Re: GEN: Breast Cancer Litigation Hits Canada
From: art fougner, md (evsono@pipeline.com)
Fri Mar 19 08:24:34 2004
Sorry - the link for this story -
http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/328/7441/660-a
art
At Fri, 19 Mar 2004, art fougner, md wrote:
>
>Women sue over delays in treatment for breast cancer
>David Spurgeon
>Quebec
>
>A class action lawsuit is being launched against 12 Quebec hospitals on
>behalf of 10 000 patients who waited more than eight weeks for
>radiotherapy after being diagnosed with breast cancer. The suit, the
>first of its kind, could entail damages as great as $C50m (£21m; $US37m;
>31m) and have repercussions in provinces across Canada.
>
>The suit was initiated by Anahit Cilinger, a Montreal woman of Turkish
>origin, who after waiting three months in vain for radiotherapy under
>Canada's public healthcare system, received it in Istanbul at a cost of
>$US10 000. Her daughter arranged for the therapy within 24 hours.
>
>Canadian provinces, and Quebec in particular, have had problems
>providing prompt radiotherapy for some years. By 2000, several
>provinces were forced to send more than 800 patients to the United
>States for treatment as a result of shortages of healthcare staff and
>long waiting times. The board of Canada's major cancer treatment
>centre—Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto—considered a proposal by
>staff to ask patients to sign waivers stating they were aware of the
>risks involved in joining long waiting lists ( BMJ 2000;320: 203[Free
>Full Text]). The proposal was never carried through. Instead, the
>hospital sent those waiting a letter telling them their options. They
>could either continue to wait for treatment at the Princess Margaret or
>could opt to be sent elsewhere in Ontario or to the United States.
>
>In 1999, Quebec had about 1200 patients waiting for radiotherapy, some
>for as long as five months ( BMJ 1999;318: 1507[Free Full Text]). Dr
>Carolyn Freeman, director of radiation oncology at McGill University
>health centre, then approved of sending patients to the United States as
>part of a short term solution, but said that long term planning was
>essential.
>
>The next year Quebec imported five radiation technicians from Paris and
>recruited several radiation oncologists ( BMJ 2000;320: 826[Free Full
>Text]). By that time, Quebec had spent $C6.5m sending patients to the
>United States for radiation therapy.
>
>The Fraser Institute, which conducts an annual survey of hospital
>waiting lists, says that in 2003 Quebec had the second longest waiting
>time (10 weeks) for radiation for breast cancer in Canada. Quebec's
>Superior Court has ruled that 8-12 weeks is the maximum delay that is
>medically acceptable.
>
>Canada's new prime minister, Paul Martin, has made finding solutions to
>the federal healthcare plan a top priority since he succeeded Jean
>Chrétien on 12 December 2003.
>
>art
>
>--
>art fougner, md
>ich bin ein New Yorker
>
--
art fougner, md
ich bin ein New Yorker
|
|
