Government, medical professionals, and public-sector unions each hold veto power over any innovation
The Honorable Monique Begin wrote in 2009, “When it comes to moving health care practices forward efficiently, Canada is a country of perpetual pilot projects.” Governments need “financial control” and remain “leery” of committing to programs. Pilot programs are easy to shut down “to avoid criticism” or if “budget priorities shift.” At first glance, we…
Canada rations care with wait times, limited investment in technology, and by using family doctors as “gatekeepers” to service
Doctors frustrate governments. They think too little about how much health care costs and too much about their patients who need help. The government of Ontario and the Ontario Medical Association arrived at a mediated Proposed Physicians Services Agreement (PPSA) this month. Doctors started to vote on it yesterday, with voting ending on March 27.…
Pandemic chaos and fear turned some otherwise rational doctors into dictators
Leadership carries a high risk for bossiness. Some medical Chiefs gain humility from caring for sick complex patients. It shapes their approach to leadership. Unfortunately, many forget their failures. Others never learned in the first place. Many Chiefs of Staff have never seen sick patients at all. But as chief, they see all the medical…
The world is watching Canada. Trudeau must separate his blend of public health and authoritarianism
Public health doctors created vaccination mandates and vaccine passports. Doctors tabled the ideas. Politicians docilely followed doctors’ advice and turned it into policy. Ideas shaped the policy and policy formed a protest. Public policy made the truckers’ Freedom Convoy a reality. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s response turned the protest into a global movement. The historic…
If you attack, slander, dismiss or silence your enemy: You. Will. Lose
Anyone who serves the public learns how to manage upset customers. When someone says you hurt them, do not argue. Listen. Apologize. When people are angry, upset, or heartbroken, you must stay silent. Offer support. There is no other rational response. Of course, listening has limits. Threats, yelling, or swearing must end the conversation, with…
Medicare struggles from funding thrown at the same tired ideas rooted in similar political traditions
Liberalism works when you are healthy but fails when you fall ill. Classical liberalism emphasizes autonomy, individual freedom, and free markets. These ideas have fuelled centuries of wealth and prosperity. Modern liberalism, in contrast, pursues central decision-making and equality of outcome. Despite similar names and obvious differences, neither type of liberalism provides arguments for everything…
Let us celebrate gratitude for the good, humility for the bad, and thankfulness that failures were not worse
Celebration of anything or anyone requires one of two mindsets. The first mindset is make-believe. We pretend something is what it is not. We sing, dance, and light fireworks in false celebration. Eulogies about abusive drunks being great family men call us to false celebration. We pretend the bad did not exist, and we focus…
How long will Canadian patients put up with substandard treatment?
As the third wave of the COVID recedes in Canada, watch for the resumption of an old debate about the impact on patients of delayed procedures and treatments. On one side, hospitals, medical associations, and labour unions will point to the many patients who endured cancelled care. On the other, with apologies to Burke, economists…
When regulators threaten doctors for engaging in public debate, doctors go quiet and patients suffer
“Call for help.” This is one of the first rules in every advanced life-saving course. When you see someone collapse, rush over to assess and call for help. Raise the alarm. Let people know. Doctors and nurses do this all the time in hospitals across Canada. It would be professional misconduct to do otherwise. What…
A serious blow to our delusion we are better than Americans
When it comes to health care, Canadians only seem to care about one thing: Are we better than the United States? As long as we “beat” the U.S., we remain smug about our performance, although this attitude can be hard to square with the tens of thousands of Canadians who get quick access to top-level…
The Honorable Monique Begin wrote in 2009, “When it comes to moving health care practices forward efficiently, Canada is a country of perpetual pilot projects.” Governments need “financial control” and remain “leery” of committing to programs. Pilot programs are easy to shut down “to avoid criticism” or if “budget priorities shift.” At first glance, we…
