Attorneys General is urging the federal government to change its policy, so state attorneys general can use federal funds to investigate and prosecute a wider range of Medicaid abuse and neglect cases. The letter was sent to Tom Price, secretary of health and human services.

Canada should take health-care lessons from Australia

May 10, 2017

Australia and Canada share many characteristics, but Canadians may not know one of them is that Australia’s universal health insurance scheme, Medicare, was modelled on Canada’s, albeit adapted to account for constitutional differences between the two countries.

There are indeed a number of areas where Australia’s experience might prove helpful to Canada. The first is the public funding of pharmaceuticals. Australia has had a national Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme since the late 1940s. It now provides comprehensive coverage against the cost of pharmaceuticals for the whole population. The scheme, though, requires patients to make a modest co-payment for each prescription. For people on income support (retirees, unemployed) the co-payment is $6.30 ($6.34); for the rest of the population it is $38.80. There is a safety net, which drops the price to zero or $6.30 after about 50-60 prescriptions a year.