Patient Lifestyle

Today the COVID swab result finally arrived for my patient . . . six days after it was sent. She has respiratory symptoms; I tested and sent in the sample on the same day she called, two days sooner than offered at her local Assessment Centre. A potentially sick person in the GTA area with result backlogged six days, never mind if you are rural, or in the midst of a second wave! From this I fear we are heading into autumn with limited lab capacity, overwhelmed testing facilities, along with an undefined test strategy, insecure PPE supply, and uncertain availability of either the flu or COVID vaccines for all who wants them.

Joint Canadian Cardiovascular Society–Canadian Thoracic Society statement outlines current approach to diagnosis and management of pulmonary hypertension

Karyn Keith says she isn't asking for much. All she wants is the same support she'd receive if she was out of a job because of the pandemic, rather than unable to work because of her disabilities. The 44-year-old mother in Brampton, Ont., said she lives with constant pain and fatigue from multiple chronic conditions, including trigeminal neuralgia, a debilitating nerve disorder characterized by searing spasms through the face.

Newfoundland and Labrador's COVID-19 infection rate could be 20 times higher in the absence of a travel ban, the doctor leading a team running models on the contagion said Thursday in court. Dr. Proton Rahman testified before the province's Supreme Court during a legal challenge to the travel ban that authorities imposed in May to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Discussed: Why Ontario needs a new CMOH; disease control as an economic stimulus; the remarkable achievement of non-occurrence; the culture war over facts

A woman who calls herself a "death midwife'' has been banned from using the title after a lengthy legal battle launched by the College of Midwives of British Columbia. The B.C. Appeal Court has overturned a lower court ruling that had granted Pashta MaryMoon the right to use the term when she argued that preventing her from using it violated her charter rights.

It appears pharmacists will have a role to play in this new era, but they will need greater support