This web site is born out of the frustrations that I have as a doctor working in Canadian Health Care Services for the past thirty years. All around me I see patient services falling apart and I am tired of the lies that say that there is no health care crisis in Canada, that people are satisfied with our health care system, that we will review, yet again, and again, and fix this or that problem, and that our Health Care System is important and sacred to our national identity - making us so much better than the Americans, or anyone else.

Patients are needlessly suffering and dying, their families watch angrily and helplessly, health care providers cannot get their jobs done, faceless decision-makers control health services and blame health care providers for the problems they have created. We have a deteriorating health care system and those who are at the moment in a position to stop the collapse seem blind to your needs. You and I are being put at risk of our lives, and like good Canadians we sit back and do nothing.

In late February 2002 I heard a CBC interview with a neurologist announcing important treatment advances to treat stroke early to prevent death and disability. The treatment is simple and effective and only requires a CAT scan within 30 minutes of the stroke beginning. Where in Canada can any of us get a CAT scan in 30 minutes, except in a few large cities? The neurologist is dreaming, like most of us, he shares the Canadian fantasy that we have adequate and safe health services.

Two years ago I needed urgent medical treatment for a serious illness. I was seen immediately by a doctor at our local emergency department, transferred to ICU without delay and received 1^st class hospital care. My patients don=t get this quality of care when they go to the hospital, or are waiting at a clinic or emergency department. They can=t get the tests they need quickly enough for their safety. They are not admitted when they should be, or they are sent home too early because there are not enough beds. They cannot get proper home care because of budget games.

I got the care I needed because I am a part of the system; hockey players get 1^st class health care, important people get 1^st class health care, wealthy people get 1^st class health care. We don=t have a two-tier health system in Canada, we have a ten-tier system. Most of you reading this are at the bottom tier. If you accept a standard of health care that may be realistic for a developing country then you deserve what you are getting, and I and every health care practitioner who believes in what he is doing is wasting his time.

Because I have worked in public health and family medicine, have been to court and legal hearings, have testified at hearings of the Ministry of Heath and professional governing bodies, and been in conflict with the Workers Insurance Board and Insurance companies on behalf of patients and understand the private health care and drug industries, I believe that this web-site is an urgently needed forum to press for proper solutions to those who control health care. I provide health care services on the front line with my medical, nursing, physiotherapy, speech therapy colleagues (and many other professional groups). Around me are the politics, management and business of health care, focused on profit for shareholders and power for executives. Doctors and their patients are pawns in a multi-billion dollar business and power struggle.

Nowhere in this web-site am I stating that there are bad people causing these problems. I believe that most are doing what they believe is right, but that they have lost sight of why health services are provided in the first place. When care of a sick person becomes less important than profit, budget, political or managerial importance, power and control, the health care system nation-wide falls apart, as it has been for decades. When patient care becomes unimportant, we may not be able to fix our health care system.

Following the collapse of Enron in the United States, where the executives of that company had no regard for anything other than their bank accounts, President George Bush warned company CEOs on March 7, 2002, that they have responsibility to obey the law and to tell the truth. I have this responsibility as a doctor. It is time that the other players in your health services told you the truth.

You will find in this web-site truths about your health care services that may seem so sordid as to be unbelievable. I was surprised myself when I first saw this. I am surprised that it is almost impossible to practice medicine properly in one of the best countries in the world. I am surprised that politicians, government officials, health services managers, and company executives are literally getting away with murder, and that we are letting them do this to us.

Because of there are more problems and issues in health care than I can handle in this web-site I must limit myself to what I see are major issues. Your suggestions for problems to examine are welcome. Please accept that we can=t look at everything.

Brian J. Lynch M.D., D.P.H.

Editor, Global Healthwatch Umbrella

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