Every day, patients, families, healthcare providers and the media from around the world turn to PatientProtection.Healthcare and The Center for PatientProtection for insight and information, and to see the world from a more compassionate lens.  

Whether we’re advocating for changes in healthcare and mental health delivery before Parliament or supporting a vulnerable family in a time of trauma, patients and families know they have no more committed voice or stronger champion in their corner.

Health experts say one in 17 patients is harmed during their hospital experience. Medical errors are the third leading cause of death in Canada and the United States. This trail of injury, trauma and death is often avoidable. We’re working hard to make our hospital experiences safer.  

We’ve called for mandatory hospital reporting of medical errors and free access to patient medical records. We’ve created a suite of powerful engagement tools to improve communications between providers and patients and families. 

We’ve pressed for creation of a hospital rating system, an end to the deny and defend response to medical error complaints and establishment of no-fault, non-adversarial compensation for patients who have been harmed.

Every day, 11 Canadians die by suicide. We introduced Canada to the use of 988 lifeline technology for suicide prevention, a faster system for people in crisis to access help. After years of personal advocacy and intransigence by the mental health establishment, it’s finally in place and saving lives. We’re proud of our role in making 988 possible.

Women still face healthcare gaps and delays in diagnosis and treatment solely based on gender. We’ve called for the creation of a national safer women action plan to raise awareness and produce a blueprint for removing these harmful gender barriers.

Patients and families tell us every day that “do not resuscitate” (DNR) orders can be a source of confusion and even abuse. We’ve been working with providers, patients and families to arrive at protocols based on reported  experiences, compassion and better understanding. We’re the only advocacy of our kind world-wide to do this.

Inside you will find tools, tips and articles to help keep you or a loved one safe, informed and engaged. Patients and families come 1st at the Center for Patient Protection. Please join us there. And thanks for visiting.

~Kathleen Finlay, Founder and CEO, The Center for Patient Protection

General inquiries can reach us here.  Media requests can be directed here. 

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Newest on CityNews: Making Home Care and Hospital Discharge Safer

“Sadly, the way things stand now, the onus is really on families to get things done,” Finlay added about anyone with a loved one in hospital who needs at home care.

“If you’re planning on taking your loved one home you have to start early. Find out who the discharge planner is at the hospital. Find out who the coordinator is at Ontario Health at home. Make those contacts, get the hospital bed, get all the equipment in place. You may not have a date yet, but it’s coming, and it could come faster than you think.” (from an interview on CityNews, January 2025.)

 

Kathleen Finlay interviewed on CityNews on the slow wait times for life-saving cancer diagnostic procedures. (September, 2024).

Kathleen Finlay interviewed on CTV National News on patient safety in Canada.  She also shares a very personal story about the impact of a serious medical error on a hospitalized member of her family, who now battles stage 4 cancer.

 

 

Too many providers and healthcare policy makers threw this rule out the door during the Covid-19 pandemic, leaving patients and families to suffer even more. The Center for Patient Protection is working hard to make sure that never happens again.  

The Toronto Star recently discovered the idea of a hospital rating system.  That’s been a big piece of our advocacy for the past decade. Countless patients and families have expressed support for it and it could go a long way to reducing harm in the hospital setting.  You can read about it here,  including some information you did not see in the Star’s article. 

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More op-eds and media interviews inside.