Legal Rights of the Physically Disabled
Legal Rights of the Physically Disabled
Any Canadian citizen has a duty and a right to be present at a court proceeding where you are a named party. But if you are physically disabled, expect a battle. My own experience mirrors the experience of others in the courts of Saskatoon, Canada. Your physical disability will not be accommodated by the court. Rather, it will be exploited.
Canadian Medical Protective Association
The Canadian Medical Protective Association provides malpractice insurance to doctors. The CMPA defends doctors sued in civil court for medical negligence, and with equal vigor defends doctors charged under the Criminal Code for crimes ranging from over-billing to felony assault. The CMPA scorched earth tactics are well known. But historical documents show a more disturbing trend: For a century the CMPA has been stacking the judicial bench.
At the Medical Arts Building in Saskatoon, a clinic of four family doctors – Nayar, Khan, Dangor, and Datta – perpetrated a brazen medicare fraud. From 2003 to 2007 they billed $2,902.00 for 134 appointments which never took place. That was for just one patient. Just how far did the fraud extend among their caseload of several hundred patients? Saskatchewan Health remains silent.
Under an electron microscope, a peripheral nerve looks like beads on a string: The axon is the string; myelin segments are beads; and Nodes of Ranvier are the gaps between beads. Signals travel fast inside myelin, but slow when crossing a gap. After Guillain-Barre, your myelin segments are shorter than before, and the Nodes more numerous. So… more gaps to jump, more places to slow down. This source of post-GBS fatigue is very real.
A Bone Scan (three-phase bone scintigraphy) is useful to diagnose Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy. Expect different results during the three stages of RSD. Stage I (left) brings increased vascularity and diffuse increased uptake of the radioactive tracer. Note peri-articular uptake around the toe joints. This case of RSD was a complication of a surgical biopsy performed by Dr. Jeff McKerrell.
Pain pioneers Wall and Melzack of McGill University developed a method to precisely pinoint the quality and degree of a patient's pain. The McGill Pain Questionnaire was so accurate and practical it became a worldwide standard. Next was the McGill Pain Index, a bargraph to quantify pain and remove subjectivity. On the Index, Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy measures 42 out of a maximum 50. RSD is the most painful chronic disease known.
Dr. Kenneth Blocka – Negligence: Mayo Clinic Referral
Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon was home to rheumatologist Dr. Kenneth Blocka when he botched a referral to the Mayo Clinic. When his negligence was held to account, Blocka embarked on a malicious, prolonged backlash which in modern legal terms is called stalking by proxy. Sworn Affidavits place those events on record. Read the court file Q.B. #514/87.
Dr. Joel Yelland: Off-Label Use of Neurontin for RSD
Dr. Yelland eagerly told me Neurontin would alleviate the Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy in my right foot. Dutifully I tried it 3 times over a month. It did not improve my RSD pain at all, but did cause a side-effect of a constant diffuse headache. When I explained this, Yelland became waspish. Here is why: Pfizer's marketing tactics were symbiotic, offering profit to the doctor as well as to Pfizer. When the written prescription ceased, Yelland's financial kickbacks from Pfizer ceased.
College of Physicians and Surgeons: Failure to Warn
Over 3 years that Dr. Yelland was my GP, I observed his personality disintegrate. The College failed to warn the public. At that time I had no computer; my web access was via the library where I scoured MedLine for current treatments for my diseases. Not once did it cross my mind to search for details about a doctor. How I wish I had. I would have learned of the Klassen tragedy; I would have learned that Judge Baynton impeached Yelland for ‘clouded judgement and irrational thinking.’ I would have been forwarned; I could have run …
Doctor Rating Sites – March to Maturity
The 20 doctor-rating sites flourishing on the web are a storehouse of facts and shrewd observations that skewer privilege and dissect clinical skills. After weathering the gag waivers of Jeffrey Segal, these sites inspired new growth. The B.C. College of Physicians and Surgeons “approves of patients rating doctors” and in mid-2012 will launch an official Patient Survey. The feedback will be a part of the annual mandatory revalidation process for each MD.
The Physician as Perpetrator of Abuse
Dr. Richard Kluft analyzes seven varieties of abusive behavior by doctors. Unethical MDs may: 1) act as agents of social control; 2) subvert medical prerogatives for illicit purposes; 3) exploit the power of their profession to gratify personal needs; 4) allow their medical judgement to be co-opted by others whose intent is abuse; 5) provide suboptimal health care; 6) dehumanize medical care; and 7) abuse their trust to leverage sexual goals.
Rogue Police: Sgt. James Bracken
The victim phoned Bracken under police supervision. This taped evidence (called a one-party consent telephone recording) was played to the Provincial Court Judge. Bracken pleaded guilty to assault. He was sentenced to 9 months in prison, his DNA is on file with the court, and he is prohibited from owning firearms for 10 years. Witness the hollow remorse: After all this, Bracken still believes vulnerability is an invitation, an aphrodisiac.
Law: Represent Yourself in Court
A Statement of Claim for malpractice must be filed within a strict limitation period. Another hurdle is a Motion to Strike your claim. A claim can legitimately be struck if it is unarguable in law, frivolous, or vexatious. If your claim is none of those, the MD may still use a Motion to Strike as a strategy to wear you down. Learn the concepts, precedents, and rules of court which form the bedrock of the claims process. Arrive in the courtroom primed to protect your claim.
Wit and wisdom: Essays, viewpoints, humor that only patients can appreciate, and an escape into a world that is fair with puzzles. Eventually as this site develops. Feedback and requests welcome.