Category: Comments and Notes

Rasouli and the Elephant in the Room

Colleen M. Flood & Catherine Deans, “Rasouli and the Elephant in the Room” (2013) Impact Ethics. “The Supreme Court of Canada has now released its judgment in the Rasouli proceedings with striking differences between the majority and minority decisions. Mr Rasouli was diagnosed as being in a permanent vegetative state and his treating physicians, believing he had no further prospect of recovery, wished to withdraw life support. The applicability of...

The Importance of Equity: A Response to Glenn Cohen

Colleen M. Flood & Y.Y. Brandon Chen, “The Importance of Equity: A Response to Glenn Cohen” (2012) Opinio Juris. “In this thought-provoking article, Cohen proposes a six-prong framework to assess whether medical tourism diminishes health care access in destination countries. This kind of theoretical contribution is extremely important to frame public debates, and ultimately inform legal and policy responses. In what follows, we outline four challenges to Cohen’s framework and argue...

It Pays to Drive a Hard Bargain

Colleen M. Flood, “It Pays to Drive a Hard Bargain” (2011) The Mark. Canadians spend a lot of money (both public and private) on health care, and much of that is spent on drugs: The country spent some $23.4 billion on drugs in 2008. Provincial insurance plans are desperately trying to cope, looking to initiatives like the recently passed Ontario law that caps prices of generic drugs at 25 per...

Three steps to improve health care system

Colleen M. Flood, “Three steps to improve health care system” (2011) Times Colonist. Canadians are proud of our universal public health care system, but a recent report from the Conference Board of Canada underscores the danger of resting on our laurels.

Wrestling with Big Pharma

Colleen M. Flood, “Wrestling with Big Pharma” (2011) The Toronto Star Canadians spend a lot of money (public and private) on health care and much of that is spent on drugs — some $23.4 billion in 2008. Provincial insurance plans are desperately trying to cope, looking to initiatives like the recently passed Ontario law that caps prices of generic drugs at 25 per cent of the brand name equivalent.

Time for Canada to Improve Our Health Care Performance

Colleen M. Flood, “Time for Canada to Improve Our Health Care Performance” (2011) Huffpost Canada. Canadians are proud of our universal public health care system, but a recent report from the Conference Board of Canada underscores the danger of resting on our laurels. Of 17 countries reviewed Canada has the fourth highest levels of health spending, and yet ranks only 10th in leading health indicators, such as life expectancy and...