{"id":145722,"date":"2025-09-15T13:31:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T13:31:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/145722\/"},"modified":"2025-09-15T13:31:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T13:31:07","slug":"mistrust-in-medicine-is-infecting-our-society-and-its-putting-our-children-at-risk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/145722\/","title":{"rendered":"Mistrust in medicine is infecting our society \u2013 and it\u2019s putting our children at risk"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Measles is commonly mild, if uncomfortable \u2013 but it can also be deadly.Geoff Robins\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Kirsten Blaine is a consultant pediatrician based in Stratford, Ont.<\/p>\n

As a doctor who has worked in both the office and at the hospital in a small community over the past few decades, I have looked after many families experiencing the illness of a child. This is often one of the most difficult times in their lives, and I consider it an honour to play a role in their child\u2019s care. I love what I do. It is incredibly rewarding work, in spite of the pain and heartbreak that sometimes occur.<\/p>\n

But over the past three decades, I have also borne witness to many changes \u2013 both positive and negative \u2013 in our health care system and our attitudes about it. The COVID-19 pandemic, with all of its societal and political consequences, has unfortunately hastened the erosion of trust for anything \u201ctraditional\u201d \u2013 health care included. <\/p>\n

Our world is so connected now that everyone has heard of some great harm that has occurred to someone while in medical care, either as a result of a vaccination, a treatment, a complication of a treatment, or being in hospital. These might range from painful side effects to catastrophic events, even death. This is in spite of the fact that statistically these events are unlikely, even extraordinarily rare \u2013 or, in some cases, didn\u2019t occur at all. As a result, there is a great deal of distrust and suspicion of anything the medical profession does or recommends. <\/p>\n

Our most recent and distressing example is the measles epidemic. My community has been particularly affected because there are populations in our area that have chosen not to vaccinate their children. Thankfully, most of the children who get measles will be fine. Unfortunately, there will be a few who will become very sick, and are at risk of death from the complications of measles. This is the reason we vaccinate in the first place \u2013 to protect the most vulnerable.<\/p>\n

Opinion: Ending vaccine mandates is a cynical political play \u2013 and it threatens children\u2019s lives<\/a><\/p>\n

Measles outbreak highlights need for modernized vaccine registry, Ontario\u2019s chief medical officer says<\/a><\/p>\n

Measles is, at its mildest and most common, very uncomfortable, but at its worst, it is deadly \u2013 and we don\u2019t seem to be taking the worst possible outcome seriously. I had one parent say to me: \u201cWe tell each other that they will get sick with the measles, will look like they are going to die, and then they will get better.\u201d It is almost as if measles are seen as a childhood rite of passage.<\/p>\n

But in some cases, they don\u2019t get better. And in the most significant cases, it can take extraordinary measures to make sure the worst doesn\u2019t happen \u2013 to make sure those rare but horrible outcomes don\u2019t occur.<\/p>\n

When children arrive at hospital with measles, my colleagues and I work carefully to assess them. We cause them pain with lab work, expose them to X-rays and insert intravenous lines (which is a traumatic experience for any young child, in spite of our best efforts). We also have to treat them with antibiotics for the life-threatening secondary bacterial complications that can occur with measles, and while antibiotics have their own risks and potential side effects, such as allergic reactions and the possible development of antibiotic resistance, they also save lives. Some children will require an even higher level of care in an intensive care unit, with even more invasive treatments. Then, for months after their recovery, measles suppresses these children\u2019s immune systems, so we often need to treat additional infections down the road, too. <\/p>\n

In all of these encounters, medical professionals shelve our opinions, calling on all of our compassion to provide the best possible care for these children and families. But we are human. Some of us cry inside. And for some, anger is there too, as much as we try to hide it \u2013 because this was all preventable.<\/p>\n

The mortality statistics for our measles epidemic will show that very few, if any children, have died this year of measles in Ontario. That is because \u201ctraditional\u201d health care providers have worked hard not to let that happen. What those statistics won\u2019t measure is the unnecessary suffering that some children will experience, and the emotional and financial costs these families will have to shoulder. They won\u2019t show the very significant burden this has placed on an already exhausted medical system, either.<\/p>\n

What has happened to us, as a society, as a community of people? How did we go wrong, that so many now fear and distrust the things that actually prevent suffering and saves lives? <\/p>\n

I can\u2019t change the many horrible things that people say about the health care system. But my fellow medical professionals and I can continue to beg parents to vaccinate their children \u2013 and work hard, every time, to protect them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Measles is commonly mild, if uncomfortable \u2013 but it can also be deadly.Geoff…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":145723,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[49,48,84,392,2922],"class_list":{"0":"post-145722","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-healthcare","12":"tag-noastack"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145722\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}