Time for full disclosure on how many public dollars we really paid private lawyers to defend healthcare bullies

Tim Houston’s new government deserves credit for releasing a blacked-out 13-year-old document showing how much a previous government claimed to have spent on private lawyers in the Dr. Gabrielle Horne case. Trouble is that number isn’t new — or anywhere near complete. It’s time for actual full disclosure. Jean Laroche, the CBC’s veteran legislature reporter, […]

The Horne case: mumble-mouthed nothings from mealy-mouthed nobodies

This column originally appeared in the Halifax Examiner March 5, 2018. If you read only last week’s headlines — Appeal Court Slashes Damages Payout to Cardiologist Gabrielle Horne (Chronicle Herald); Halifax Cardiologist Sees Reduced Damages of $800K in Suit Against Health Authority: Nova Scotia Court of Appeal Rejects Appeal by Dr. Gabrielle Horne to also Sue […]

How much health care could $10 million have bought — and why it didn’t

This column originally appeared in the Halifax Examiner on November 27, 2017. Let’s begin with what we don’t know. We don’t know when the province’s court of appeals, which held a hearing earlier this month, will rule on a Nova Scotia Health Authority appeal of a judgment against it in the case of cardiologist Dr. Gabrielle […]

Will the next government finally end the 15-year persecution of Dr. Gabrielle Horne? Time to ask…

(This column originally appeared in the Halifax Examiner on May 8, 2017 .) Elections offer opportunities. If you have a question, or concern, or if there is some specific issue bugging the hell out of you, the upcoming election gives you the chance to raise it, face-to-doorstep, so to speak, or email-to-email, with the candidate […]

The latest Gabrielle Horne travesty of justice

“The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers…” Dick the Butcher Shakespeare’s Henry V “Did you hear?” the email from my friend asked. “The hospital is appealing [the] Gabrielle Horne verdict? Honestly.” I should have expected as much. But I was hopeful. Naively, stupidly hopeful, it turns out. I’ve been following Dr. […]

Dr. Gabrielle Horne and the lessons not learned

Call it vindication. But — after 14 years, four premiers, three changes of government, the merging of nine regional health authorities into one and a there-must-be-an-end, 33-day trial — don’t call it victory. On Friday in a landmark decision, a seven-member civil jury awarded Halifax cardiologist Gabrielle Horne $1.4 million in damages, her legal fees […]