From the category archives:

Healthcare

“Letting non-physicians prescribe drugs like letting flight attendant fly plane”

September 23, 2009

So says the Ontario Medical Association. “The doctors’ lobby is fighting back against government plans to let nurse practioners lead local health clinics and to allow pharmacists to prescribe some drugs.” [Winnipeg Free Press via @fpbowen] I have to disagree with the OMA’s position. In certain circumstances, for certain drugs, I believe MD-only prescriptions to [...]

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Schizophrenia in Pictures

September 23, 2009

A poignantly-illustrated, factual examination of a profoundly damaging illness, and an appeal for compassion. Click the image below to read the whole comic, 11 pages long.

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Alcoholic denied liver transplant, dead at 22

July 21, 2009

A double header on organ transplants: see this post on legalizing organ sales. This article notes the precedent setting case of a 22 year old alcoholic being denied a transplant and left to die – attributed to the severe shortage or available organs in Britain. If organ sales were legal, this fellow would have had [...]

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Legalizing organ sales: one way to reduce waiting lists

July 21, 2009

UPDATE: Also see this follow-up post on a 22 year old alcoholic denied a transplant and now dead. Doctors proposing that selling your organs need not be illegal: This article will make you think. It tells the story of a somewhat schizophrenic homeless American man, recruited to sell a kidney in Houston, and along the [...]

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Easter Island and Canadian Healthcare Policy

July 9, 2009

The health research world is a-twitter today about the longevity boosting effects of a compound called Rapamycin. Hailing from the soil of Easter Island, Rapamycin significantly extends the lifespan of mice, and may do the same for humans. I imagine happenstance discoveries like this to be the tip of the iceberg for radical longevity therapies. [...]

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Appendix

June 28, 2009

Mine ruptured, putting me in the hospital all of last week, hence the lack of commentary. Will be back eventually.

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Vision of the Next Century: The Abortion Question is Only Going to Get More Complicated

June 9, 2009

[Click it to expand]

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The Rosenhan Experiment: “Being Sane in Insane Places” and implications for modern healthcare

June 9, 2009

A thought provoking Wikipedia page, found via Reddit. Rosenhan showed psychiatric diagnoses to be easily invalidated, and the process of institutionalization to be harmful. I’m blogging these days with the theme of “applied common sense,” and in light of Rosenhan’s work, would like to ask what does it mean to be mentally ill? And, how [...]

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Publish Emergency Room Wait Times

May 6, 2009

Emergency rooms mean waits, generally of the long variety. I know firsthand as I volunteer in one weekly and hear crusty testimonials from the tired, frustrated, and hurting as to how long those waits are. Yet: on a given night, in Winnipeg at least, different ER’s have vastly different wait lengths. So why not publish [...]

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Injured man dies after rejection by 14 hospitals

February 4, 2009

Canada isn’t the only nation with healthcare challenges. Japan’s system is apparently so overburdened by its aging  population that situations like this are relatively common: After getting struck by a motorcycle, an elderly Japanese man with head injuries waited in an ambulance as paramedics phoned 14 hospitals, each refusing to treat him. He died 90 [...]

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