5 ms·

How Canada’s Health Care System Helped Create a Killer

44 points by fern12 9y ago

dleslie 9y ago
> The doctors were talking about what they’d decided, and one of them was kind of joking about it, saying there’s no homicidal plot or something. They said, ‘We think Johnny just got mad at the cat because the cat scratched him.’ Sadly, that doctor will likely continue their practice.
- commenter1 9y ago
  Sadly, you will continue posting.
oktobercrisis 9y ago
Not surprising...people always slip through the cracks in Canada's healthcare system.
- kylnew 9y ago
  It’s not perfect but we get access to lots that an American would go out of pocket for. The poor never even have a chance.
dafty4 9y ago
Terrible article. Canadians live 2 years longer on average than Americans. And you're telling me the US mental health system would have been more pro-active? Come on. "Hers was Sault Ste. Marie’s sole homicide of 2013." How many small towns in the US can you say that of?
- raisspen 9y ago
  Classic case of whataboutism. I didn't see anything discussing the quality of the US mental health system. It's a Canadian website discussing a Canadian case. It failed here and the author of the article is trying to point out where it failed. This is an attempt to prod the system to improve.
  - scoggs 9y ago
    Definitely agree. I saw virtually no comparison to what the US does / would do nor how America handles similar cases, etc. America was mentioned zero times in the article (0) and United States was mentioned twice in the article (2) and that was only to mention background information about the victim and her family, nothing to do with health care, mental illness, violence, or anything else to do with the editorial.
  - msie 9y ago
    But then again look at the title "How Canada's..." implying this was something peculiar to Canada in contrast to other health care systems. Any discussion of Canada's health care system is going to invite comparison to others isn't it?
- neaden 9y ago
  "How many small towns in the US can you say that of?" Most of them. I'm not denying Canada's is lower (about a third of the US homicide rate) but most small towns in the US can go years without any homicides.
52-6F-62 9y ago
The Walrus is normally a magazine with high standards, and very good quality content, but I find the headline a little misleading or at least sensational. Canada's healthcare system is beloved, and has surely saved a far greater number of lives than it has put at risk. That said, most would prefer it be expanded and improved upon its current state. Canada's healthcare system has long needed improvements in mental health capacities. I figure that is what they're trying to explicitly illustrate here. The result has been iterations of separate mental health institutes, leading to driving efforts like CAMH (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health) in Toronto. Sadly, many remote regions do not have ready access to these kinds of resources. The northern regions of the provinces are particularly starved for social and medical resources. Hopefully the article will have the enlightening and impactful effect I interpret its author having intended.
- pasbesoin 9y ago
  In the U.S., the Affordable Care Act (ACA -- "Obamacare") substantially enhanced Medicaid with the goal of providing treatment for these things. I personally witnessed it help to turn around the life of a "binge" addict of 20+ years. If her recovery lasts, it may prevent the "cycle of addiction" from being passed on to her two kids. Despite such successes, and the enormous need, the U.S. is at this moment on the course to reverse this improved treatment. I guess there's more money to be had in prisons. (We continue to transfer and expand our incarcerations into private, for-profit prisons.) As for Canada, I hope treatment is expanded. Pharmaceutical coverage. At least basic, health-based dental coverage (as opposed to cosmetic -- though for myself I've no objection to covering it, as well) . Both should be cost effective. A reliable supply of medicines means people don't unnecessarily worsen while going without. And every year, more studies demonstrate that dental health is a primary preventative measure against other, very expensive diseases, such as coronary artery disease. As with Medicaid in the U.S., it's not just "additional expense". It's a lower-cost preventative measure against greater costs down the line. Cost that in both countries gets passed onto the public. It's just that here, in the U.S., we have hospitals perform "cost spreading" of uncovered emergency care across the populations that have insurance. (There's been very little coverage of the dramatic decrease in hospitals' uncovered care/expenses since the ACA went into effect.)
phkahler 9y ago
I was annoyed at the way the victim was portrayed. They just kept dancing around it.
maxxxxx 9y ago
Would this have been handled better anywhere? It seems really hard to decide when to take action. I knew a family whose autistic son regularly injured them but they still kept him. I wouldn't have been surprised if he had killed them at some point.

