In November, an employee of ours suffered a gallbladder attack that required hospitalization. However, here in Western Canada, they refused to operate because his primary residence is in Quebec, and the payment agreements between Quebec and other provinces are unreliable. By the time he returned to Montreal, his gallbladder had turned gangrenous and ruptured during its removal. He required additional surgery to repair complications caused by the delayed care. He came dangerously close to sepsis due to this lack of timely treatment and could have died.
Before Christmas, a friend of mine slipped and fell in Vancouver, breaking his shoulder in three places. He was only operated on two days ago, after being left to suffer at home and in the hospital with chronic pain. By the time the surgery occurred, his shoulder had already begun to heal improperly, requiring the surgeons to break it again during the procedure to correct the damage caused by the delay in primary care.
These are just two recent examples of how Canada’s healthcare system is failing. Stories like these are becoming all too common, exposing the serious flaws in our universal healthcare system.
What Canada needs, and what has been consistently blocked by figures like Goose, is a two-tier system where people have the option to pay for quality primary healthcare. Currently, those who can afford better care often seek it in the U.S., at places like Trinity in North Dakota or the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. For example, when my Canadian doctor's wife needed a diagnosis, they went to Mayo. Both he and his wife, originally from South Africa, are well aware of how Canada's healthcare system fails, especially in diagnostic medicine. Poor diagnostics saves money, as it leaves many patients to die while waiting for care.
Even Trudeau seems to have acknowledged these failures, but rather than fixing the system, his solution appears to be making it easier to let patients die or murder them.
RCMP called to investigate multiple cases of veterans being offered medically assisted death
Veterans Affairs Minister Lawrence MacAulay apologizes for 'appalling interactions'
Murray Brewster · CBC News · Posted: Nov 24, 2022 10:30 PM CST | Last Updated: November 25, 2022
A person touches the helmet on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier after laying a poppy, at the National War Memorial after the National Remembrance Day Ceremony in Ottawa, on Friday, Nov. 11, 2022. (The Canadian Press/Justin Tang)
Four — perhaps even five — Canadian military veterans were given the option of medically-assisted death (MAID) by a now-suspended Veterans Affairs Canada caseworker, the country's veterans minister told a House of Commons committee late Thursday.
Lawrence MacAulay said the matter is now being turned over to the RCMP for investigation and his department's internal review is ongoing.
"We expect all Veterans Affairs candidate employees to interact with veterans with care, compassion and respect and the actions of this one employee is simply disgusting," MacAulay told the veterans affairs committee. "And I condemn this behaviour in the strongest terms."
He went on to say there was "no way to justify" the actions and he wasn't about to defend the employee.
Last summer, Global News first reported a case where a veteran claimed to have been pressured by a veterans affairs case worker to consider medically assisted dying.
Veterans Affairs Minister Lawrence MacAulay said the matter is now being turned over to the RCMP for investigation. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)
That prompted MacAulay to order an internal investigation, which has now uncovered a total of four cases where veterans were allegedly offered MAID — all apparently by the same caseworker.
Earlier Thursday, the National Post reported on a possible fifth case involving a still-serving member of the military who told the podcast Tango Romeo that he was also unexpectedly offered MAID by a caseworker in November of last year.
MacAulay told the all-party committee that the most recent revelation was not among the cases his staff has uncovered and he urged the veteran who spoke in the podcast to come forward and contact him — or the deputy minister — directly.
"We remain confident that this is all related to one single employee, and it's not a widespread or a systemic issue," he said.
Conservative MP — and veterans committee vice-chair — Blake Richards questioned whether the minister and the veterans department had a clear indication on the scope of the problem.
Cause for alarm, says Tory MPThe fact the fifth case may have escaped the attention of the department review is cause for alarm, he said
"So in that case, either something was missed in this investigation, or there is another employee involved," Richards said. "Now, it's a matter of determining which of those two things it is. In either case, that's concerning."
Based upon what he sees, Richard said he believes the veterans department "investigation is not nearly thorough enough."
He said that might mean "there's a need for an outside investigation."
MacAulay walked the committee through what his department knew, thus far, saying the first case that came to light occurred last summer where the caseworker repeatedly pushed the notion of MAID to an unnamed veteran who had called seeking help with post-traumatic stress.
A second occasion reported happened last May where the same caseworker provided assisted dying information to a veteran.
Another incident is alleged to have happened in December 2021, said MacAulay. It involved a veteran who contacted the department to ask questions about MAID. The committee had already heard testimony about that event during a previous hearing last month.
Minister apologizesThe fourth known case apparently happened in 2019, where a veteran called VAC specifically asking for information about assistance in taking his own life.
MacAulay offered an apology.
"I am sorry you had to endure these appalling interactions, and we're doing everything we can to ensure this never happens again," the minister said.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Murray Brewster Senior reporter, defence and security
Murray Brewster is senior defence writer for CBC News, based in Ottawa. He has covered the Canadian military and foreign policy from Parliament Hill for over a decade. Among other assignments, he spent a total of 15 months on the ground covering the Afghan war for The Canadian Press. Prior to that, he covered defence issues and politics for CP in Nova Scotia for 11 years and was bureau chief for Standard Broadcast News in Ottawa.
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