MDs, Health Canada must show leadership

Re Faulty and unproven medical devices implanted in Canadian patients, Nov. 26 The refrain going through my head while reading the articles on the people who have suffered irreparable damage, untold suffering, had their complaints denied and have had to turn to U.S. physicians for resolution is: “Above all, do no harm.”

In Canada, the Canadian Medical Association’s Code of Ethics has 10 fundamental responsibilities. Four seem appropriate to list here:

Consider first the well-being of the patient.

Practise the profession of medicine in a manner that treats the patient with dignity and as a person worthy of respect.

Consider the well-being of society in matters affecting health.

Resist any influence or interference that could undermine your professional integrity.

Hospitals collect unfathomable amounts of data and physicians are scientists who are trained to analyze trends and to act on scientific evidence. It seems inconceivable that some kind of oversight and leadership by physicians or Health Canada has not taken place.

In the cases cited, there is little evidence that physicians have taken the suffering of their patients seriously, nor have they acted as advocates on their behalf.

And certainly Health Canada appears to have colluded with commercial medical companies, rather than protect Canadian interests.

We have a shameful past with respect to at least one medical intervention — thalidomide. I hoped that would have prompted a more patient-focused stance than the one exposed here. Sad, indeed. Jane Adams, Minden, Ont.