Health ministers meeting in Winnipeg focuses on workforce mobility and health data

Health policyTodayCanada

Federal government updates medical assistance in dying law for advance requests

The federal government is amending the Criminal Code to permit medical assistance in dying (MAID) for individuals who provide consent via advance directives before losing decision-making capacity. This change aims to protect practitioners from criminal charges when fulfilling these requests. Advocacy groups warn that delegating implementation to provinces may result in inconsistent access across the country.

You may soon need to prepare for new provincial protocols regarding how advance requests for MAID are documented and fulfilled in your clinical practice.

Health policyTodayManitobaWinnipeg (WRHA)

Manitoba patient with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome appeals denied funding for out-of-province surgery

Tomas Ponzilius, 33, of Winnipeg lives with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a rare genetic condition that weakens connective tissue and causes cervical instability, leaving him in extreme pain and mostly bedbound. Manitoba Health denied his request for a $200,000 cervical fusion in Maryland, saying he had not proven the care is unavailable in Manitoba or elsewhere in Canada, and pointed him to an Ontario clinic that does not accept out-of-province patients. His neurosurgeon says the expertise is not available in Manitoba; he awaits an appeal ruling and says he has considered medically assisted dying.

A Winnipeg man with a rare condition says Manitoba's out-of-province referral process left him with no pathway to care, while the province says referral routes exist - a gap frontline workers will recognize when patients ask why specialized care is out of reach.

Health policyTodayCanada

High cost of new pancreatic cancer drug limits patient access in Manitoba

Daraxonrasib (Rasonque), a pancreatic cancer pill approved by the U.S. FDA in August but not yet in Canada, costs about $90,000 Cdn a month - Vancouver patient James Howard pays about $63,000 US a month for three daily doses. Its launch price is $480,000 US ($675,000 Cdn) a year. Trials showed it halted or reversed tumour growth in nearly a third of patients, versus about 10% on chemotherapy, and lifted survival from under 7 months to about 13. Oncologists say the price puts a life-extending drug out of reach; the maker says it reflects therapeutic advance and supports innovation.

CancerCare Manitoba oncologist Dr. Ralph Wong says patients in his practice are crying because they cannot access this drug, which is not yet approved in Canada - a stark example of how U.S. drug pricing leaves Canadians paying out of pocket or going without.

Due tomorrowHealth policyYesterdayManitoba

Manitoba autism advocates rally to ensure support for adults remains protected

Dozens of autism advocates rallied outside the Manitoba Legislature on Saturday to hold the government to its reversal on Bill 232, the autism screening and supports bill, ahead of Tuesday's vote. The government had proposed amendments excluding adults after a 14-hour committee hearing, but Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine rolled them back Friday after public outcry, and now says it will support the bill in its original all-ages form. Rally speakers, including Liberal MLA Cindy Lamoureux, who introduced the bill, said supports must continue across the lifespan, not just in childhood.

If Bill 232 passes in its original form on Tuesday, autistic adults in Manitoba keep access to screening, diagnosis and supports across their lifespan instead of losing them at 18 — a direct follow-up to the government's policy reversal.