Docket: 1-5498 Initial: JN 15498 March 24/98 CMAJ /Page 708 Customer: CMAJ-Mar 24/98

Nouvelles et analyses

Cardiac Surgery at the Ottawa Heart smoke at a farewell part before he Lauman was stripped of her gold Institute, is considered one of Canada’s left for Nagano. Fortunately for medal after higher-than-acceptable leading authorities on sports and fit- Rebagliati, he got to keep his gold traces of pseudoephedrine were found ness. He was asked to design and even- medal after it was revealed that no in her body. To treat a cold Lauman tually head the new centre which, at marijuana-testing agreement existed turned to an over-the-counter med- the time, was called the Canadian between the International Olympic ication that was on the list of accept- Centre for Drug-Free Sport. Two Commission and the International able products, but she did not realize years ago, when federal funding for Ski Federation, which governs snow- that the “decongestant” label that sports organizations was cut, the centre boarders. came with her version of the drug merged with another body dealing But that’s no green light for the meant it was a banned substance. Her with ethical issues, the Fair Play Com- use of marijuana in sports, insists ignorance spared her any official mission, to form the new centre. Pipe, who says he would have given sanction. — © Christopher Guly Pipe says the organization is com- Rebagliati a “severe reprimand” if he mitted to ensuring that drugs and had the authority to do so. Although Dr. Johnson weighs in sports don’t mix and that athletic Pipe says the 3 am phone call he re- competition takes place on a level ceived from Canadian officials in From time to time CMAJ will pro- playing field. However, protecting Japan after Rebagliati’s drug test left vide samples from one of the BMJ the rights of athletes against arbitrary him feeling “a combination of dis- Publishing Group’s latest offerings, A disciplinary decisions is also part of may, disappointment and exaspera- Sceptic’s Medical Dictionary. As readers its mandate, and that is where Re- tion,” the incident isn’t the first in will learn from the following defini- bagliati enters the picture. which he’s been enlisted to settle an tion concerning image, there’s isn’t Unlike Johnson, who knowingly international dispute involving a another book quite like it. It is avail- used performance-enhancing steroids, Canadian athlete. able through the CMA’s Membership the Olympic snowboarder claimed he At the Pan Am Games 3 years ago, Services Department, 888 855-2555. was exposed to secondhand marijuana Pipe was recruited when rower Silken “Someone labelled ‘a psychologist’

MDs sceptical, but patients say bee venom relieves MS symptoms

Every Saturday, 40 people make as it robbed his patient of more and their way to Ron Lofthouse’s bee- more functions. hives in Buckhorn, Ont. They’re Henderson’s patient decided on looking to get stung, not buy honey, her own to try HBV; she was Jeanne Simpson but they’re not participating in stung for the first time last some bizarre S and M ritual. In- April and since then Hender- stead, they maintain, honey bee son has monitored results of the venom (HBV) not only offers relief weekly stings she receives. He has venom to his patients. He said its from the pain but also returns the noticed some improvement in both benefits are unproven and there is a mobility that has been lost over the her physical condition and attitude, risk of allergic reaction to the stings, years to a relentless foe, multiple and says the amount of medication which increases with the number of sclerosis (MS). she is taking has been reduced. The times a person is stung. Whitby, Ont., family physician woman says she has regained her Henderson agrees that caution is Scott Henderson has been monitor- energy. Last year, for the first time warranted, and says he cannot say for ing one of his patients, who has in years, she went raspberry picking. sure whether the improvement in his been diagnosed with MS and is a However, despite such anecdotal patient is due to natural remission, member of the group of 40. He has evidence an expert in the MS field which is a characteristic of this form been treating the patient since 1992 is sceptical and prescribes caution. of the disease, or the HBV. Firmer and prescribing medication to treat Neurologist Paul O’Connor, direc- evidence is expected later this year, the disease, but until recently he tor the MS clinic at St. Michael’s when a study dealing with the impact had been frustrated and was simply Hospital in Toronto, will neither of HBV on MS is expected to be charting the progress of the disease prescribe nor recommend bee published. — © Peter Wilton

