What's in the news: August 13

A round-up of Canadian health news, from coast to coast to coast, and beyond, for Wednesday, August 13. Featuring smart pacemakers, clumsy kids, injured cheerleaders and more.

The government of Saskatchewan will reimburse $52,000 in medical bills paid by a woman whose husband travelled to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota for cancer treatment after being misdiagnosed with Crohn's disease in Canada. The man, Doug Bonderud, died in 2006 despite the treatment. His wife is now suing the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency. [Canadian Press]

A collection of aboriginal chiefs and environmental leaders are planning a conference on water quality and health problems in Fort Chipewyan this Friday. Three hundred attendees will be arriving in the rural northern Alberta town, including Alberta Liberal environment critic and former public health official Dr David Swann and Dr John O'Connor, the former Fort Chip family physician who was chased out of Alberta by the provincial and federal governments after he publicized what he believes to be elevated levels of unusual cancers that are connected to oil sands water pollution. [Edmonton Journal]

Quebec gets its first fully automatic biventricular cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillator. (Say that ten times fast.) That's a fancy way of saying "intelligent pacemaker." The device, designed by the company Medtronics, adjusts according to changes in the patient's cardiac condition. The procedure was carried out July 17; the patient, a 78-year-old man, was discharged the next day and has more energy now than he did, report physicians. "This is another milestone for us, and a step forward in the treatment of patients with congestive heart failure," says Dr Vidal Essebag. [McGill University Health Centre press release]

Two southwestern Ontario mayors lash out at the province's Ministry of Health after reports that the London Health Sciences Centre (the major hospital facility in the region) is sometimes unable to accept critically ill patients. "It's a pathetic system, it really is," Strathroy-Caradoc Mayor Mel Veale told the London Free Press. "This is playing Russian Roulette with the lives of people," wrote Sarnia mayor Mike Bradley to Health Minister David Caplan. [London Free Press]

Dr David Shulman, a chronic pain specialist from Toronto, has arrived in St John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, after biking across the entire country (in two trips over the last two summers) to raise awareness of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome. [VOCM] [Moncton Times & Transcript]

As next week's Canadian Medical Association annual meeting in Montreal draws nearer, the list of physician awards is announced, including prizes for young leaders, ethics, political leadership and more. [CMA press releases]

Clumsy kids are at risk of obesity as adults, according to a new study. Why? The researchers aren't quite sure. [CBC News]

The most dangerous sport for high school girls: cheerleading. And it's not even close. Two-thirds of all sports injuries in high school girls were cheering related, according to new data. Give me an L! Give me an I! Give me an A! Give me a B! Give me another I! Give me an L!... Alright, you get the idea. [MedPage Today]

The CBC looks at the impact of Canadian doctor-poaching on South Africa, which has lost many physicians to Canada and other countries. [White Coat, Black Art]

Uganda moves ahead with mass circumcision to fight the spread of HIV. [Reuters]

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