Nicholas Jordan Wagner is a medical biophysicist. He also has a couple of other graduate degrees and is a well educated person. He is from Canada and has developed quite a large following on social media sites. Mainly because he talks about the failures of canada's health care system. If you have been paying attention or following my radio show, you're familiar with some of the issues regarding the so-called free health care.
Recently Nicholas has been focusing on people waiting for treatment and those who have died while waiting for treatment. For 2025 the average wait time between a visit to the General practitioner and getting an appointment with a specialist is 29 weeks. If you want to see an orthopedic specialist ,it's closer to 49 weeks. This includes not only surgery, but referrals for diagnostic appointments such as MRIs or CAT scans. Last year just under 24,000 Canadians died while waiting for surgery or a diagnostic appointment with a specialist.
Earlier this month, Nicholas was sitting in a cafe talking with a friend about some of the issues with the state-run healthcare system. A psychiatrist sitting at a nearby table overheard his conversation and took exception with some of the things he said. She became quite angry with him for spreading what she called lies. Nicholas, who by this time was recording the conversation on his cell phone, politely told her that the statistics he was quoting came directly from the healthcare administration's website. This of course made her angrier.
The psychiatrist then called police and asked them to detain Nicholas under the Mental Health Act. Under this act a medical professional can have someone detained simply by saying they believe this person suffers from a mental illness and needs to be evaluated. Officers have some ability to assess the person's condition, and if they feel the person is not a threat to others or themselves, they can give them a ticket ,which requires them to keep an appointment with the state-appointed mental health official for an evaluation.
Nicholas continues recording the encounter, and one officer becomes angry, along with the Karen psychiatrist. Nicholas maintains his cool but is certainly concerned when the original officer says he is going to detain him immediately and take him to a local hospital. A second officer steps in and de-escalates the situation but explains to Nicholas that the officers do not believe he will keep an appointment for an evaluation. Nicholas points out that they never asked him about keeping an appointment, nor did they give him the opportunity to take that option. They ended up taking him to the local hospital for a mental health evaluation. Almost 2 weeks later he is still in the hospital.
What happened to due process? Nicholas didn't say anything that put other people in danger. He didn't say anything about insurrection or overthrowing the government he was relating facts in a conversation about the country's health care system. But under the law, medical professionals have significant authority without any specific requirement to explain why they think this person should be immediately detained. All they have to do is say, "in my medical opinion."
Doesn't this sound like the old Soviet Union? The government created a diagnosis of sluggish schizophrenia. Political opponents were often arrested on suspicion of suffering from this condition and were thus a threat to themselves or others. They could be detained indefinitely without a court hearing or trial of any kind. This is exactly what's happening in Canada. Political opponents critical of the government can now be detained indefinitely after having been "diagnosed" with some vague medical condition.
Believe me when I tell you, politicians in this country are watching very closely how this works.
