What's in the news: October 7 -- Smoggy ailment, Ontario says sorry, campaign stasis, and more

A round-up of Canadian health news, from coast to coast to coast and beyond, for Tuesday, October 7.

Wait times in Canada have dropped, a new Fraser Institute study reveals. [Winnipeg Free Press] But they're still embarrassingly long. [Ottawa Citizen] The full report is available here (PDF). [news release]

There are more hospital admissions for appendicitis on days with high concentrations of air pollution, says new research by Dr Gilaad G Kaplan and others from the University of Calgary, presented yesterday at the American College of Gastroenterology's annual meeting. [news release] [CBC News]

Montreal researchers claim to have proved that antibiotics are not the only cause of C difficile infection. [Canadian Press] [news release]

The Ontario government has thrown its weight behind a private member's bill that will provide legal protection to doctors and other professionals who apologize for making an error. [CBC News] For some background about apology-protection legislation in Canada, read my article from March 2008, and my update from April on the Ontario law.

A new book by the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions says that private, for-profit healthcare will not improve the quality of care or reduce costs. [Canwest News Service] Download the full book for free here (PDF).

Toronto physician and health policy analyst Michael Rachlis bemoans the absence of any substantial debate on healthcare in the federal election campaign. [Toronto Star]

The majority of Canadians believe the election candidates haven't addressed healthcare sufficiently, either because they are too afraid to do so or because they lack the vision needed, according to a new poll. [Canadian Medical Association]

Dr Carolyn Bennett, the Toronto MP and former physician, has come under attack in her Toronto riding -- literally. Her chief financial officer had his car's brake lines cut, and Liberal supporters' cars were keyed. Police are investigating. [National Post] [Toronto Sun] For details, you can check Dr Bennett's blog.

Quebec moves ahead with an idea to allow residents to serve as short-term locums. [CMA News]

The pneumonia vaccine may help prevent heart attacks, report a team of researchers from the University of Sherbrooke and McMaster University in this week's Canadian Medical Association Journal. [CMAJ]

Canadian Family Physician features an article on the importance for family physicians of learning "evolutionary medicine." [CFP]

Analysts with Quebec's public healthcare insurance plan have declined to issue a ruling on the legality of MYCA Santé's video doctor consultation business. The government has asked the provincial medical regulatory board its opinion. [Quebec Government] Some readers may recognize Myca's "Chief Imagineer" Dr Jay Parkinson (yes, that is really his title), the officeless Brooklyn, New York, doctor who we profiled last year. [National Review of Medicine]

This week's Grand Rounds medical blog anthology is online today. [M.D.O.D.]

The latest Medicine 2.0 blog anthology is also online now. [Digital Pathology Blog]

Get Canadian Medicine news by email or in an RSS reader