Latest news with #McGillUniversityHealthCentre
Montreal Gazette
30-04-2025
- Health
- Montreal Gazette
Patients are choosing hypnosis over anesthesia in Quebec hospitals
Health News By In her mind, 14-year-old cancer patient Michelle Yaa Henewaa was flying first class on her way to go shopping in downtown Tokyo. In reality, doctors were puncturing her back to collect spinal fluid at the Montreal Children's Hospital, where she lay on an X-ray table in a dimly lit radiology room. Yaa Henewaa did not receive any anesthetic for the procedure. Instead, she opted to be hypnotized to manage the pain. Hypnotist and medical imaging technologist Vicky Fortin snapped her fingers behind Yaa Henewaa's head as she counted down from 10 and described the dreamlike shopping trip in Tokyo, a technique used in hypnosis to help the patient dissociate. 'This trip is coming to an end,' Fortin whispered as doctors wiped blood from the patient's back. Yaa Henewaa is one of more than 400 patients at the Children's Hospital who have chosen hypnosis over anesthetic, Fortin said. Increasingly in Quebec hospitals, health-care professionals have been offering hypnosis to patients who need alternative pain management. When Yaa Henewaa's T-cell lymphoma was diagnosed in January 2024, she had a cancerous mass in her chest. The doctors told her anesthesia would be too risky because when her organs relaxed under anesthetic, the mass could press against the airways, making it hard to breathe. She said she was 'freaked out' the first time she was hypnotized because she still had some awareness of her surroundings during the procedure, which she said wouldn't have been the case were she sedated. Despite the peculiarity of the experience, she was excited to try hypnosis because she 'never believed' it was possible to use it as pain relief in a medical setting 'until they did it.' 'When the needle was going in, I could feel something,' Yaa Henewaa said immediately after the procedure. 'But when (Fortin) continued to talk, I was lost again (in a trance).' Hypnosis is an ancient technique dating back thousands of years and has been studied by European physicians since the 18th century, according to a 2024 medical journal article. Hospitals across Quebec started researching hypnosis as a pain management alternative in the 1990s, according to David Ogez, a clinical psychologist who trains hypnotherapists through the Société Québécoise d'Hypnose (SQH). Its use as a substitute for anesthesia in Quebec hospitals has become increasingly common over the last 10 years, particularly after the Children's Hospital medical-imaging department participated in a hypnotherapy pilot project in 2019, Fortin said. 'We need to learn that pain is not zero or 100; it's somewhere in between sometimes, and we don't need to feel nothing to be able to go through a procedure and be comfortable,' Fortin said, adding that hypnosis can spare a patient the potential risk that comes with general anesthesia. The idea for the pilot project came from a medical conference in France, Fortin explained, where a McGill University Health Centre staffer attended a panel on hypnosis in medical imaging. Ogez said medical hypnotherapy is already common in Europe, particularly France and Belgium. Medical hypnosis research is vibrant in Quebec, too, he said, and the SQH has been researching the subject since the mid-20th century. Ogez has been training health-care practitioners across the province to become hypnotherapists, including in Gaspé, Sherbrooke and Quebec City. Hypnosis is used for pain management for 'surface level' medical procedures, said Ogez, such as colonoscopies, biopsies, dental work, needlework and catheter insertions. It's not used for major operations like open heart surgery, but Ogez said hypnosis is a useful tool for pain management during small yet painful procedures. Ahead of the procedure, the patient chooses somewhere they would like to 'travel' during their trance, Fortin explained. Yaa Henewaa chose shopping in Tokyo; another teenage cancer patient, Sofia Pezet, said she had chosen 'a day at school' or 'soccer practice' as her destinations, because she has been absent from both since her non-Hodgkin lymphoma diagnosis two months ago. The hypnotherapist then asks the patient to focus on something like their breathing, the sound of the hypnotist's voice or their fingers moving from side to side. Then they count down from 10, at each step cueing the patient to deepen their relaxation before the hypnotist begins describing their trip. Fortin said one trick is to engage all the patient's senses, which makes the story more lifelike. 'She can walk and she feels the floor, the movement and then the sounds of the car in the street and the smell of the food,' Fortin explained after the procedure. She said it was helpful that Yaa Henewaa chose a story involving an airplane. 'The plane is a good tool to do a dissociation. You leave everything behind and you fly away,' Fortin said. 'The more you will dissociate the patient from their body in the story, the deeper they will go into trance, and the less they feel.' In order for hypnosis to work, the patient also must be willing and open to getting hypnotized. Fortin said anyone can be hypnotized, but Ogez emphasized that kids are strong candidates. 'It's easy for children because they have a lot of creativity' and imagination, he said. 