Ombudsperson, BCCLA and Greens criticize BC’s draconian laws. I WAS READING THE CORONER'S REPORT on Kathleen Palamarek and something didn’t seem right. I’d been following her story since 2006. This was a diminutive, timid, 88-year-old nursing home resident with dementia and a heart condition, who’d been somewhat controversially diagnosed with dementia-related psychosis. She’d died of
There’s much to learn about BC’s laws and eldercare system from the last years of Kathleen Palamarek’s life in a local nursing home—especially from the battles that were fought in her name between her children, care providers and the Vancouver Island Health Authority. It was a small but important epitaph for a much-loved woman.
Data obtained through a Freedom of Information request shows nearly half of all seniors in long-term care in BC are being given antipsychotics like Risperdal, Zyprexa and Seroquel. That’s almost twice the average for the rest of Canada and amongst the highest rates found anywhere in the world. And even though Health Canada warns these
Wipond, Rob. A "Patient-centred" Path towards Ignoring Patient Rights: A Critical Analysis of the Federal Senate Committee's Dismissal of Concerns about Involuntary Treatment Laws and Civil Rights Abuses in the Canadian Mental Health System. Abstract: The Canadian Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology released a report on the mental health system in
At 88, Dr. Abram Hoffer is still dispensing wise nutritional advice and damning critiques of our health care system. On beginnings, orthomolecular medicine, psychedelic research, a revolutionary treatment for schizophrenia, and the state of present-day psychiatric care. No Canadian psychiatrist has been simultaneously more dogged by controversy and more beloved by his patients than Victoria’s