Brampton Civic Hospital apologizes for cutting in wrong leg

The chief of staff at Brampton’s criticized Civic Hospital has now officially apologized to the 72-year-old Amar Kaur Brar, whose wrong leg got cut by a surgeon, her family says.

The doctor, who sliced open Amar Kaur Brar’s right leg when he should have cut into her left, has also expressed his regret.
The apologies came after the family filed a formal complaint with the Brampton Civic Hospital ombudsman over the incident.
Her 21-year-old granddaughter Kanwaljot Brar said it has left her formerly agile grandmother in serious pain and handicapped as she now has to recover from incisions on both legs, on top of a broken bone.

“Before the complaint they didn’t apologize. Now they have apologized,” she said. “They do the mistake and after they say sorry. That’s not good.”

A spokesperson at Brampton Civic was unable to confirm yesterday whether these verbal regrets were issued.
Despite requesting a new physician, Amar Kaur Brar was today back under the care of the surgeon who performed the procedure.

"The reduced holiday staffing levels at Brampton Civic made it impossible to have another doctor on the job," Kanwaljot Brar said.
“He’s taking care of her, but after the vacation is over another doctor will be given to her,”

The alleged mistake is the latest in a string of controversies that put Brampton Civic under fire since it opened its doors amid much fanfare last October.

Two patients have died and their families believe it was due to complications caused by long waits for proper care.
In November, Harnek Sindu, 52, perished of pancreatitis 10 days after waiting 12 hours for a bed when he presented with abdominal pain and only last month it was Amerjit Narwal, 42, who succumbed to a stroke.

Calling the two deaths “unacceptable,” Health Minister George Smitherman last week appointed a supervisor to assume control of William Osler Health Centre, the hospital network responsible for Brampton Civic.
A citizen’s group, billing itself as Bramptonians for Better Health Care, held a thousand-person protest last month and is now organizing a petition calling for more funding, better staffing levels and the opening of more beds at a hospital serving one of Canada’s fastest growing communities.

Group spokesman Rajinder Saini, who is also editor of Parvasi Weekly, called the latest incident “unbelievable.”
“It’s tragic, there is outrage in the community. They are losing confidence in the hospital.”

While the apologies were appreciated, Ms. Brar said they come as cold comfort to her grandmother, who arrived in Canada from India last summer and now remains hospitalized.

“She just started crying,” reported her granddaughter.
Mrs. Kaur Brar slipped and fell on the stairs on Christmas day, fracturing her left leg.

Related articles:

Brampton Civic Hospital operates on wrong leg

Brampton Civic hospital has cost $340 million more than planned

Brampton Civic Hospital under fire

The Ottawa Hospital starts testing overnight patients for superbugs

The Ottawa Hospital will begin testing overnight patients for two virulent strains of bacteria beginning in January to help combat infections and deaths.

Overnight patients will be screened for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), two strains of bacteria that, along with other hospital-acquired superbugs, kill thousands of Canadians annually.

The mandatory screening follows a pilot project the hospital conducted in the summer, which found that certain members of the patient population should but weren't screened for the drug-resistant bacteria, hospital spokeswoman Allison Neill said.

The Ottawa Hospital will be the second hospital to adopt universal screening for these two superbugs. Toronto's University Health Network initiated testing for these two bacteria in the fall.

If patients test positive for either bug, they will be isolated in private hospital rooms, the hospital said.

In the six months ended September 30th, there were 82 cases of hospital-acquired MRSA at the Ottawa Hospital.

In the same period, there were 18 cases of hospital-acquired VRE at the hospital.

Source: CBC

Poor people in Canada healthier than in the U.S.

Poor and less-educated Canadians are healthier than their American counterparts, according to a Kaiser health economist based in Portland.

Although overall population health is similar in both countries, there were differences at the lowest levels of income and education, said David Feeny, senior investigator at Kaiser Permanente's Center for Health Research.
He was co-author of a study that included the largest survey comparing health in the two countries.

"Income and education are well-known predictors of health status," said Feeny.
"What was surprising, however, was the statistically significant health gap between people in the U.S. and Canada at the lowest levels of income and education. The question is, what explains this gap?"

The most obvious difference between the two countries is Canada's universal health coverage, Fenny said.

"From prenatal care through death, there is no co-pay to see a family doctor or visit the hospital," he said.

"Some people think that is probably important in the differences people observe in the less advantaged. The less advantaged in the United States often have no health insurance, or inadequate insurance."

"There is an argument, not a definitive one, that with access to routine care, people seek care earlier in the progression of a disease, instead of coming in late when you've already become a complicated case."

Source: The Columbian

Benefactress to Canadian Health Care Beryl Ivey dies

Beryl Ivey, an iconic philanthropist who for decades supported education, health care and the arts across Ontario and beyond, died on Christmas day at the age of 82.

Ms. Ivey suffered a heart attack Sunday and was hospitalized in Toronto.

