A health care worker at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children in November, 2022.Chris Young
Public or private health?
Re “What my hernia operation taught me about private health care” (Opinion, July 25): Congratulations to the contributor, who could afford the $305/night to attend the Shouldice Hernia Hospital. He savoured the “hefty pork chop with butternut squash and kale.”
My emergency room patients get a cheese sandwich, if the pantry isn’t bare. He admired the “landscaped gardens.” Meanwhile, writhing ER patients awaiting emergency surgery get a hardback chair.
This blithely shows the moral corruption: skimming the easy cases and turning profit after heavy taxpayer-subsidizing. What fans of profiteer medicine will never understand is queue-jumping isn’t queue-shortening and paywalled medicine doesn’t add capacity – it cannibalizes it.
Raghu Venugopal MD Toronto
Three days and $10,000 for concierge hernia surgery? Come on! My hernia repair was done under local anesthetic. I hopped onto my OR bed at 8 a.m., and after IV sedation and a nice snooze was home by lunch. After a couple of days on the couch, and a visit from a nurse, I was on the go. Can’t get better quality than that.
Tom Bell, MD (retired) Peterborough, Ont.
We need to look at Shouldice as a model for improved health care. Think of specialty centres of excellence doing high volume procedures: hernias, joint replacements et cetera. Now, cluster these facilities around dedicated secondary and tertiary hospitals offering higher levels of care for complex cases. This is a common organizational model in many industries.
The issue of who pays what is a completely separate discussion. Unfortunately the questions of payment and how services are delivered often gets conflated.
David Horner Kelowna, B.C.
I also chose Shouldice for hernia repair, sparing myself a year’s wait in the B.C. public system and avoiding a repair using mesh.
The “level the playing field” argument would essentially do away with the Shouldice option. Why in Canada do we always strive for the lowest common denominator of health care instead of celebrating the excellence of Shouldice and other private clinics doing quality-of-life procedures such as hip and knee surgeries?
We have the public system for everyone, and if Canadians with discretionary income choose to prioritize their health over other expenditures that’s their choice.
Shane O’Leary Victoria
The Shouldice Clinic performs what can be easily described as the most simple and uncomplicated hernia surgeries on healthy, issue-free and fit patients. This allows them to boast about their amazing success rate.
Those accessing public health care, such as my spouse (who Shouldice turned down because his situation was “complicated”) don’t have to worry about getting a lousy meal as even the difficult case is day surgery. You’re home and on your couch within seven hours.
I’ve never understood the necessity of a four-night stay for a routine procedure. Could it be the money to be made? Perhaps there is a place for private health care in Ontario, but Shouldice should not be the model for it.
Sharon Miller Toronto
Praise for Fauci
Re “Fauci repeatedly pleads the Fifth in tense Senate hearing about pandemic’s origins” (July 30): It is clearly the moment for Canada to do the right thing and offer Anthony Fauci political asylum. Fauci’s work on AIDS and many other public health initiatives have benefitted Canadians profoundly; we owe him our gratitude.
Ian Mackay Ottawa
A better system
Re “Canadian conservatives have a patriotism problem” (Opinion, July 25) I also hope that Canadian conservatives will turn away from voting for candidates who support secessionist movements.
I believe one of the roots of Western alienation stems from our first past the post electoral system. Western Canadians often see the outcome of federal elections decided before their own votes have even been tallied. This must be incredibly frustrating.
Adopting proportional representation, an electoral system that is present across much of Europe and a system that our previous federal government was considering, would create electoral outcomes that more closely reflect the will of the people. This leads to higher voter engagement as people see that their votes matter.
Dave Summerfeldt Orangeville, Ont.
Please don’t go
Re “To stay or to go” (Opinion, July 25): A Ukrainian friend abandoned her home and business, took her two young girls out of school and, along with her husband and mother, fled their town when the shelling started in 2014. Their savings ran out two weeks later.
In 2023 the family settled in Calgary under the CUAET program. They arrived amid an affordability crisis with no money, no English, no recognized credentials and no family connections. They have worked tirelessly to learn English and fill jobs that many Canadians reject. The lack of a path to permanent residency under the program and the impending expiration of their work permits are constant causes of stress.
If ultimately they are to be allowed to stay – and I think that they should be – then Canada should hurry up and provide the certainty that these future Canadians need.
Penny Becklumb Comox, B.C.
Animals need us
Re “Canada’s progress on protecting animals is unravelling” (Opinion, July 25): Industries will never stop lobbying. They win when the public is lulled into thinking “We’ve done enough, surely something good will come of our efforts.”
Compassionate Canadians sign petitions, attend events, share on social media, tell friends, neighbours and anyone who will listen: Animals are suffering in Canada. But even advocates get tired. And then when we rest, industry quietly lobbies the government. I presume influences are peddled, egos are stroked and money does a lot of talking.
Politicians need to quit pandering to industry and stand up for what is right. The public can’t do it alone: We need you, and the animals need all of us.
Jennifer Azizi Vancouver, B.C.
Tale as old as time
Re “The culture wars come for The Odyssey – and miss” (Opinion, July 25)
Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey reveals how little humanity has changed. Donald Trump is Agamemnon: His ego wounded, he wages war with no regard for the damage, just as Agamemnon sacked Troy over Helen. Elon Musk is the king of the Cyclops, greedy and blind to suffering, treating people as insignificant ants. His “Spartans” are the DOGE crew, tunnel-visioned minions who share his disdain for humanity.
Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy reminds us that beauty and power are not confined to ancient myths or narrow ideals. Elliot Page as Sinon, the unwitting pawn who was sacrificed by Odysseus to deceive the Trojans with the famous wooden horse, mirrors how trans people are sacrificed in today’s culture wars.
Nolan’s film holds a mirror to our world. The question is: Will we see ourselves in it, or are we the Lotus Eaters, blind to the past and its lessons?
Cathy Orlando Sudbury, Ont.
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