CBCNEWS — CBC Newsroom With Marianne Dimain
20261011 103000 UTC
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[00:00:26] Hi, I'm Leanne Young, and this is CBC News in Depth.
[00:00:28] In this edition, we'll be taking a look at
[00:00:31] health stories from across the country. Let's begin with a few
[00:00:34] stories focused on mental healthcare.
[00:00:39] At 16, Margaret Bolt was diagnosed
[00:00:42] with anxiety and depression. Then she started to self harm.
[00:00:46] I felt like I wasn't being seen or heard and it was very
[00:00:50] distressing and harmful to me. Her condition got worse as she
[00:00:54] struggled to access appropriate care. Now,
[00:00:57] a new report is shedding light on where Canadians are turning
[00:01:01] for help with mental health and substance use issues. We're
[00:01:05] seeing more and more patients going to their family doctors
[00:01:09] and pediatricians.
[00:01:10] The report found visits to family doctors for
[00:01:14] psychotherapy and counseling has increased almost 50% since
[00:01:18] 2015, while pediatricians saw a 60%
[00:01:20] jump. For some of my patients, I'm the only place that they
[00:01:24] can go. Doctor Rita McCracken estimates up to 25% of her
[00:01:28] patients come to her with mental health disorders and
[00:01:32] addiction issues. This is not work that family doctors should
[00:01:36] be doing, but addressing their unique
[00:01:39] needs, such as longer appointments and
[00:01:41] ongoing specialized.
[00:01:43] There is a challenge. I should do it when there is no other
[00:01:47] option, but in a more ideal situation,
[00:01:49] I should be able to hand off. But there aren't enough
[00:01:53] healthcare workers to meet the demand,
[00:01:55] and patients are up against high costs for private
[00:01:59] treatment and lengthy wait lists. At one point we had
[00:02:02] almost up to 1000 people on our wait list
[00:02:06] at Women's College Hospital in Toronto. They're developing new
[00:02:09] programs to reach patients quicker. Do people need to be
[00:02:13] waiting, you know, a year, 2 years to be able to get that
[00:02:16] in an in person setting or could we offer some of that
[00:02:20] virtually? Virtual group therapy has
[00:02:22] helped bring their wait list to less than 100 patients and
[00:02:25] reduced wait times to a few months. It's been a
[00:02:28] groundbreaking program that's really changed our flow and and
[00:02:32] got milk care to a lot more people.
[00:02:35] As for Margaret, life is improving since seven
[00:02:38] months in recovery and I haven't harmed myself in almost
[00:02:42] 8 months. A positive outcome in a system stretched thin to
[00:02:46] Shanna Reed, CBC News, Toronto.
[00:02:56] There's just no help. There's no hope for her. Jenna Dorman's
[00:03:00] husband looks back on all the ways he tried to get his wife
[00:03:04] help. The 42 year old Vancouver mother was struggling with
[00:03:08] postpartum depression after the birth of their second child in
[00:03:12] early 2024. Medical complications and worries about
[00:03:15] her new baby caused stress and anxiety for doormen that
[00:03:19] spiraled into depression and by the summer of 2024,
[00:03:22] multiple suicide attempts. Her husband and friends
[00:03:26] frantically
[00:03:27] built for treatment options. They immediately were faced
[00:03:30] with long wait lists or the prospect that Dorman would be
[00:03:34] separated from her baby. As soon as a mother is having
[00:03:37] suicidal tendencies, they don't. Some of these
[00:03:40] facilities don't even accept them. They're at risk,
[00:03:43] so they they won't take that risk on. The only option was to
[00:03:47] take her to Vancouver General Hospital. Separated from her
[00:03:51] children, Dorman spent several days on a
[00:03:53] bed in the corner of the emergency room with just a
[00:03:56] curtain for privacy.