She died there Christmas morning, three days shy of her 83rd birthday.

Ms. Ivey's son Richard said that his mother was in "vintage form" right up until her death.

As news of the death slowly spread, praise poured in for Ms. Ivey, who, along with her husband, donated an estimated $150-million to various causes through the Ivey Foundation.

"This city and province and country has lost a great Canadian," said Tony Dagnone, former chief executive of the London Health Sciences Centre.

At the University of Western Ontario, whose business school now bears the Ivey name, the effects of her generosity cannot be overstated, UWO president Paul Davenport said.
A private funeral will take place in London on Friday and a memorial will be held at a later date.

Born Beryl Nurse in 1924 in Chatham, Ontario, she was a celebrated track star when she arrived at UWO in 1943.
She married Dick Ivey, whom she met two months into her first year at UWO.

Dick's father, Richard G. Ivey, incorporated the Ivey Foundation in 1947.
Beryl, however, is credited with the businesslike approach to philanthropy the family adopted in the 1970s.

In June, she was named to the Order of Canada.

Her friend Bill Brady, who called Ms. Ivey "a remarkable force" - said she was "no pushover" when it came to cash.

"You had to make a strong case for financial support.
You had to prove it was worthwhile. I can't think of another philanthropic family who did the kind of research they did."

Globe and Mail

Brampton Civic Hospital under fire

March for better care because of 2 deaths at Brampton's state-of-the-art facility

The second untimely death in less than a month at Brampton Civic Hospital spurred 1,500 marchers who rallied to protest the shortage of staff and beds, long wait times, and lack of funding at the new facility.

Organized by a grassroots group calling itself Bramptonians for Better Health Care, marchers staged a peaceful rally, carrying signs that read: "We demand full capacity," "Reduce wait times," and "Treat us with a smile, we are patients."

Gathering at Brampton City Hall at noon yesterday, they walked a one-kilometer route along Queen St. E. to the mothballed Peel Memorial Hospital, which Brampton Civic replaced on Oct. 28.

Virtually all of the marchers were from the area's large South Asian community, riled up by the recent deaths of Harnek Sidhu, 52, and Amarjit Narwal, 42, at Brampton Civic.

Among the marchers was Narwal's cousin, Inderjit Nijjar. He told reporters that Narwal, who had suffered a stroke, was taken to emergency at Brampton Civic by ambulance from Trillium Health Centre in Mississauga. Narwal was put on blood thinning medication, but slipped into a coma and died less than 24 hours after being admitted to Brampton Civic, Nijjar said.

Officials at the hospital were not available for comment yesterday.

"He died because of the lack of doctors,'' said Nijjar, who accompanied his cousin to the hospital. "He wasn't looked after at all. The doctor never saw his face, just ordered the medication over the phone.Until we started screaming, nobody came to see him. Then finally the doctor came, looked at him and the chart and said, `Sorry, it's too late.'"

Sidhu's family was also part of the march.

"We don't want any family to go through what we went through," said his widow, Surinder. Her husband died of pancreatitis after a 12-hour wait in emergency and a 10-day stay at the hospital.

The two deaths highlight the crisis at Brampton Civic said rally organizer Rajinder Saini, editor of Parvasi Weekly newspaper and host of Parvasi Radio, where the topic has been hotly debated for weeks.

"People are outraged. They want answers," said Saini. "What happened to Mr. Sidhu and Mr. Narwal can happen to anyone. We came here from India for the best health care in the world and now we're scared to go to that hospital."

Adds Bruce Haines, provincial Green party candidate for Bramalea-Gore-Malton and rally organizer, "Brampton is the second-fastest growing city in Canada and we haven't received our fair share of health care funding ... these deaths heighten those concerns."

Bramptonians for Better Health Care has a list of five demands, including reduced wait times in emergency, reported to be up to 24 hours in some cases, said Saini.

Dr. Naveed Mohammad, the hospital's chief of emergency, has said the average wait time is 212 minutes, slighter higher than it was at Peel Memorial.

The group wants Brampton Civic to operate at full capacity immediately, including hiring additional doctors and nurses. Though built to accommodate 608 beds, the hospital is using only 479 until it can hire staff to handle the rest, a move which is expected by 2012, hospital CEO Robert Richards has said.

Reopening Peel Memorial is also among the group's demands because one hospital can't serve the needs of a community of half a million people, said Raj Sharda, a lawyer and another rally organizer.

Saini said people have complained that hospital staff have been rude.

The South Asian community, which helped to raise millions for the hospital, also feels betrayed that the hospital was built as a public-private partnership, after the Liberals campaigned against so-called P3 projects in the 2003 election, said Jagtar Shergill of the Brampton Health Coalition.

"Their (Liberal) attitude is, just give us the money, but don't ask any questions."

