Letter to the Editor

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Dear Editor:

Following hard on the heels of major changes to the structure of the federal government’s House of Commons, the passing of the amendments to Bill 173, Schedule 15, by the provincial Liberals' finance and economic affairs committee is an insult to all citizens.

The passing of these amendments to the “Secrecy Clause“ removes our rights to expect clarity, and is therefore a sure sign of the government's desire for the imminent death of the provincial Liberals in October.

Both the NDP and Conservative members of the committee were out-voted by the Liberal majority.

Natalie Mehra, director of the Ontario Health Coalition, states: “The hospital secrecy law allows hospital chief executive officers (CEOs) to deny public, patients, media and others access to an array of quality of care information if the CEO claims that the hospital intended the information to be confidential. CEOs can determine that the information was intended to be confidential, even retroactively. Patients and those seeking information will then be forced to go through a lengthy and complex appeals process that can take more than a year, where patients and public advocates will have to overcome the arguments of hospital lawyers to force disclosure.” (emphasis added)

All of the above is moot in the Kincardine area. The South Bruce Grey Health Centre board and its CEO have been operating all along as if this amendment had already been in force! We urge the provincial government to remember this situation on Election Day in October.

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Friday, May 06, 2011