Health committee I would agree with you completely, Dr. Fry, that it has worked not just in B.C., but in other provinces. For example, Alberta, I think, led the way with the triplicate prescription. It's a beautiful low-tech way to collect data. Some of the difficulties are in accessing the dat
February 6th, 2014Committee meeting
Dr. Roger Skinner
Health committee I would agree with that. Do I have time for a brief comment?
February 6th, 2014Committee meeting
Dr. Roger Skinner
Health committee The incident that led to the inquest with the two deaths was a situation where it was a single prescriber, two deaths separated in time, two different coroners investigating, so there wasn't that link made. Thank goodness the local police called me and said it was the same physic
February 6th, 2014Committee meeting
Dr. Roger Skinner
Health committee That was released in the fall, I think. Do you remember?
February 6th, 2014Committee meeting
Dr. Roger Skinner
Health committee It was later in 2013. That's correct.
February 6th, 2014Committee meeting
Dr. Roger Skinner
Health committee Are you asking me on behalf of the federal government, sir, or all governments?
February 6th, 2014Committee meeting
Dr. Roger Skinner
Health committee Do I have an unlimited list or are you going to make me pick one?
February 6th, 2014Committee meeting
Dr. Roger Skinner
Health committee I think the difficulty is—and this is what we have found as folks across the country have put their heads together—there isn't one answer. If we don't look at it from all of the perspectives of prevention, enforcement, education, and treatment, and integrate those, we miss. If we
February 6th, 2014Committee meeting
Dr. Roger Skinner
Health committee Yes, I've come and talked about opiates, but they're not the only drugs that kill people. You're absolutely right. As I said, the other drugs are more likely to be seen in isolation in incidents of intentional ingestion, but not absolutely. One of the difficulties is that people
February 6th, 2014Committee meeting
Dr. Roger Skinner
Health committee Oh boy. You have only five minutes, right?
February 6th, 2014Committee meeting
Dr. Roger Skinner
Health committee I also chair our geriatric and long-term care committee that reviews specific deaths in long-term care facilities. This is certainly a hot topic within the industry. The answer is, in selected circumstances, under conditions such that there is a trial of a dose and a withdrawal
February 6th, 2014Committee meeting
Dr. Roger Skinner
Health committee That's correct. It was the Ontario college, and the title of the report, and it's on their website, is “Avoiding Abuse, Achieving a Balance: Tackling the Opioid Public Health Crisis.”
February 6th, 2014Committee meeting
Dr. Roger Skinner
Health committee That's the National Advisory Council on Prescription Drug Misuse under the direction of the CCSA, which Mr. Bishop and I participate in.
February 6th, 2014Committee meeting
Dr. Roger Skinner
Health committee I don't have the numbers in front of me. The majority of deaths from drug toxicity would take place in individuals between the ages of 20 and 50, but the relative rate in the elderly is probably higher. In other words, the incidence per individual in the population is higher and
February 6th, 2014Committee meeting
Dr. Roger Skinner
Health committee I think one of the frustrations of prescribers, of physicians, is that they have a limited tool box when someone comes to them with pain. Because of the issues of access to non-medical treatment or to non-pharmacological treatment, often the easiest or the most expeditious route
February 6th, 2014Committee meeting
Dr. Roger Skinner