TheStar

440 deaths a year in Toronto: traffic pollution

Study points-out emission problem

Pollution spewing from vehicle tailpipes kills about 440 people in Toronto and costs the city's economy $2.2-billion every year, according to a new study from the city's Public Health Unit. One critic says that the study falsely suggests our air is poisonous.

Dr. David McKeown, Toronto's medical officer of health, hailed the study as the first of its kind in Canada to tabulate the number of people killed by vehicle-borne pollution and to estimate the number of lives that could be saved if people drove less.

The report, "Air Pollution Burden of Illness from Traffic in Toronto", concludes a 10% reduction in traffic-related pollutants such as carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide would prevent 63 premature deaths in the city every year.

A 20% cut would save 126 lives, while a 30% cut would save 189, the report says.

"The picture is definitely not getting better," Dr. McKeown told a news conference at City Hall yesterday.

"And we would expect that if we continue to see an increase in the use of cars in the city, that the picture of air will get worse."

The back of the 57-page report lays out steps the city is taking to pry people out of their cars.

The report highlights the city's climate-change plan and the sustainable transportation blueprint adopted by city council last month, while suggesting other ways the city could do better.

Dr. Ross McKitrick, an associate professor of environmental economics at the University of Guelph, said he was bothered by the list of policy prescriptions included in the study.

"To some extent I feel like that was the stuff they really wanted to push; that there's all these policy changes they'd like to advocate for and the beginning sections were kind of filler to motivate that," he said.

"I'm a bit worried when you have a report that looks like a set of policy conclusions in search of a rationale."

Dr. McKitrick, a frequent critic of the methodology governments use to estimate pollution-related deaths, also questioned how Toronto Public Health could prove that car pollution kills more than 400 people annually.

"These are statistical coefficients. There would be no way of connecting this to actual people," he said.

Dr. McKeown, however, defended TPH's methodology.

"I'm often asked with these numbers, show me the person who's in the morgue, in the hospital, who died as a result of air pollution," he said.

"The reason we know that there's a strong relationship between quality of our air and the pollutants that are in our air and our health is because we can see that on bad air days more people have symptoms, more people go to the doctor, more people go to the emergency room, more people are admitted to hospital and more people die."

Dr. McKeown also said the annual cost of traffic-related pollution deaths to the economy trumpeted in the study -- $2.2-billion or $5-million per premature death -- was based on widely accepted practice.

"There's nothing particularly innovative about the costing part of this model. It's a fairly standard technique," he said.

The study's conclusions raised questions about whether road tolls or congestion charges should be implemented to nudge more people on to public transit.

Gary Welsh, the city's general manager of Transportation Services, reiterated the city's line that tolls would only be acceptable if installed and co-ordinated across the Greater Toronto Area.

"You just can't slap tolls on the Don Valley and the Gardiner," he said. "You've really got to look at the whole Toronto area to determine how you best could implement tolls, if implement them at all."

By the numbers:

Air Pollution Burden of Illness from Traffic in Toronto report says:

• Number of premature deaths caused by traffic-related pollution in Toronto every year: 440
• Number of hospitalizations caused by traffic-related pollution in Toronto every year: 1,700
• Number of acute bronchitis episodes experienced by children annually as a result of traffic-related pollution: 1,200
• Cost to the economy of traffic-related pollution deaths every year: $2.2-billion
• Number of lives that could be saved every year if Toronto reduced its motor-vehicle emissions by 30%: 189
• Amount that could be saved every year if Toronto reduced its motor-vehicle emissions by 30%: $900-million

National Post

Editor's opinion:

Coming from a little country called The Netherlands (btw it's only one country) I know for a fact that toll and such DON'T solve the pollution problem, neither will it prevent traffic-jams from happening.

A few solutions that I think will work:

1. Raise taxes on 6, 8 and 12 cylinder cars in the GTA. It's ridiculous to drive anything bigger than a 4 cylinder car.
In almost 100% of all cases it's totally unnecessary if you're not a contractor or a school bus driver.
After all: we don't have any high mountains and a lot of off-road terrain where we need 4x4-s to get to work!

2. Extension of office hours which will reduce congestions at specific times of the day. We have a 24-hour economy but most companies don't seem to understand that. Work more in shifts rather than all come and leave at the same time. It's also in the best interest of the consumer and ultimately the company.

3. Work more from home. A lot of positions nowadays don't require anyone to be physically present anymore. With all the technology on our hands, i.e. email; messaging, cells, conference calling, etc. it shouldn't be a problem at all!

4. Subsidize clean and green cars, i.e. hybrids, more than so far has been done.
The choice is not confined to only (I think ugly) Toyota Prius'. There are more flashy hybrid models available nowadays!

5. Penalize left lane-drivers. I think they're the greatest cause of traffic-jams, not to mention the frustration and accidents they cause.

6. Build a railway-station to connect Pearson Airport with the rest of Canada.

7. Reward carpooling.