Health

An independent report detailing the "choices and mistakes" that led to the overdose death of a first-year University of Victoria student in January 2024 has been released by the university, casting new light on the circumstances of the incident and her parent's fight for transparency in the year since.The report, written by former Abbotsford police chief Bob Rich, found that there were "several points" on the night when Sidney McIntyre-Starko overdosed that, had the response been different, she would have likely survived. Another student who overdosed alongside McIntyre-Starko in the residence building was revived by naloxone. "Sidney, her family, the other students who overdosed, and the students who tried to help, were not properly cared for that night," says the report."The only way for...

Recent city data shows the number of non-fatal suspected overdoses paramedics respond to has declined over the last six months.The figures were collected by Toronto Public Health in collaboration with Toronto Paramedic Services using the calls it receives each month. In September, there were 357 reported non-fatal suspected overdoses, a number that fell to 163 in February. Fatal overdoses during that period were comparable. The decrease in non-fatal overdoses is welcome, but it's too early to celebrate, says community worker Diana Chan McNally."The death toll remains extremely high," she told CBC Toronto, comparing current rates to what they were 10 years ago, before the drug toxicity crisis began to escalate.According to the Toronto Overdose Information System, there were 137 opioid toxic...

This story is part of CBC Health's Second Opinion, a weekly analysis of health and medical science news emailed to subscribers on Saturday mornings. If you haven't subscribed yet, you can do that by clicking here.Many top scientists in the U.S. are now out of a job.Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is aiming to cut 20,000 jobs at agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Food and Drug Administration FDA).Not all of them are scientists, but Canada could have a role to play in making sure American scientists are able to continue their research, say researchers on both sides of the border. Anecdotally, Canadian academics say they're hearing daily from American colleagues looking for job opportunities in Canada. One...

Patrick Cully wasn't sure his daughter Scarlet would ever be able to say, "I love you."But she's now talking, thanks to applied behaviour analysis (ABA) therapy in Thunder Bay, Ont., where the four-year-old lives with her parents, and a $190,000 grant the family says they received under Jordan's Principle, a program run by Indigenous Services Canada (ISC).Last week, however, the family's request for continued federal coverage — amounting to $217,650 — was denied. Without the therapy, her parents fear she could become non-verbal again.Scarlet, who has autism and has experienced severe speech delays, and her family are members of Batchewana First Nation, an Ojibway community east of Sault Ste. Marie.Until recently, she had been receiving different therapies five times a week, including speec...

A Burnaby spa employee who provided purported vaginal-tightening treatments has been found guilty on all seven charges of sexual assault by a B.C. Supreme Court jury.Farshad Khojsteh Kashani was first charged in 2022 after two clients of Fab Skin Care complained to police of being sexually assaulted during treatments. After police said there might be more victims, five more women came forward.All seven complainants testified during the trial. Three of the women had a Groupon — from the online marketplace that offers deals and discounts — for the procedure. The other four had been to the clinic for different esthetic procedures previously. Crown prosecutors said Khojsteh Kashani sexually assaulted each of the seven complainants during the procedure, meaning he touched them sexually, arguing...

Health officials in three Ontario hotspots for measles are focusing on communication and vaccination to help get the outbreaks under control.Public Health Ontario on Thursday reported 89 new cases of measles since March 26, bringing the province's total of confirmed and probable cases this year to 655. They have been linked to a travel-related case in New Brunswick. "The sharp increase… is due to continued exposures and transmission among individuals who have not been immunized," the report's authors wrote.In the Southwestern Public Health region — which includes the communities of St. Thomas, Woodstock as well as Elgin and Oxford counties — there are 43 new cases, the largest increase in the province for the most recent reporting period. Measles is "one of the most contagious illnesses gl...

Claudia Gomez had just moved to Canada from Colombia when she says she had a traumatic experience with a gynecologist.She said she went in for a pap test and was instead given a biopsy, with no warning."I was by myself, I didn't have any path to protect myself. I started bleeding and she said I could be in pain for a few days," said Gomez, recalling the experience she said happened four years ago."I didn't know the system and I thought I didn't have any other options."After CBC Toronto was first to report on a Toronto gynecologist linked to potential exposure to blood-borne infections, several patients reached out with their own negative experiences with Dr. Esther Park. Many of them were new to Canada, and said not knowing the language or how to navigate the medical system made it harder ...

Nova Scotia's health authority says it has hired one doctor eager to leave the United States because of President Donald Trump, and is in talks with more than two dozen more.The authority launched a digital recruiting campaign in the U.S. in November, targeting physicians feeling uneasy about the election results."We saw it as an opportunity with the election to remind folks and the leads that we have in the U.S. that we are here, ready and waiting for them should they wish to choose Nova Scotia to come practise here," said Katrina Philopoulos, the director of physician recruiting.Nova Scotia Health has been actively recruiting south of the border for years, but the new campaign led to 150 responses."We have seen some in certain specialties that have decided that they're worried about how ...

After sustaining a spinal cord injury in a motor vehicle accident, Josh Nevers is learning to walk again, even though he doesn't have much feeling in his legs.A patient at the Stan Cassidy Centre for Rehabilitation at the Dr. Everett Chalmers Hospital in Fredericton, one aspect of his physiotherapy sessions has especially made a difference: a robotic suit  called an exoskeleton, or more fully, the EksoNR Robotic Exoskeleton."It feels pretty amazing to walk with it again because you're actually moving your legs like you are walking," Nevers said."I hope it gets me so I can use my leg braces again."Physiotherapist Erica de Passillé said the exoskeleton allows patients to get more steps in than they normally would be able to. (Michael Heenan/CBC)Physiotherapist Erica de Passillé said the exo...

Scientists may have produced the strongest evidence yet that the shingles vaccine is linked to reduced dementia risk.Using the health records of more than 280,000 older adults in Wales, researchers found those who received the shingles vaccine were 20 per cent less likely to develop dementia over the next seven years than those who did not receive the vaccine.The findings, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, build on other recent studies that have demonstrated associations between herpes virus infections and an increased risk of developing dementia.Lead author Pascal Geldsetzer, from Stanford University, said the protective effects of the vaccine appeared to be "substantially larger" than those offered by existing dementia medications, but that further research was needed to determi...