A Followup On Diana Swain's Report

My last post dealt with a disturbing investigative report done by the CBC's Diana Swain.

I am convinced that the only way to move the Ministry of Health to ensure that similar tragedies don't happen in Ontario is to spread the word of the report to as many people as possible and to subject the Ministry to a barrage of letters demanding fast action. Here is the letter that I am sending off to Deb Matthews, the Ontario Minister of Health, with copies to Premier McGuinty and my local MPP:


Dear Ms Matthews:

Having viewed Diana Swain's disturbing investigative report on the CBC about Rose McKenzie, the Ontario nurse whose negligence in California resulted in a patient's brain damage and quadriplegia, I am writing to request that the Ministry of Health take immediate action.

According to the report, Nurse McKenzie, despite having been stripped of her nursing license in California, had no trouble finding another nursing job in Ontario; she simply omitted any reference to what had happened on the self-reporting form used by the Ontario College of Nurses.

I am sure you will agree with me that, for the sake of patient safety, changes need to made with all urgency, lest a similar tragedy occur here. In this age of technology, measures to ensure the full and free exchange of pertinent personnel information internationally are undoubtedly both feasible and relatively easy to initiate.

I look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience as to how your Ministry plans to ensure the safety of all patients in Ontario.

Diana Swain's Disturbing Nursing Report

Last night on the CBC's National, there was a profoundly disturbing report by investigative reporter Diana Swain outlining how a nurse from Ontario, Rose Mckenzie, while working in California, was grossly negligent in her care of Spencer Sullivan, who had undergone a routine surgery for neck pain. As a result of McKenzie's negligence, Sullivan was left a quadriplegic with brain damage.

The most disturbing part of the report is the fact that although she was stripped of her nursing licence in the U.S., she is now working as a nurse in Oakville, the problem being that self-disclosure of any past problems is the only way the Ontario College of Nurses could have become aware of the loss of her licence. Obviously, McKenzie did not self-disclose.

Click here to read the whole report and see the CBC news video.

P.S. Despite the Harper Regime's hatred of the CBC, such reports amply demonstrate its value.