Full text of A Physician in the Political Arena book now available
Today the full text of my book A Physician in the Political Arena: Ethics, Duty and the Pandemic is available. Readers can access an online version of the book or are free to download a copy on the website www.merrileefullerton.ca.
The COVID-19 pandemic crisis exposed Ontario’s strained health care system and the neglect shown to the province’s elder care over the previous decades. It is important to not lose the details of what occurred and to understand the “pandemic politics” through this period.
As a physician assessing the medical science of the coronavirus and as a politician being called upon to consider the public safety policies to safeguard Ontarians, I recognize the events of 2020 as a pivotal moment for elder care in Ontario.
I feel a commitment to ensure what was gained is not lost, what has been started is completed, and what is better understood is acted upon.
So, I am making this text publicly available because when we must face the next health crisis it is important to do better. I do hope we can take lessons from what occurred in 2020 and 2021 and respond better the next time.
As I wrote in the book’s prologue, “we need critical thinking on health care reform. The fault lines in our health care have been exposed. We need a constructive environment where physicians and health care professionals are free to have unfiltered, uncensored discussions about the critical issues facing health care. We also require governments committed to making decisions beyond the politics of the four-year election cycle... Canada’s health care realities must be viewed with eyes wide open.”
With this book I am also adding my voice to the call for improved elder care and a new look at options available to reform health care in Canada. I look forward to the discussions in the months and years to come.
Contents of the book
Chapter 1: Personal Moments recounts a few significant events in my past and shares reflections on how my beliefs and core values were established. My family history and medical career details provide a better understanding of how I came to value and advocate for patient-centred care.
Chapter 2: Entering the Political Arena is a confession of what motivated me to leave a medical practice and enter politics. For years I engaged in medical politics: writing and speaking on health care reform and participating in professional bodies like the Ontario Medical Association and Ottawa’s Local Health Integration Network. However, it was my family’s experience in caring for my father that brought the necessity of health care reform into clear focus. I tell the story of the 2018 election, my initial reactions to Queen’s Park, and sobering observations of what practically can be accomplished by an elected representative.
Chapter 3: Establishing the Ontario Ministry of Long-Term Care reveals details of the period of time between the initial challenges of a new ministry to being seized with the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. This is an accounting of the government’s response to the Justice Gillese Report, and the first steps taken in a ministry dedicated to improving long-term care.
Chapter 4: The Pandemic Years is a review of the key occurrences involving COVID-19 that took place in Ontario’s long-term care sector while I was minister. There is a review of how “pandemic politics” played out in early 2020 and the impact of the COVID-19 health crisis on the long-term care sector. January through April 2020 was an intense period and I provide a detailed look at the evolving understanding of SARS-CoV-2 and how best to mitigate the spread of the virus. I offer my views on how public health failed to properly apply the precautionary principle and how the Ontario government responded to the health crisis in long-term care. Here, there is a discussion of my exchanges with Public Health Ontario regarding community and asymptomatic spread, and the airborne nature of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. I comment on the inquiries into the government’s management of long-term care homes through the pandemic and also take stock of what was accomplished for the long-term care sector in the province.
Chapter 5: Evolving Care for Elders and Needed Health Care Reform showcases potential solutions for elder care and improving health care in our country -- drawing from the lessons learned in the pandemic and assessing the current state of long-term care. It is a diagnosis for evolving care for the elderly. In this parting chapter I advocate for improved elder care: commitments for health care investments in infrastructure, staff increases in nursing and personal support workers, and more research into dementia care.
A Physician in the Political Arena: Ethics, Duty and the Pandemic is found here.