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The Boundaries Of Medicare: Tensions In The Dual Role Of Ontario's Physician Services Review Committee, Colleen M. M. Flood, Joanna Erdman Jan 2005

The Boundaries Of Medicare: Tensions In The Dual Role Of Ontario's Physician Services Review Committee, Colleen M. M. Flood, Joanna Erdman

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

In this research, we describe and analyse the Physician Services Committee (PSC) in Ontario, focusing on its role in determining what physician services are publicly funded and what services are de-listed (i.e. no longer eligible for public funding). We explain how the PSC's role in determining the boundaries of Medicare is in tension with its role as a medium for labour relations between the government and the medical profession. We suggest that while the values of privacy, secrecy and a lack of transparency may enhance the PSC's fulfillment of its labour relations mandate, they impede the Committee's successful fulfillment of …


Revisioning The Oversight Of Research Involving Humans In Canada, Jocelyn Downie, Fiona Mcdonald Jan 2004

Revisioning The Oversight Of Research Involving Humans In Canada, Jocelyn Downie, Fiona Mcdonald

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

When individuals are asked to participate in research they should be able to assume that the research "is well designed and well executed, that the investigator is competent to undertake the study, that the study will be run efficiently, safely, and ethically and that the deviations from good practice will be identified and corrected." The central question that we focus on in this paper is whether the governance mechanisms that are currently in place to regulate the conduct of research involving humans are adequate to enable those who are approached to participate in research to make these assumptions. This review …


Steering And Rowing In Health Care: The Devolution Option?, Colleen Flood, Joanna Erdman, Duncan Sinclair Jan 2004

Steering And Rowing In Health Care: The Devolution Option?, Colleen Flood, Joanna Erdman, Duncan Sinclair

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Publicly funded health care systems are often the subject of heated policy debates. All too often (particularly in Canada), these debates focus on the prohibitive costs, the resultant taxation levels, and the questionable efficiency and outcomes associated with a publicly funded system. Moreover, the institutionalization of the system and the entrenchment of its many stakeholders make effecting change particularly difficult. In this article, the authors begin with an assessment of the drawbacks of the Canadian health care system in the federal-provincial context and its resulting gaps in governance (steering), in management (rowing), and in overall accountability (apart from that offered …


The Boundaries Of Medicare: Tensions In The Dual Role Of Ontario's Physician Services Review Committee, Colleen Flood, Joanna Erdman Jan 2004

The Boundaries Of Medicare: Tensions In The Dual Role Of Ontario's Physician Services Review Committee, Colleen Flood, Joanna Erdman

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

In this research, we describe and analyse the Physician Services Committee (PSC) in Ontario, focusing on its role in determining what physician services are publicly funded and what services are de-listed (i.e. no longer eligible for public funding). We explain how the PSC's role in determining the boundaries of Medicare is in tension with its role as a medium for labour relations between the government and the medical profession. We suggest that while the values of privacy, secrecy and a lack of transparency may enhance the PSC's fulfillment of its labour relations mandate, they impede the Committee's successful fulfillment of …


Shooting Ourselves In The Foot: Why Mandatory Reporting Of Gunshot Wounds Is A Bad Idea, Merril Pauls, Jocelyn Downie Jan 2004

Shooting Ourselves In The Foot: Why Mandatory Reporting Of Gunshot Wounds Is A Bad Idea, Merril Pauls, Jocelyn Downie

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

A recent position statement by the Ontario Medical Association’s Section on Emergency Medicine called on the Ontario government to pass a law requiring physicians to report gunshot wounds to police. The Ontario government quickly passed a motion to “introduce legislation to require hospitals and physicians to report gunshot wounds and knife injuries to their local police service.” The goals behind the position statement are laudable: “to assess and reduce immediate public risk and to collect data to inform future prevention strategies.” However, mandating that physicians report gunshot wounds is an ill-conceived response to the problem of gun-related violence. It will …


Protecting Human Research Subjects: A Jurisdictional Analysis, Jennifer Llewellyn, Jocelyn Downie, Robert Holmes Jan 2003

Protecting Human Research Subjects: A Jurisdictional Analysis, Jennifer Llewellyn, Jocelyn Downie, Robert Holmes

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

The most recent speech from the throne contained a pledge from the federal government to "work with provinces to implement a national system for the governance of research involving humans, including national research ethics and standards." This commitment signals a desire on the part of the federal government to address concerns about the inadequacies of the current governance of health research involving humans (RIH). To this end, Health Canada's Ethics Division is currently exploring the ways in which such a national governance system for RIH might be implemented. It is important for the federal government, as it moves toward making …


Protecting Human Research Subjects: A Jurisdictional Analysis, Jennifer Llewellyn, Jocelyn Downie, Robert Holmes Jan 2003

Protecting Human Research Subjects: A Jurisdictional Analysis, Jennifer Llewellyn, Jocelyn Downie, Robert Holmes

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

The most recent speech from the throne contained a pledge from the federal government to "work with provinces to implement a national system for the governance of research involving humans, including national research ethics and standards." This commitment signals a desire on the part of the federal government to address concerns about the inadequacies of the current governance of health research involving humans (RIH). To this end, Health Canada's Ethics Division is currently exploring the ways in which such a national governance system for RIH might be implemented. It is important for the federal government, as it moves toward making …


Industry And The Academy: Conflicts Of Interest In Contemporary Health Research, Jocelyn Downie Jan 2002

Industry And The Academy: Conflicts Of Interest In Contemporary Health Research, Jocelyn Downie

