NHS: The Observer Scale of clinical negligence claims is now unprecedented prompting claims that reorganisation has harmed patient care The number of litigation claims made against the NHS in a year has almost doubled under the coalition, prompting claims that the service is failing to deal with growing demands on its limited resources. The scale of the […]

Atul Gawande: The angel of good death opens up his surgery The American surgeon and bestselling author begins his Reith lectures this week on why doctors sometimes do harm. And the nation is dying to hear them The Sunday Times: 23 November 2014 As a senior surgeon who has become a bestselling author by writing […]

Removing the government cap unleashed free enterprise – hidden value re-appeared Deutsche Bank suffered about $150 million in losses Thursday after the Swiss National Bank abruptly removed the cap on the Swiss franc’s value, sparking a massive franc rally, said a person familiar with the matter. Barclays also racked up tens of millions of dollars […]

  CZECHS LEGALIZE CANNABIS Beginning January 1, ordinary Czechs can grow up to five marijuana plants or have several marijuana cigarettes in their pockets without fear of criminal prosecution.  Previously what constituted a small amount was not specified and the police and courts loosely interpreted the penal code case by case, often resulting in incarceration […]

Jacques Chaoulli’s, M.D. The right of free citizens to spend their own money as they see fit on their own medical care is a moral precept that is fundamental to a free society. Recognizing what is moral and right, however, is often not sufficient to bring about a positive change. Challenging a powerful state monopoly […]

Canada’s health care system isn’t really free as there’s monthly premiums or yearly premiums to pay as well as taxes which pay for the entire health care system. There may also be some out of pocket expenses for non-insured services. In Canada there’s access to a waiting list for universal health care regardless of status, […]

Seeking relief outside Canada’s borders Nadeem Esmail and Bacchus Barua The Fraser Institute Appeared in Guelph Mercury and Waterloo Region Record posted December 20, 2013 One of the unfortunate realities of Canada’s monopolistic health-care system is that some people feel they have no choice but to seek the care they need outside the country. And […]

The Price of Public Health Care Insurance | 2016 Report | The Fraser Institute by Milagros Palacios, Feixue Ren, and Bacchus Barua SUMMARY Canadians often misunderstand the true cost of our public health care system. This oc­curs partly because Canadians do not incur direct expenses for their use of health care, and partly because Canadians […]

Tax Prof Blog: ObamaCare Tax Increases Are Double Original Estimate The Joint Committee on Taxation recently released a 96 page report on the tax provisions associated with Affordable Care Act. The report describes the 21 tax increases included in Obamacare, totaling $1.058 trillion – a steep increase from initial assessment, according to the Tax Prof Blog. The summer 2012 […]

Asteroid defense Something useful for America’s underemployed space agency to do The Economist | From the print edition | Feb 23rd 2013 GEOGRAPHY matters. In 1908 a rock the size of a city block hit the Earth’s atmosphere at 15km (9 miles) a second. The explosion flattened an area the size of London. But the […]