'We tell them a story, they get right into it. With adults, on the other hand, we need to distract their rationality a little more,' he said. The patient also must be older than eight or the medical team might determine that the patient should not be put in an 'altered state' because of other confounding factors, said MUHC child life specialist Anna Paliotti, who also performs hypnosis at the Children's Hospital. Anyone can be a hypnotist, Fortin said. Being a doctor isn't a prerequisite — all that's needed is to go through a 60-hour training course, learn the basic techniques of hypnosis, and practise. Many patients are hypnotized because sedation is too dangerous. But for some it's a preference. When Yaa Henewaa was hypnotized in March, the cancerous mass in her chest was much smaller than it was during her initial diagnosis. She has received anesthetic several times over the last year, having gone to the hospital at least twice a month since early 2024. She chose to be hypnotized again in part because she wouldn't have to face the side-effects of anesthetic, including drowsiness and numbness. After waking up from the spinal tap, she said she felt 'pretty normal.' 'The aftermath is pretty cool because with the anesthesia sometimes I feel dizzy and stuff for almost my whole way home,' she said. 'This one is OK.' Leora Schertzer montrealgazette Leora Schertzer is a reporter at the Montreal Gazette who thrives on the chase. Whether it's making a documentary about sewage or investigating a Nazi gold scandal, it's the novelty and adrenaline that keep her in this challenging industry. Send her tips at lschertzer@
CBC
11-03-2025
- Health
- CBC
Quebec measles outbreak linked to declining vaccination rates
Measles is making a comeback in Quebec. From December to March, at least 31 cases were reported and experts point to one cause — declining vaccination rates. "The unifying theme for all of these places as to why measles is causing outbreaks or is out of control is very simple: low vaccination rates," said Dr. Donald Vinh, an infectious disease specialist at the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC). Data from Quebec public health, obtained by Radio-Canada, shows vaccination rates declined during the COVID-19 pandemic. "It's true that during the pandemic, there was difficulty of access. And access is really the key to making vaccination as easy as possible for parents," said Dr. Nicholas Brousseau, a physician with the Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ). Montreal has the lowest vaccination rate in the province at 85 per cent pre-pandemic and 83 per cent in 2024. WATCH | COVID-19 meant less access to measles vaccine: A sharp drop in vaccination rates occurred around 2021-22 in many areas during the pandemic, particularly in Montreal at 79.2 per cent and the Laurentians at 84.6 per cent. The Laurentians and the Montérégie region have both continued to have low vaccinations rates, despite a recent uptick. In Nunavik, rates fluctuate, but are currently strong. The rate jumped from 74.4 per cent in 2015-16 to over 97 per cent in recent years, data from the Quebec vaccination registry shows. Lack of vaccination access blamed "It's not that people are against the vaccine, it's that people don't have access," Vinh said. Measles spreads through the respiratory tract and can be fatal, particularly for infants and those who are pregnant or have weakened immune systems. Children typically receive the vaccine at 12 and 18 months, but it remains available free of charge at any age. Experts warn that 95 per cent vaccination coverage is needed to prevent outbreaks. "Eighty-three, 89 — all of these values may seem good on paper, but it's not at least 95 per cent, and that's why you're getting all of these outbreaks," Vinh explained. Trying to increase vaccination rates is an ongoing effort throughout Quebec. "We always have to maintain those efforts because measles is so contagious that when more and more children are not vaccinated, transmission can start again," Brousseau said. Experts say school-based vaccination programs are key. Possible exposure at Bell Centre in Montreal On Monday, Montreal health officials announced measles exposure at the Bell Centre on March 3 between 5:30 p.m. and midnight. That was the night the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Buffalo Sabres in overtime. An unvaccinated individual with measles attended the game during the virus's contagious period, according to a news release by the CIUSSS du Centre-Sud-de-l'Île-de-Montréal. Anybody who attended the match could have been exposed, the release says. But there is particular concern for spectators who were seated in red sections 111 to 117, and staff of the Tim Hortons and Pizza Pizza. More information about the possible exposure can be found here. Beyond tracking down these possible outbreaks, officials are urging anyone behind on their vaccines to book an appointment through Clic Santé or visit their local CLSC. The province's health network confirmed 30 cases as part of the latest outbreak, coming at a time when there are outbreaks across the country. The Laurentians remain the most affected region, with 27 cases of measles. The other cases are located in Montreal, Laval and the Montérégie. This recent outbreak dates back to December and remains active, Santé Québec said. "This potentially serious disease is highly contagious," it says on its website, citing dozens of locations and times people may have been exposed to the virus.
