Provincial inquiry
Tuesday June 17 2008
Despite its repeated resistance to a provincial inquiry into C. difficile bacterial outbreaks in Ontario hospitals, the province’s Liberal government may have little choice but to yield to a growing chorus demanding a public inquiry into the health-care nightmare.
While Ontario Health Minister George Smitherman has stayed on message that he has no intention of holding a public inquiry that would duplicate recommendations already in the health care community’s possession, some vocal relatives of the more than 260 victims of C. difficile may ultimately influence a reversal of that position.
Smitherman and his colleagues continue to find themselves under siege by opposition members, as well as the loved ones of those who died.
Last month the health minister said recommendations from a coroner’s inquest into a 2006 C. difficile death at a Sault Ste. Marie hospital produced a “comprehensive” list of recommendations addressing the spread of institutionally-spread infectious disease. Further review would yield more of the same advice, Smitherman remarked a few weeks ago.
However, an inquiry could provide two things the Sault Ste. Marie coroner’s probe hasn’t — closure for families who are still struggling to comprehend the loss of their loved ones, and peace of mind for Ontario residents whose confidence in the province’s hospital system has been rocked by stories of patients checking in for things like elective surgery and not making it out alive.
While Smitherman is correct that there are many people within government, hospital administration and the medical community who must shoulder some responsibility for Ontario’s C. difficile deaths, it is our elected officials who ultimately lead us through difficult times like these.
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