Published on Fri May 29 2015
Re: Ontario rethinks complex disability reviews, May 17
Ontario rethinks complex disability reviews, May 17
In her interview with Laurie Monsebraaten,
Mary Marrone of the Income Security Advocacy Centre gives us pause when
she describes the process of Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP)
medical reviews as flawed, wasteful, and “careless with people’s lives.”
As a physician and a member of the Select
Committee on Mental Health and Addictions, being careless with people’s
lives is the last thing Helena Jaczek, the Minister of Community and
Social Services, would want.
That’s why Ontario’s registered nurses, nurse
practitioners, and nursing students urge her to simplify the ODSP
application process. Right now, it is so complicated that more than half
of community legal clinic cases involve ODSP appeals.
With more than half of these appeals being
eventually approved by the Social Benefits Tribunal, this is not
accountability but “denial by design.” We can and must be ever careful
with the lives of every Ontarian, especially those most in danger due to
health and disability challenges.
Doris Grinspun, CEO, Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario, Toronto
