MRI needed for Brantford - the citizen's initiative

Osprey Media Group Inc. - Brantford Expositor: "Family of Sam Rizzo raising funds for MRI

By Susan Gamble
Local News - Thursday, July 21, 2005 @ 01:00

The family of Sam Rizzo is determined to create a meaningful legacy to the businessman who championed city causes.

Rizzo, who died one year ago next week, suffered through almost a year of esophageal cancer that required a number of magnetic resonance imaging scans or MRIs.

Now, his children want to ensure that other families don�t have to endure the difficult trips to Hamilton, London or even Buffalo to get MRIs.

The Rizzos have organized the Sam Rizzo 2005 Memorial Gala, an invitation-only, $150-a-ticket event at the Brantford Golf and Country Club to raise money for an MRI machine at Brantford General Hospital.

�You don�t realize what you need until you actually need it,� said Rizzo�s daughter, Michelle Fergus.

�When you have to watch a loved one as sick as our father was, you�d do anything to help them and, because of our loss, we don�t want other families to go through what we did."

Hamilton

Hamilton: "The cash is part of the government's $1.9-billion overall investment in the home care and community services sector this year.
By helping seniors and others receive greater care in their home and communities, the government can relieve stress placed on hospitals and long-term facilities where treatment is more expensive, Health Minister George Smitherman said Tuesday. "

Macleans - Breaking the health taboo

Sympatico / MSN - Partner content
Breaking the taboo

A landmark Supreme Court ruling challenges Canada's long-held health care assumptions

JOHN GEDDES

The Supreme Court of Canada just wasn't buying the familiar old case in favour of a public health care monopoly. In rulings that stunned Canadian politicians last week, judges on the top court looked hard at some well-worn arguments against allowing private care -- and tore that threadbare thinking apart. In key passages, the outrage of some judges seemed to be showing through their cool, deliberate prose, as they described how intolerably long waiting times for public treatment put individual Canadians through pain and psychological torment, or even allowed them to die because their names fell too far down some specialist's list. "Delays in the public system are widespread and have serious, sometimes grave, consequences," wrote Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin and Justice John Major. "Inevitably where patients have life-threatening conditions, some will die because of undue delay in awaiting surgery."

Hamilton Defends private clinic

Hamilton: "'There's no violation of any (rules); we're offering a service that is in keeping with the delivery of health-care services outside of a hospital,' Anglin said Friday.
'This is something that's complementary to the public system. We're not competing in any way with the public system.'
The Provis Clinic, set to open in mid-August, will offer cancer patients access to expensive, cutting-edge cancer medications that are approved by Health Canada but not yet covered by Ontario's health plan. Patients would have to be referred to the clinic by their oncologist.
Health Minister George Smitherman said earlier this week he doesn't have enough information about the clinic yet to judge whether it might contravene any of Ontario's health laws.
But Smitherman said he doesn't want the result to be 'pocketbook medicine,' where patients pay for faster access and for services already covered by the health system. "

Smitherman defends private clinic?

Hamilton: "Ontario's drug plan covers more than 3,400 treatments and the province in spending about $3 billion a year on drugs, up from $1 billion only a few years ago, with $319 million more added to the budget this year, he noted.
Smitherman said the province doesn't yet have enough information about the clinic to know whether it might contravene any of Ontario's health laws.
Although private clinics are allowed to offer drugs not covered by the province, an issue can arise when services and consultations associated with getting the drugs are otherwise covered under the provincial health plan, he added. "

Osprey Media Group Inc. - Haldimand Review

Osprey Media Group Inc. - Haldimand Review: "Hospital ready to roll with recommendations "

Medical Bills Go Public

Medical Bills Go Public

CANOE -- CNEWS - Canada: Alberta allows health upgrades

CANOE -- CNEWS - Canada: Alberta allows health upgrades: "Alberta allows health upgrades

By BILL GRAVELAND





Alberta Premier Ralph Klein. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
CALGARY (CP) - Alberta Premier Ralph Klein opened the door Tuesday to Cadillac health care for those willing to pay, but denied claims he has put the province on the road to a two-tiered system. "

Winnipeg Sun: NEWS - Feds back delay in ending ban on private medicare

Winnipeg Sun: NEWS - Feds back delay in ending ban on private medicare: "Feds back delay in ending ban on private medicare



By CP




OTTAWA -- The federal government has joined Quebec to ask for an 18-month stay in a Supreme Court judgment striking down a ban on private health insurance in the province.
But a group of private medical clinics in British Columbia say the ban should be lifted immediately, suggesting Quebecers and perhaps all Canadians could be seriously harmed by a delay.
'APPROPRIATE SOLUTION' "

National post - premiiers competing for business

Hamilton: "HOSPITAL BATTLE: Premier Dalton McGuinty talks with Shriner members John Ball and Eddie Elcombe of Toronto. A bitter turf battle over an $85 million Canadian children's hospital is brewing at this year's Shriners convention"

Winnipeg Sun Editorial: Medicare monopoly on the ropes

No more excuses on this vital issue QJ
Winnipeg Sun Editorial: Medicare monopoly on the ropes: "Medicare monopoly on the ropes
The great thing about the recent Supreme Court of Canada ruling striking down Quebec's laws banning private medical insurance, is how it has put the defenders of the unacceptable status quo in medicare completely on the defensive. "