Policy

How does it make sense that we ‘Form’ every person who enters our ER threatening suicide, but we do not ‘Form’ patients who come in with drug overdoses if they are in the grip of addiction?

A memo this week from the deputy minister of health to affected hospitals says that the Temporary Locum Program, which had been set to expire Sept. 30, will now continue until March 31.

Alberta finished centralizing its health system 15 years ago to create AHS, but Premier Danielle Smith said the contemplated changes would not turn back the clock to a completely decentralized model.

Ethical concerns aside, is mandatory treatment of overdose patients even effective?

A leaked screenshot of an internal announcement welcoming Alberta’s former chief medical officer of health to the Indigenous Wellness Core triggered an uproar from many quarters. Shortly after, her job offer was revoked.

Annette Lewis was diagnosed with a terminal disease in 2018 and was told she would not survive unless she received an organ transplant.

Intervention without human rights goes by many names—involuntary institutionalization, compulsory drug treatment, “coerced care,” forced abstinence or a combination of all of those terms.

Chief medical officer Dr. Robert Strang says in a news release the change reflects a recent declaration by the World Health Organization that COVID-19 no longer requires a global emergency-type response.