44 points by fern12 9y ago

> The doctors were talking about what they’d decided, and one of them was kind of joking about it, saying there’s no homicidal plot or something. They said, ‘We think Johnny just got mad at the cat because the cat scratched him.’ Sadly, that doctor will likely continue their practice.

commenter1 9y ago
Sadly, you will continue posting.

oktobercrisis 9y ago

Not surprising...people always slip through the cracks in Canada's healthcare system.

kylnew 9y ago
It’s not perfect but we get access to lots that an American would go out of pocket for. The poor never even have a chance.

dafty4 9y ago

Terrible article. Canadians live 2 years longer on average than Americans. And you're telling me the US mental health system would have been more pro-active? Come on. "Hers was Sault Ste. Marie’s sole homicide of 2013." How many small towns in the US can you say that of?

raisspen 9y ago
Classic case of whataboutism. I didn't see anything discussing the quality of the US mental health system. It's a Canadian website discussing a Canadian case. It failed here and the author of the article is trying to point out where it failed. This is an attempt to prod the system to improve.
- scoggs 9y ago
  Definitely agree. I saw virtually no comparison to what the US does / would do nor how America handles similar cases, etc. America was mentioned zero times in the article (0) and United States was mentioned twice in the article (2) and that was only to mention background information about the victim and her family, nothing to do with health care, mental illness, violence, or anything else to do with the editorial.
- msie 9y ago
  But then again look at the title "How Canada's..." implying this was something peculiar to Canada in contrast to other health care systems. Any discussion of Canada's health care system is going to invite comparison to others isn't it?
neaden 9y ago
"How many small towns in the US can you say that of?" Most of them. I'm not denying Canada's is lower (about a third of the US homicide rate) but most small towns in the US can go years without any homicides.

52-6F-62 9y ago

The Walrus is normally a magazine with high standards, and very good quality content, but I find the headline a little misleading or at least sensational. Canada's healthcare system is beloved, and has surely saved a far greater number of lives than it has put at risk. That said, most would prefer it be expanded and improved upon its current state. Canada's healthcare system has long needed improvements in mental health capacities. I figure that is what they're trying to explicitly illustrate here. The result has been iterations of separate mental health institutes, leading to driving efforts like CAMH (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health) in Toronto. Sadly, many remote regions do not have ready access to these kinds of resources. The northern regions of the provinces are particularly starved for social and medical resources. Hopefully the article will have the enlightening and impactful effect I interpret its author having intended.

pasbesoin 9y ago
In the U.S., the Affordable Care Act (ACA -- "Obamacare") substantially enhanced Medicaid with the goal of providing treatment for these things. I personally witnessed it help to turn around the life of a "binge" addict of 20+ years. If her recovery lasts, it may prevent the "cycle of addiction" from being passed on to her two kids. Despite such successes, and the enormous need, the U.S. is at this moment on the course to reverse this improved treatment. I guess there's more money to be had in prisons. (We continue to transfer and expand our incarcerations into private, for-profit prisons.) As for Canada, I hope treatment is expanded. Pharmaceutical coverage. At least basic, health-based dental coverage (as opposed to cosmetic -- though for myself I've no objection to covering it, as well) . Both should be cost effective. A reliable supply of medicines means people don't unnecessarily worsen while going without. And every year, more studies demonstrate that dental health is a primary preventative measure against other, very expensive diseases, such as coronary artery disease. As with Medicaid in the U.S., it's not just "additional expense". It's a lower-cost preventative measure against greater costs down the line. Cost that in both countries gets passed onto the public. It's just that here, in the U.S., we have hospitals perform "cost spreading" of uncovered emergency care across the populations that have insurance. (There's been very little coverage of the dramatic decrease in hospitals' uncovered care/expenses since the ACA went into effect.)

phkahler 9y ago

I was annoyed at the way the victim was portrayed. They just kept dancing around it.

maxxxxx 9y ago

Would this have been handled better anywhere? It seems really hard to decide when to take action. I knew a family whose autistic son regularly injured them but they still kept him. I wouldn't have been surprised if he had killed them at some point.