CMA debate on end-of-life care goes virtual
By Pat Rich May 16, 2014 The Canadian Medical Association’s national dialogue on end-of-life care went virtual earlier this week, as CMA President Dr. Louis Hugo Francescutti led a wide-ranging online discussion. Hosted on the Maclean’s magazine website, the one-hour chat covered a number of topics and saw participants ask many questions and express their […]
Medical marijuana: New rules and a ‘ton of confusion’
Physicians reluctant to become gatekeepers for those who want legal access to pot Medical marijuana users across Canada can be forgiven for being confused right now. First, they thought that with the new medical marijuana regime that comes into effect tomorrow, they would lose their ability to grow their own legal pot at home and […]
Physician-assisted death is going to become legal’: Canada’s right-to-die debate almost over, doctors say
It’s time to move beyond the drawn out “yes” or “no” arguments over doctor-assisted death and prepare for a future where sick patients would be granted the freedom to choose when and how they die, doctors who specialize in caring for the terminally ill argue in Canada’s leading medical journal. http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/04/07/physician-assisted-death-is-going-to-become-legal-canadas-right-to-die-debate-almost-over-doctors-say/
Short of recruits, not patients: geriatric medicine strives for “critical mass”
by Patrick Sullivan March 19, 2014 As Canada deals with a sharp increase in the number of frail, elderly patients, the medical subspecialty that was created to care for these patients is proving a hard sell with new physicians. “There are only 242 certified geriatricians in Canada,” says Dr. Frank Molnar, who represents the Canadian […]
Foreign physicians moving to Canada are facing more competition from Canadian graduates
Foreign physicians planning on a move to Canada are facing more competition from newly trained Canadian medical graduates – it is time to broaden employment search options beyond Canada’s major urban centres. The Canadian Institute for Health Information says there were more than 72,500 physicians caring for patients in 2011, a rise of 14% since […]
Summit tackles MD employment issues, seeks national response
Canada’s major medical organizations have committed to ongoing efforts to solve the unemployment and underemployment problems facing some newly trained physicians, particularly in hospital-based specialties such as orthopedic surgery. The commitment was contained in a joint statement issued following the National Physician Employment Summit, a mid-February gathering in Ottawa that attracted more than 100 representatives […]
More doctors without jobs as Canadians face long wait times
Published: February 17, 2014, 4:32 pm OTTAWA — More than 100 stakeholders in the medical profession are gathering in Ottawa this week to discuss a paradoxical issue affecting health care in Canada: a growing number of doctors without jobs. The National Summit on Physician Employment, to be held Tuesday and Wednesday, was organized by the Royal […]
Quebec’s ‘dying with dignity’ law would set new standards
Bill 52 follows European, not U.S. models for end of life, unbearable suffering criteria By Janet Davison, CBC News Posted: Feb 17, 2014 5:00 AM ET Should Quebec’s national assembly pass — as early as this week — the proposed legislation to allow medical aid in dying, it will be setting in place a law that appears to take much of its […]
A doctor planning a move to Canada? Planning to hire a foreign doctor? BEWARE!!!
Employers recruiting foreign physicians are finding that ignorance of changing Canadian government regulations can be a very costly mistake – and a heartbreaker for foreign doctors and their families…. The increasing complexity associated with the pathways that foreign physicians must follow to legally start work in Canada is now littered with veritable regulatory landmines. Stringent […]
CMA acts on Canadian physician employment worries
The following is a reprint of an article on this subject discussed in an earlier edition of the CanAm newsletter…. by Pat Rich January 17, 2014 The CMA has adopted a comprehensive 10-point plan to address all facets of physician health human resources (HHR), including education, training and employment. The move comes amid growing concern […]
