I can remember that one of the realities of being a family doctor was that I happened to be up all night delivering a baby when a drug was recalled, so I didn't see the news that night. The patient who came in first the next morning had seen on the news that a drug that they were on had been recalled. At that point, I had no way of sorting out in my office which other patients were also on that drug, other than by memory.
We know that it would be possible with a proper system to involve the patients. And certainly, the heart-rending testimony of one of the witnesses whose daughter was still on the drug months after it had been recalled....
So in terms of patients and Canadians being polled on this information, they need to hear the stories that would inform perhaps a broader understanding of what privacy really means.
Maybe, Dick, you can tell us how far you are on being able to get all the doctors hooked up so that we can recall a product in an effective way. Or do you think that will be done through the pharmacies?