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

The case of Dr. Nancy Olivieri, the Hospital for Sick Children (HSC), the University of Toronto, and Apotex Inc. (hereinafter the "Olivieri case") is critically important to an understanding of the issues central to contemporary health research and the safety of research participants. First, the case illustrates the huge stakes in such research – not only billions of dollars, but the health of Canadians. Second, the case played out at a crucial time in the history of the regulation of health research. Like other recent high-profile cases, it challenged the ways in which research is governed at the local and …


Genetic And Metabolic Screening Of Newborns: Must Health Care Providers Seek Explicit Parental Consent?, Sheila Wildeman, Jocelyn Downie Jan 2001

Genetic And Metabolic Screening Of Newborns: Must Health Care Providers Seek Explicit Parental Consent?, Sheila Wildeman, Jocelyn Downie

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

In this paper, we provide some background on the history of newborn screening and the legal context within which questions regarding consent must be answered, and then turn to the various arguments that can be made for and against the current approach to parental consent to genetic and metabolic tests administered as part of provincial/territorial newborn screening programs. In the end, we conclude that either practice should be changed to align it with current law such that explicit parental consent is sought for the established tests, or that advocates for maintaining current practices should lobby for legislation permitting newborn screening …


Genetic And Metabolic Screening Of Newborns: Must Health Care Providers Seek Explicit Parental Consent?, Sheila Wildeman, Jocelyn Downie Jan 2001

Genetic And Metabolic Screening Of Newborns: Must Health Care Providers Seek Explicit Parental Consent?, Sheila Wildeman, Jocelyn Downie

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

In this paper, we provide some background on the history of newborn screening and the legal context within which questions regarding consent must be answered, and then turn to the various arguments that can be made for and against the current approach to parental consent to genetic and metabolic tests administered as part of provincial/territorial newborn screening programs. In the end, we conclude that either practice should be changed to align it with current law such that explicit parental consent is sought for the established tests, or that advocates for maintaining current practices should lobby for legislation permitting newborn screening …


Health Care Ethics Experts In Canadian Courts, Jocelyn Downie Jan 2001

Health Care Ethics Experts In Canadian Courts, Jocelyn Downie

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

In this paper, I will first describe the traditional approach to the use of experts in Canadian courts. Then I will consider whether, on this approach, health care ethics experts should be permitted to testify in Canadian courts. I will argue that they should be permitted to testify but caution should be exercised by the courts, the parties, and the experts themselves. The objective of the paper is to highlight the strengths and raise some concerns about the weaknesses of a practice that appears to be growing, so that the potential harmful consequences might be anticipated, problems with the practice …


Egregious Inaction: Five Years After 'Of Life And Death', Jocelyn Downie Jan 2000

Egregious Inaction: Five Years After 'Of Life And Death', Jocelyn Downie

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

In November 1999, the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology was authorized to examine and report upon developments since the release of Of Life and Death, the final report of the Special Senate Committee on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide. A subcommittee to update Of Life and Death was therefore established. On February 14, 2000, I participated in the first panel of witnesses before this subcommittee. In light of the subcommittee's mandate, I set myself the following two tasks: first, to update the legal status sections of Of Life and Death by reporting on any changes to the …


The Contested Lessons Of Euthanasia In The Netherlands, Jocelyn Downie Jan 2000

The Contested Lessons Of Euthanasia In The Netherlands, Jocelyn Downie

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

In this paper, while I will conclude that the Dutch experience should give us some concern about a slippery slope, I will, more importantly, also conclude that it should not give us the level of concern suggested by some commentators. I will argue that it does not provide a basis on which to conclude that assisted suicide and voluntary active euthanasia should not be decriminalized in Canada. Rather, it provides a basis for proceeding with caution and developing a permissive regime that places barriers on the slope and contains mechanisms by which slippage down the slope can be detected (and, …


Information/Consent/Authorization For Minors' Participation In Research, Jocelyn Downie Jan 1999

Information/Consent/Authorization For Minors' Participation In Research, Jocelyn Downie

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Following the workshop described in the previous article "Children and Decision-Making in Health Research," I decided to "operationalize" the approach taken to the issue of minors and consent/authorization. What follows is a proposed set of instructions for investigators that could be provided by REBs to investigators to facilitate the process of applying for ethical approval for research involving minors and to ensure respect for minors who are participating in research.


A Feminist Exploration Of Issues Around Assisted Death, Jocelyn Downie, Susan Sherwin Jan 1996

A Feminist Exploration Of Issues Around Assisted Death, Jocelyn Downie, Susan Sherwin

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Although a great deal of public attention has recently been focused on issues around assisted death remarkably little of it has come from an explicitly feminist perspective. This is a serious omission at a time when legislators are feeling pressure to review and perhaps revise existing policies on assisted death, and when the policies they contemplate may have a significant negative and disproportionate impact on women. We think it is essential that there be some discussion of these issues from an explicitly feminist perspective in order to ensure that concerns about the oppression of women become part of the public …


Book Review Of Passion: An Essay On Personality , Richard F. Devlin Frsc Jan 1985

Book Review Of Passion: An Essay On Personality , Richard F. Devlin Frsc

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Passion is a cogently structured, compel Jingly argued and seductively enthralling masterpiece which, in years to come, will undoubtedly stand out as an inspirational source for many who seek social transformation. Unger's style, in this essay at least, is lucid and inviting. Substantively, Passion demonstrates not only the depth of his penetrating intellect but also his command of an array of' disciplines. Unger's polymathy is all the more impressive when we remember that ours is an era in which idiosyncratic specialization is the norm.