CBC
26-02-2025
- Health
- CBC
Ottawa, hospitals argue Montreal brainwashing lawsuit should be dismissed
Alison Steel was a young child when her mother was sent to Dr. Donald Ewen Cameron and his colleagues at Montreal's Allan Memorial Institute in the 1950s, to treat what her daughter believes was likely depression triggered in part by the loss of another child. After rounds of electroshocks, induced comas and experimental drugs her mother, Jean, emerged from the psychiatric hospital a changed person — childlike, unable to perform everyday tasks, and as her daughter puts it, "in her own world." Now, hopes for compensation for Steel and the families of other patients allegedly brainwashed decades ago at the Allan Memorial rest in the hands of a judge who must decide on a bid by the federal government and the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) to dismiss their lawsuit. Last week, a Quebec Superior Court judge heard arguments from lawyers for the government and the hospital who argued the families waited too long to file claims of the treatment their siblings and parents received under the MK-ULTRA program, funded by the Canadian government and the CIA between the 1940s and 1960s at the Allan Memorial. Steel is joined by about 50 families who have brought the lawsuit alleging their loved ones were subjected to psychiatric experimentation that included powerful drugs, repeated audio messages, induced comas and shock treatment. "Our families were treated like guinea pigs," she said outside a Montreal courtroom on Friday. In court, David Baum, a lawyer who represents the MUHC and its affiliated hospital the Royal Victoria, said while the hospitals felt compassion for the families, they believe their legal efforts to secure compensation to be "ill-advised, misguided and doomed to fail." Baum told Justice Christian Brossard that the procedure was prescribed — meaning it was filed after the window to bring forward a suit — and sought to re-litigate issues that have already been "extensively addressed" by previous court cases going back decades. "It's our view that, in the interest of justice and the parties themselves, that this court should not advance a recourse that ultimately has no chance of success," Baum told the court. Baum and a lawyer for the Attorney General of Canada claimed Steel and the other family members had all the information they needed to sue years or even decades ago. They noted that some former patients received $100,000 in compensation beginning in the 1990s, which was offered without an admission of guilt on the government's part. Those patients also signed releases renouncing further claims. Alan Stein, the lawyer representing the families, bristled at the claims that his clients' case represents an "abuse of procedure," as the other side has argued. "If anyone is abusive, it's the government of Canada and the Royal Victoria Hospital in this case," he told the judge. In court, he also suggested the current motion to dismiss is a delaying tactic from hospital and government lawyers, noting the issue of time limits were not raised in previous court proceedings. Experimentation also hurt family members, say plaintiffs While Cameron's treatments have spawned decades worth of reports and legal action, Steel and the other family members argue that they were only able to obtain their families' medical records in the last few years, and had only recently realized that there was an avenue open to them to sue, as family members. Stein said that while previous compensation was offered to some former patients, nobody has sufficiently recognized the impact of the alleged treatments on their children or siblings, who lived for decades with the repercussions. "They say we are abusing their they're abusing us by making us wait this long," Steel said. She said the full scope of what happened to her mother only became clear in recent years, when she managed to obtain her mother's medical records and, with Stein's help, obtain compensation for her mother's estate. That settlement was part of what encouraged others now involved in the suit to seek out medical records and explore legal options. Glenn Landry, a member of the lawsuit, says he was raised by foster families after his mother became incapable of caring for him after she received treatments. While he maintained a relationship with her, he described her as an "empty shell" who never shared insights on her life. Landry said he and others have faced resistance over the years when trying to obtain their family members' medical records. He said he acted to join the lawsuit as soon as he finally got his mother's records in 2018. He sees the argument over time limits as an "excuse" by institutions who want to avoid addressing a historical wrong by delaying as long as possible. He noted the government and hospital lawyers have also suggested suspending the case until a separate proposed class action by another set of alleged victims can be held. If that happens, and the case is delayed further, "more of us [will be] dead," he said. Brossard said Friday he will issue a decision at a later date.
