Medicine Canada

At least five cutting-edge clinical trials for childhood cancer have been closed to new Canadian patients because of the Trump administration’s cuts to scientific funding and its directive that grants no longer be shared with foreign researchers.

Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children halted enrolment in three trials for incurable brain cancer last month after the U.S. National Cancer Institute decided not to renew funding for a consortium of pediatric brain-tumour scientists whose only Canadian site was at SickKids.

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In a recent round of collective bargaining, the top priority of the Ontario Nurses’ Association wasn’t a predictable ask such as higher wages or better benefits.

Instead, it was an increasingly discussed way of retaining burned-out health workers: mandating minimum nurse-to-patient ratios.

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CP (popular press) article (link in post title)

An editorial published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal on Monday says the ads are everywhere during sports broadcasts and that the legalization of online gambling has made every smartphone a potential betting platform.

"What's very dangerous about this for children is that it's normalizing a known harmful behaviour during an impressionable stage. And it's really appealing in particular to youth who are genetically, biologically predisposed to enjoy risk-taking," she said.

CMAJ (research) article

Before 2021, single-game sports betting was illegal in Canada; now, in 2025, advertisements for sports betting platforms punctuate screened competitive sports games without limits on their duration or frequency. Sports betting advertisements are seen on player jerseys and digitally projected onto playing areas, and commentator segments are sponsored by betting platforms.1 Such advertising insidiously normalizes a harmful activity, and children are being exposed, to their detriment. Despite official age restrictions for participating in gambling and using betting platforms, Canada’s youth are being harmed.2,3

Ontario's top doctor is calling for a national immunization schedule and registry to address gaps exposed by the resurgence of measles in Canada — but first, he says his own province needs a centralized digital vaccine system.

Dr. Kieran Moore's annual report, recently tabled with the provincial legislature, says a co-ordinated approach from all levels of government and the health-care system is needed to keep vaccine-preventable diseases at bay amid a rise in vaccine hesitancy.

Each province and territory has its own immunization schedule and data system but for more than 20 years, health-care providers and public health experts have been advocating for a national vaccine registry. The Canadian Paediatric Society has also called for vaccine schedules to be harmonized across the country since 1997.

In his report, Moore said Ontario is lagging behind other provinces who have modernized their vaccine records, including British Columbia, Quebec, Alberta, Manitoba and Nova Scotia.

This patchwork approach has led to confusion for parents who have become record keepers, and left public health officials in the dark when it comes to coverage gaps and inequities in access, making it difficult to respond to outbreaks.

Moore said this has also made it challenging to monitor vaccine effectiveness and safety, critical information as parental skepticism of routine immunizations doubled in Canada between 2019 and 2024. Childhood vaccination rates have also tumbled since the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Vaccine preventable diseases are an ongoing threat that can and will re-emerge if we let our guard down. A recent outbreak of measles in Ontario has unfortunately highlighted how quickly previously controlled diseases can spread," Moore said in the report.

Health Canada says it is working to reduce a backlog of pharmaceutical submissions that is causing a delay in cheaper versions of high-cost biologic drugs coming to market.

The pledge to speed up the reviews of the biosimilar class of drugs is part of a wider effort by the department to reduce red tape, which Health Minister Marjorie Michel has called a priority for the federal government.

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A copy of these internal communications shared with PressProgress shows a strike vote is officially one of the options facing workers, if the province insists on putting limits on the nurses’ benefits package — particularly targeting massages and physiotherapy — which is currently 100% covered by the province. This comes after a June Castanet report of nurses at one BC hospital saying they would be willing to go on strike over cuts to their benefits.

“For nurses with chronic pain… it would be kind of a cruel move to take that away,” said Kat, whose name has been changed upon request, to prevent potential backlash from her employer for speaking to media. “They’re going to have more nurses with injuries and pain and [taking] sick time.”

