Women, privatization and health care reform

In the case of Pembroke Civic Hospital, the deputy chair of an insurance company, a former a Charter challenge argued that the closure of the hos- executive of General Motors, two lawyers, one of pital would leave only a Catholic hospital to serve the whom is a former president of the Ontario Chamber area and, as a consequence, access to health services of Commerce, a senior executive in a private [...] On the basis of no right of appeal from the Commission to the court” this evidence, the judge concluded that the “closure and the court “has no power to review the merits of of the Civic will have no impact on the current access the Commission’s decisions” (Pembroke Civic Hospital of Pembroke residents to abortions services” and that and Lowe v. Health Services Restructuring Commis- other claims “ [...] The protests were more successful in the case of The victory was however limited by the terms of the Women’s College Hospital in Toronto. [...] The urgency of many health little attention was paid to the consequences for women care decisions and the state of the patients when the as patients, providers or decision-makers. [...] Women form a majority of the 40 house- holds followed in the Caledon study and the analysis A study conducted for the Caledon Institute of Social includes the experiences of these women, indicating Policy found that “decreasing accessibility and shrink- many of the ways in which their access to care has ing universality have eroded the quality of health care been reduced.