We don’t take pain into account when assessing where to invest health sector research and delivery dollars. That needs to change
Pain is a difficult topic for Canada’s health care sector. It can arise from many diseases, but not always. For example, arthritis in a joint can be visible on X-rays and not cause any pain; but it can also be so painful as to completely disable an individual. Pain is subjective, so sufferers can be…
Lesson learned: We need to apply child-friendly practices to adult care because when you are ill or injured, you feel like a child again
Paid or unpaid, caregivers are never supposed to get sick, right? But sometimes they do. Sue Robins owns a health-care communications company and is the mother of a young man with Down syndrome. Robins used to blog about caring for her son and his encounters with the health-care system. But that all changed the day she received…
Mike Sloan’s positive, upbeat tone and zest for life in the face of adversity has truly been inspiring
“Death is not the opposite of life but an innate part of it,” Haruki Murakami wrote in his acclaimed novel Norwegian Wood. “By living our lives, we nurture death.” This is rational. Nevertheless, death isn’t something we enjoy spending every waking moment thinking about. That’s especially true when we’re still at the point in our…
Margot Micallef talks about the The Lady Ball Gala, and what we can all do to support women and battle ovarian cancer
Margot Micallef is CEO of Oliver Capital Partners and Gabriella's Kitchen. What does it mean to you being the honorary chair of The Lady Ball Gala coming up? Micallef: I am honoured to be involved in this year’s Lady Ball Gala benefiting Ovarian Cancer Canada. I have yet to meet someone who has not been…
In the U.S., the industry has influenced science, regulators, public perception and government policy
When industry wants science to say something, how does it do it? Last year, The Nation showed us how in its special investigation, How Big Wireless Made Us Think That Cell Phones Are Safe. In 1993, a lawsuit alleged that cellphones caused a woman’s terminal brain cancer. As wireless stocks headed downward, the industry unleashed…
Outdated material used by the task force could result in the deaths of far too many women. A new set of guidelines must be drawn up
Changes to breast cancer screening guidelines have been big news since the release of the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care’s updated guidelines in December. Women aged 50 to 74 are now recommended to undergo screening mammography every two to three years, while women 40 to 49 are advised not to undergo screening and…
Will likely result in reduced access to new drugs, and delay research and development
The federal government’s pharmacare advisory council released a report last week outlining the “foundational” elements of a national plan. And Tuesday’s federal budget may include more details. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of misinformation and misunderstanding regarding core aspects of the pharmacare debate. Given that proponents in Canada often cite government-funded pharmacare programs in the United…