Massages and physiotherapy might sound extravagant, but for nurses they really aren't. Nurses physically exert themselves a lot helping people with reduced strength and/or mobility (so that patients can retain some mobility and independence; ie, 'use it or lose it'), and people are a lot harder to move than boxes or objects with handles. Once a nurse suffers a back injury, it could take them a year to return to regular duties, if at all. One bad lift can end a nursing career, which is costly both for the nurse and the healthcare system. (Not to mention there's already a general retention problem in nursing.)

A news release from the Canadian Medical Association says that, as of July, medical schools in the country are no longer jointly accredited by Canadian and American bodies.

It says leaders at the CMA and the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada are "relieved" and that medical schools are now assessed "solely according to Canadian standards."

The release says the U.S. government's move to make it illegal to include equity, diversity and inclusion requirements in the accreditation process at American medical schools means the AFMC and CMA have "an enhanced duty to protect EDI principles."

There has been a gradual push to separate Canadian medical school accreditation from the U.S. for years and the decision to pursue a full "decoupling" was made in 2021, the CMA says.

Edit: After posting, I checked out two of the original studies cited in the article, and I think the author of the Canadian Affairs article was off-base with the things I've since struck out. I don't believe data exists to say that physical vs psychological factors are greater contributors to ED - they both seem relevant.

~~A recent study of thousands of American men under 40 found nearly 15 per cent struggled with erectile dysfunction. Most cases were strongly linked to psychological, rather than physical, causes.~~

~~Other studies have suggested psychological or emotional factors may explain as many as 85 per cent of ED cases.~~

A 2018 review of 49 international studies found that men with depression were 39 per cent more likely to experience erectile dysfunction than men without depression.

And yet, mental health is rarely assessed in ED clinical trials or included in treatment plans. A 2025 Canadian evaluation of more than 450 ED clinical trials found that fewer than eight per cent mentioned mental health issues.

Beginning this fall, all Ontarians 75 and older will be eligible for a free shot that protects against respiratory syncytial virus.

Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones is scheduled to announce the expansion of public coverage for RSV vaccines on Wednesday, according to a Ministry of Health release that The Globe and Mail obtained in advance.

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Health Canada is taking longer to assess generic drug applications, lengthening the wait until the cheaper pharmaceuticals can come to market, new data show.

The federal regulator’s delays mean that it takes more time before patients are able to access some medications, and also that both public and private insurers may spend more on drugs before the less expensive alternatives become available.

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The provincial agency overseeing Ontario’s home care system was informed about a massive data breach in April, Global News has learned, more than two months before the public, along with hundreds of thousands of impacted patients, were notified.

Ontario Health atHome, a Crown agency recently created by the Ford government to coordinate resources for home care and palliative patients, has been under scrutiny after a cyberattack that impacted one of its vendors was kept under wraps for months.

The attack, believed to have affected as many as 200,000 patients, took place sometime in March but was only revealed to the public in late June.

Now, officials with the agency have confirmed that they were made aware of a cybersecurity incident as early as April 14, but waited until the end of May to inform Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner — as required by law — and until June 27 to tell patients.

“On April 14, Ontario Medical Supply (OMS) notified Ontario Health atHome that it was experiencing system outages and a potential cyberattack impacting their information system and operations,” a spokesperson for Ontario Health atHome told Global News.

The latest revelation has led to accusations of “deception” by the health agency, which indirectly reports to Health Minister Sylvia Jones.

Canada should rethink its approach to prostate cancer screening, which uses a controversial blood test that an expert task force encouraged doctors to abandon more than a decade ago, according to a new paper led by a group of Toronto urologists and oncologists.

In an article published Friday in The Lancet Regional Health*– Americas*, the authors argue for a population-wide trial that would offer the blood test, known as the prostate-specific antigen test, or PSA test, to men at elevated risk of prostate cancer, likely including Black men and those with a family history of the disease.

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Don Glasgow is lucky he had a heart attack on April 24.

