What's in the news: Mar. 20 -- A quick round-up

Today, an abbreviated version of our regular "What's in the news" feature with a round-up of recent health news from across the country.

The government of British Columbia has filed a countersuit against former Canadian Medical Association president Dr Brian Day and other private clinic owners, alleging the private clinics have been using illegal billing practices. [Vancouver Sun] [Vancouver Sun] The Canadian Health Coalition has made available several legal documents related to the case, here and here (both PDFs). The clinic owners' lawsuit, filed in late January, argues that the province's restrictions on private clinics violate patients' constitutional rights. [Canadian Medicine]

Foreign-trained doctors demand an inquiry into Quebec's medical residency system to determine why so many international medical graduates were not assigned residencies. [Montreal Gazette]

A provocative American blogger wondered out loud whether the Canadian healthcare system might be at fault in the death of actress Natasha Richardson, who fell and hit her head while skiing at Mont Tremblant. [Kennedy's Tumor] Dr Kevin Pho answered: probably not. [KevinMD]

Being shot in the head by a Taser can cause a seizure, a group of Ontario researchers reported in a case report in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. [CMAJ] [CTV News]

A Montreal nurse and three other aid workers kidnapped in Darfur were freed in short order. [Montreal Gazette] [Voice of America]

A Cooksville, Ontario, tattoo parlor named Moonshin Tattoo is at the centre of a public health investigation into the potential spread of HIV and hepatitis C because of sterilization problems. A $20 million class-action lawsuit has been launched. [Mississauga News] [Sudbury Star]

To accompany a new marketing campaign to encourage patients to report adverse events they experience from medications, Health Canada has issued a brief new guide for health professionals on when and how to report adverse events through the MedEffect system. [Health Canada]

Recommending that Canadians eat two servings of fish per week, as Canada's Food Guide does, is a bad idea, some researchers and environmentalists said. Eating so much fish may be unsustainable and has uncertain public health benefits. [Globe and Mail]

The city of Calgary set new regulations on the content of trans fat that foods served in restaurants could contain, but the new provincial Alberta Health Services board has reversed that policy and eliminated the regulations. [CTV News] [CBC News]

The federal Minister of State for Science and Technology, Gary Goodyear, refused to answer questions about whether he believed in evolution or not. "I am a Christian, and I don't think anybody asking a question about my religion is appropriate." [Globe and Mail] Mr Goodyear is a chiropractor, which some in the medical profession might believe to be even less scientific than creationism.

Ontario Government Services Minister Ted McMeekin wrote to Health Canada to ask for clarification on where licenced users of medical marijuana are permitted to smoke. Current regulations don't specify. [Canwest News Service]

Ontario issued more medical licences last year than it has in any year since 1985. [Canadian Press]

The majority of McGill medical school graduates elect to leave the province to find work. Dr Gilles Aubé, who ran for the Parti Québécois in the last election, has suggested getting students to sign a return-of-services contract to keep them in Quebec for at least a little while. [Toronto Star]

Alberta's doctors are behaving themselves: for the third year running, the number of complaints filed against them dropped. [Canadian Press] [Edmonton Journal]

Elliot Rappaport, a Montreal ex-doctor who lost his licence to practise in 2002, was charged with two charges each of sexual assault and forcible confinement for allegedly tying up female patients, using a blindfold and a gag, and touching them. In 1995, when similar complaints were levied against him, he claimed it was a medical technique. At the time he was suspended for one year but allowed to return to practice thereafter. The Quebec College of Physicians and Surgeons refused to make public the reason he lost his licence in 2002. [Montreal Gazette]

Former Quebec health minister Philippe Couillard's surprisingly fast jump from the National Assembly to a private health-sector investment firm last year did not violate any lobbying laws, a review found. [Montreal Gazette]

Dr Mehmet Oz -- of Oprah fame -- wrote that the drama ER was his "my other med school." "Our mirror neurons fired away as we identified with George Clooney’s Dr. Doug Ross and Julianna Margulies’ Carol Hathaway exorcising their demons." [The Daily Beast]

The Pope, whose advice on prophylaxis one is loathe to trust, said that condoms cannot stop the spread of HIV. "On the contrary," he said, "it increases the problem." [CBC News]

The health bloggers' Grand Rounds is online. [ACP Internist]

And the health policy bloggers' Health Wonk Review is online, too. [HealthBlawg]

Michael Jackson may have expressed interest in having his body plastinated for public display by the doctor and anatomist Gunther von Hagens after he dies. [Der Spiegel] I interviewed the rather strange Dr von Hagens when his Body Worlds exhibit came through Montreal in 2007. [National Review of Medicine]

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