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News and analysis appeared on my television screen to UCH, it will be complete by 2005. specialist Martin Gale McLoughlin, explain what he called the decline in The hospitals already operate as a sin- thoracic surgeon Noah Carpenter medicine’s ‘professional image.’ Our gle trust and individual departments and Dalhousie University medical problem, it seems, is that we no were combined several years ago. student Robert Johnson, Jr. longer ‘radiate success.’ For a mo- Proposals for the Guy’s and St. ment I hoped — although in vain — Thomas’s Hospital Trust place casu- Sexual minorities report he would suggest that we follow the alty and medical and surgical ser- slams health system advice of Dr. Samuel Johnson: ‘A suc- vices at the St. Thomas site, with cessful doctor needs 3 things. A top nonemergency work being relegated A report by the Coalition for Lesbian hat to give him authority; a paunch to to Guy’s. — © Caroline Richmond and Gay Rights in Ontario claims give him dignity, and piles to give that the province’s health and social- him an anxious expression.’ ” Canada’s first female service systems discriminate against aboriginal psychiatrist the “sexual minorities” formed by les- England’s 800-year-old honoured bians, gay men and others. Project hospital will live on Affirmation, which was funded by Dr. Cornelia Wieman was 1 of 15 na- Health Canada, studied survey results St. Bartholomew’s, London’s 800- tive men and women honoured with from 1233 respondents who de- year-old hospital, is to stay open after a National Aboriginal Achievement scribed their experiences with the all. Following 6 years of campaign- Award this month. Wieman, who health and social-service systems. ing, the oldest hospital in the city and graduated from McMaster University The final report says the results point the home base for one of the world’s in 1993, has developed several psy- to “systemic failure.” most famous medical schools is not chiatric outreach programs, including “There are stories ranging from closing. Instead, it is to become a spe- a crisis intervention team at Ontario’s unbelievable ignorance, insensitivity cialist centre for oncology and cardi- Cape Croker First Nation and a geri- and hostility down to institutional ology; its accident and emergency de- atric program at Ontario’s Wik- stonewalling and incompetence. The partment, the focus of much of the wemikong First Nation. Wieman, 33, system has failed this population by campaigning, will remain closed. holds a bachelor of science in kinesi- failing to provide appropriate service.” The announcement was made ology and a master’s degree in biome- The report said discrimination Feb. 4 by Frank Dobson, Britain’s chanics from the University of Wa- takes 2 main forms. Systemic dis- secretary of state for health. He ac- terloo. She is currently completing a crimination is characterized by ser- cepted in full recommendations con- psychiatry fellowship at McMaster. vice-intake forms that assume hetero- tained in a London strategy review, Past medicine-related recipients of sexuality, training that routinely which he commissioned last June im- the awards include kidney transplant omits discussion of the needs of les- mediately after the new Labour gov- ernment was elected. Development of Bart’s sister hos- Anniversary of Nobel Prize for insulin marked by Mint pital, the Royal London — it used to be known simply as “the London” — Medicine by Drs. Frederick Bant- is being reduced from the proposed ing and John Macleod, the Mint is 1200 beds to 900. The trust responsi- releasing a $100 gold coin that fea- ble for the hospitals had argued in tures a design by Robert Ralph favour of closing Bart’s because of the Carmichael, who designed the loon savings that would be realized by op- that appears on Canada’s $1 coin. erating from a single site. News of The new coin features figures in- the reprieve earned a surprisingly spired by those appearing on the muted response, and news reports Shortly after announcing that it Nobel Prize itself. The mint’s first surrounding the announcement would release its first coin featuring medicine-inspired coin honours Dr. were, for the most part, hidden away a Canadian physician, the Royal Norman Bethune. That $5 silver on newspapers’ back pages. Canadian Mint has decided to hon- coin involves a joint project with a Four other hospitals, including our 2 more doctors. To mark the Chinese mint. Information is avail- University College (UCH) and the 75th anniversary of the receipt of able from the Mint, 800 267-1871 Middlesex, are being replaced by a the Nobel Prize for Physiology and (Canada) and 800 268-6468 (US). single 640-bed hospital. Sited next to

CMAJ • MAR. 24, 1998; 158 (6) 709