Posted: Feb 06, 2021 6:00 AM CT | Last Updated: February 6
Winnipegger Ruth Enns on ableism in health care: Biased predictions with the power to act on them can be deadly for those outside the accepted norm, such as disabled people. (CBC)
These are stressful times and front-line workers have laboured heroically in this pandemic. However, heroes have Achilles heels.
Triage is one.
Statistics Canada says 22 per cent of Canadians live with disability, which, I believe, means ableism in medicine affects more than one-fifth of Canadians, whether they realize it or not.
Here are some things to consider when questioning where and why ableism exists.
Anxious patients await surgery, but the COVID-19 backlog won t be easily overcome in the next year
The province recently gave hospitals the green light to resume surgeries. That s good news for thousands of Quebecers on waiting lists. But digging into the backlog requires COVID-19 hospitalizations to remain low. That may be a tall order.
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The province has given the okay to ramp up surgeries. But trimming the 140,000-name wait list is a huge task
Posted: Feb 05, 2021 5:00 AM ET | Last Updated: February 5
Christian Dupont and his wife Diane Lariviere used to enjoy an active lifestyle. But after doctors discovered his coronary arteries were 70% blocked this fall that all came to a crashing halt. Dupont, 57, is waiting for triple bypass surgery.(Submitted by Christian Dupont)
CBC News Montreal2 months ago
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2 months ago
4:28
Debra Arbec speaks with Dr. Lucy Gilbert, director of the McGill University Health Centreâs Gynecologic Oncology division. Gilbert was named one of Canada s most accomplished role models for leading the DOvEE project, a clinic dedicated to the early diagnosis of ovarian cancer.
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Posted: Feb 02, 2021 4:00 AM ET | Last Updated: February 2
In a colonoscopy, a doctor inserts a small camera into a patient s large intestine and checks for possible tumours. Shifting medical resources to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic has made it harder to screen for colorectal and other cancers in Quebec. Experts worry a wave of advanced cases could hit in coming months.(Jean-Paul Pelissier/Reuters)
Cancer treatment is one of the most intricate challenges of contemporary medicine. One complication that often arises is the trial and error prescription of drugs that are often ineffective against a given type of tumour or for a particular patient. Moreover, these treatments often produce exhausting side effects.
The ability to identify the type of tumour and develop targeted treatment unique to each patient can dramatically increase both their survival rate and quality of life. This approach to treating patients based on individual characteristics is called precision medicine.
A recent initiative by the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) and MEDTEQ, a major Canadian medical technology organization, aims to integrate current treatment methods like immunotherapy and chemotherapy, precision medicine principles, and artificial intelligence to achieve a personalized approach to cancer treatment.