New Kind of Fake Clinics

My, my. It seems that there is a "Wild West" of unlicensed, unregulated fake clinics offering bogus advice and treatment.

Ha. You thought I was talking Fake Abortion Clinics.

Nope. Fake Concussion Clinics.

It seems anyone can start a hotline, or set up a clinic offering to treat concussions, a brain injury. There is no active federal or provincial oversight. It's an essentially unregulated field, where massage therapists, chiropractors and nurses can hang out a shingle pitching their expertise in concussion management.

Health services in Canada are governed through a system of self-regulation. Health professionals are licensed by professional associations, and those associations are responsible for limiting the scope of practice. When we asked the Ontario Ministry of Health about the appropriateness of a concussion hotline, we were told to ask the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons. The college told us that, unless someone complains, it has no problem with it.

But some medical experts do have a problem with the hotline. They're concerned that the hype around concussions is getting out of control.

Golly gee. Just like Fake Abortion Clinics. But here, people are making money.

Dr. Michael Ellis, a neurosurgeon, runs Manitoba's only provincially sponsored concussion clinic. He is appalled at the proliferation of unregulated concussion clinics popping up across the country, offering a variety of treatments, including meditation, massage, acupuncture and even hyperbaric oxygen therapy. A quick count reveals more than 200 concussion clinics across Canada.

Funny. There are about 200 totally unregulated, unlicensed, unsupervised Fake Abortion Clinics in Canada. And just about all of them lie to advance their mission to dissuade pregnant people from their right to abortion.

The lies are very well documented.

And sane people have been complaining about them for years. But unless such outlaw operations cut into the bottom line of members of the various colleges of physicians and surgeons, the powers that be are good with the bullshit.

We're not.

Grand merci to Alison @ Creekside for fabulous graphics.