Toronto Star - A confidential report on Ontario’s worst outbreak of C. difficile reveals major gaps in infection control at Joseph Brant Memorial Hospital in Burlington – findings that suggest other hospitals in the province are still vulnerable today.
First report from Ont. hospitals on C. difficile shows rates lower … The Canadian Press
Ontario releases ‘snapshot’ of C.difficile cases on public website Canoe.ca
Canada NewsWire (press release) - CBC.ca - CTV.ca - Canada NewsWire (press release)
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“ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – A former health minister says the public would have remained in the dark about errors with breast cancer testing in Newfoundland if a class-action lawsuit hadn’t been filed over the matter. – The inquiry into faulty breast cancer tests was told Wednesday that a group of cancer patients can get their tissue samples retested, but only if they ask – and Eastern Health hasn’t publicly told them they have the option.”
In reality now today how many other provinces, municipalities, federal government departments, Ministers, even the Police forces have now too often done similar bad things too, they wrongfully now have false obstructed justice, transparency, accountability and now what is being done that nothing like is is going to happen again as much as possible anywhere in Canada too?
Public exposure and enforced, real prosecution of the major guilty persons serves as the best solution, deterrent to all of this now still too, even of the bad Civil and public servants, bad professionals, bad politicians too.
“Cancer patients misdiagnosed in Manitoba Canada.com - WINNIPEG – Seventeen cancer patients in Manitoba may have received the wrong prognosis or treatment, according to the latest findings into mistakes made by a senior pathologist.
Cancer patients missed treatment due to pathologist’s errors Globe and Mail
Cancer patients concerned about potential misdiagnoses CBC.ca”
“globeandmail.com: C. difficile exacts heavy toll at Ontario hospital. and in the rest of Canada now too. TORONTO – A deadly outbreak of a highly contagious superbug at an Ontario hospital claimed the lives of one-third of the patients afflicted with the disease, a far greater toll than previously believed. Joseph Brant Memorial Hospital in Burlington announced yesterday that 91 of the 177 patients diagnosed with Clostridium difficult, commonly known as C. difficile, over a 20-month period ending last December died in the institution. It blamed the disease for 62 of the deaths. Only a small number of the province’s 154 hospitals, including Joseph Brant, voluntarily release such statistics. As a result, the public is in the dark about the extent of the problem even though Ontario is believed to have the highest rates of the superbug in Canada, said Michael Gardam, director of infection prevention and control for the University Health Network, who performed the mortality study on patients at Joseph Brant. He said the disease tends to afflict the elderly but also often goes undetected because it is easily misdiagnosed. Ontario Health Minister George Smitherman described the number of deaths as “very, very startling.” He vowed yesterday that the province will make public reporting of such infections mandatory by the end of the year. “We have an obligation for transparency and to apprise people of information that’s important to them, to know what risks are out there,” Mr. Smitherman told reporters. “
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080508.wcdifficile08/BNStory/specialScienceandHealth/home
The Government of Ontario is putting more lives at risk by not moving more quickly to require hospitals to report infections like C. difficile in the wake of 62 deaths at a hospital in Burlington, Ont., Health Minister George Smitherman should force hospitals to start reporting such cases of hospital-acquired infections immediately instead of by the end of the year as promised, An estimated 1,200 people will die before the end of the year as a result of such infections, which can be prevented if more dramatic action is taken..”
Hospital Union Leaders do now even confirm that “Because of the financial pressure, cleaners and cleaning supervisors are told to prioritize and rotate cleaning schedules. There’s not enough attention being paid to the basic cleaning of the facilities, and as a result, there are huge problems.” Ironically the demand for the workers to work to the slow down rules by the union had often also escalated these Health problems now too. The union is calling on the province to hire more hospital cleaners and require hospitals to review their infection-control practices to prevent the kind of outbreak experienced at Burlington’s Joseph Brant Memorial Hospital and other Ontario hospitals, plus the unions as well all need to allow the hospital workers to work more effectively now too.
http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/365792