Had his organ faltered after 7 p.m. a day earlier or a day later, he would have found the doors locked at his nearest emergency department in Lillooet, a mountain town about two hours from Kamloops.

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Michael Tiller, the mayor of the Newfoundland town of New-Wes-Valley, is thankful the doors of his community’s only emergency room have largely stayed open through the national health care staffing crisis of the past few years.

He just wishes there was a doctor behind those doors more often.

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For the best listening experience and to never miss an episode, subscribe to The Decibel on your favourite podcast app or platform: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, Pocket Casts and Youtube.

Ever since the pandemic, emergency-room closures have become more common in Canada, especially in rural communities. This can leave people in dangerous situations that can require them to drive an hour or more to access emergency medical care. When time is of the essence, emergency-room closures can be deadly.

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How often has your province closed emergency rooms, and which years have had more closures than others? Consult our summary tables and learn more about the methodology.

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This project aims to document every instance in which a hospital emergency department (ER) in Canada closed its doors – temporarily or permanently – since 2019. For each closure, The Globe and Mail captured the ER’s name, start and end times, and the reason for the disruption.

Explore the interactive map below to browse ER closures across Canada, as compiled by The Globe and Mail.

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Dr. Melissa Lem, family physician and President of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE), says:

“The departure of this first LNG tanker marks a troubling new chapter in British Columbia’s health story. While industry celebrates, healthcare professionals are bracing for the consequences of expanded fracking operations. Fracking and LNG production accelerate climate change and release harmful pollutants—including benzene, toluene, formaldehyde, and particulate matter linked with asthma, heart disease, birth defects, and childhood leukemia.

...

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/32128544

New operating rooms at Vancouver General Hospital will provide people in Vancouver and throughout British Columbia with better access to faster, high-quality surgical care.

Construction has begun on 15 new operating rooms and one hybrid operating room upgrade as part of Phase 2 of the operating-room expansion at Vancouver General Hospital. Completion of both phases of the operating-room expansion is expected to increase the number of surgeries from 16,800 to more than 19,000 per year.

Researchers had just cracked the lid on a rich data set showing the Sugar Sweetened Beverage Tax was reducing sugar consumption and creating revenue for healthy programs in Newfoundland and Labrador…when the government killed the tax. The study’s authors explain why it was such an effective policy, and why some people hated it anyway.

Two nurses are speaking out about violent incidents they experienced while working in the emergency department at Eagle Ridge Hospital (ERH) in Port Moody, B.C. — saying the Fraser Health Authority (FHA) has failed to provide a safe working environment, and has sought to silence employees who speak out.

Veteran nurse Arden Foley says she is not returning to work because of lingering post traumatic stress from an attack by a patient. Victoria Treacy, says she was suspended and placed under investigation by Fraser Health after she spoke out about a patient who threatened her colleagues with a machete.

The health authority said Treacy, who currently works at the hospital as a casual FHA employee, wasn't suspended or put under investigation.

However, the women's stories are two of many included in a lawsuit filed against the health authority in the B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver on June 6.

When Amanda Smith learned at the age of 25 that she had late-onset Type 1 diabetes, she considered the diagnosis a death sentence.

The nurse, from London, Ont., had a particularly dim view of the disease because she grew up watching her mother struggle with it. Her mother would slur her words and lose consciousness when her blood sugar bottomed out. Once, Ms. Smith’s grandfather had to break a window to reach her mother, who was passed out in her home holding a banana she had tried to consume to raise her blood sugar.

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A major overhaul is expected of the national body that issues Canada's cancer screening guidelines.

The changes were ordered by the federal health minister, following an external review of the Task Force on Preventive Health Care.

The task force is an arm's-length panel set up by the federal government to publish national guidelines for family doctors, advising them on when to send their patients for routine screenings of various illnesses, including common cancers.

But the panel has been criticized for years for failing to fully take in expert advice, using outdated research and being too slow to update its guidelines. Many of the task force's recommendations are over a decade old.