Waiting for Fitch: the much-delayed consultant’s report you may never get to see in full

Bob Dylan didn’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows. And Nova Scotians don’t need a consultant to tell us our Emergency Health Services are a mess. Do we really even need one to tell us how to fix it? “Last week the government issued a tender for a system-design review of […]

Health care crisis? Check. Leadership to solve it? Another question…

Did you know that, as of Friday morning, the Nova Scotia Health Authority’s News website was reporting a full computer page — 10 different items — flagging current, ongoing, never-ending emergency room closures in Nova Scotia? From the Lillian Fraser Memorial in Tatamagouche, to the Eastern Shore Memorial in Sheet Harbour, to Guysborough Memorial, to […]

The Yates case: self-regulation or self-protection

This column originally appeared in the Halifax Examiner June 11, 2018. Start with this: a July 11, 2017, CBC news story entitled “Lack of Psychologists Delays Youth Sentencing More than 6 Months.” The story quoted Brandon Rolle, the managing lawyer at the youth office for Nova Scotia Legal Aid who pointed out that the IWK Health Centre was […]

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 […]

Stephen McNeil could learn a thing or two from Fidel Castro

Cuba’s ambassador to the U.S., José Cabanas, speaks during end-the-blockade event in Washington. (Bill Hackwell) This column originally appeared in the Halifax Examiner on September 25, 2017. My wife and I recently spent a week in Washington, D.C., advocating for an end to the failed, 56-years-and-counting U.S. blockade of Cuba. We were with a group that […]

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 […]

Doctor dysfunction and the case of Gabrielle Horne

I first wrote about the case of Dr. Gabrielle Horne in May 2006. By that time, the incident that initially sparked my interest was already four years old. Who would have guessed then it still wouldn’t finally be resolved 10 years later? In mid-October 2002, the head of the QE II’s department of medicine […]

Seniors’ pharmacare? It’s past time for a national, universal pharmacare program

Since we’ve been talking about seniors’ pharmacare, perhaps it’s time to change the modifier and resume a longstanding conversation about national pharmacare. Canada is the only industrialized country in the world that boasts a universal health care program but offers no parallel national scheme so those who need prescription medications can actually get them. The […]

Stephen McNeil declares health care victory… and runs

What better time to declare victory and slink off to bind your wounds than just before cocktail hour on the Friday afternoon before school March break and the eve of another Sunday nor’easter? (It’s no coincidence two of the top four Google News search terms modifying “Nova Scotia” Saturday morning were “weather and “storm;” “health […]