[00:03:58] It's not very loving, It's not very warm for a mother
[00:04:02] to be
[00:04:03] tossed around and in a medical system where this is she should
[00:04:08] be with her baby getting help. Jenna's best friend says the
[00:04:12] mental health support came too late. The week that she
[00:04:16] committed suicide. It was very tragic. Bird has launched a
[00:04:20] campaign to raise $32, 000 to fund drop in postpartum
[00:04:24] support through the Pacific Postpartum Support Society.
[00:04:28] She's also pushing for a dedicated space for mothers and
[00:04:32] babies in BC Women's Hospital.
[00:04:34] Terry Needle mental health unit This BC Conservative MLA's
[00:04:38] private members bill calls on government to create a strategy
[00:04:42] for universal access to mental healthcare for women before and
[00:04:46] after they give birth. It became law last May and set a
[00:04:49] one year timeline for action. It's disappointing to see that
[00:04:53] it's been a year and we haven't seen much work on my bill yet.
[00:04:57] It is so incredibly important to be able to provide those
[00:05:01] kinds of supports for people. That work is actively underway.
[00:05:05] The bill obviously
[00:05:06] has passed and and we are hard at work on it. Jenna's husband
[00:05:10] and friends envision a place where mothers can be with their
[00:05:13] children, getting the care they need. A
[00:05:16] place where she could,
[00:05:18] um, be with other mothers and be
[00:05:22] able to
[00:05:25] just feel loved. Katie Derosa, CBC News, Vic.
[00:05:34] From across Canada, more young people in distress
[00:05:37] are reaching out for help at night schools close. Their
[00:05:41] friends are asleep, their parents are asleep and
[00:05:44] there's nobody else. Kids help phone says they noticed a 24%
[00:05:48] increase in overnight texts in the first half of this year.
[00:05:52] Predominantly the number one issue is anxiety and stress,
[00:05:56] but a new report on Ontario teens shows signs of progress.
[00:06:00] More than 11, 000 students from grade 7 to 12
[00:06:03] completed an anonymous
[00:06:04] online survey by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.
[00:06:09] 46% reported experiencing A moderate to serious level of
[00:06:13] psychological distress, in this case a decrease. The
[00:06:16] numbers that we're seeing now in 2025 is more similar to the
[00:06:21] number that we saw in 2019 pre pandemic.
[00:06:24] Experts say that may reflect reduced stigma around seeking
[00:06:28] help. Still, psychological distress levels
[00:06:31] are nearly double what they were more than a decade ago,
[00:06:35] well before the pandemic. Doom scrolling is becoming such an
[00:06:39] like increasingly large problem in young people. Hannah Grover
[00:06:43] says isolation during the pandemic had an impact,
[00:06:46] but she had family support and journaling and poetry helped
[00:06:50] her cope. What started as my own love for poetry,
[00:06:53] it inspired her to create a youth LED arts program to help
[00:06:56] others. That feeling of anxiety and helplessness,
[00:07:00] it's very difficult to transition out of it if you
[00:07:03] don't have accessible support. Tony Bet Some sources of stress
[00:07:07] are growing. Cam H found a tenfold rise in online sports
[00:07:10] betting since 2017. Kids Help Phone says Other concerns range
[00:07:14] from forest fires and social media to their very futures.
[00:07:18] And that's why we all have to work together to ensure that
[00:07:22] they have the support that they need. The Cam H survey also
[00:07:26] showed an increase in young people accessing mental health
[00:07:30] services
[00:07:31] at school. To Shawna Reed, CBC News, Toronto.
[00:07:41] What kind of future do Albertans want for their
[00:07:43] province? The upcoming referendum will
[00:07:46] reveal where voters stand on the ballot is whether to stay
[00:07:50] in Canada to seek more provincial powers over
[00:07:53] immigration or whether to push for constitutional change. To
[00:07:57] learn what the choices mean for you, for Albertans,
[00:08:00] and for all Canadians, stay tuned to CBC News for full
[00:08:04] coverage. The Alberta referendum October 19th. Make
[00:08:07] an informed choice.
[00:10:21] territory are dealing with long wait times for care. Next up,
[00:10:25] a few stories focused on the strain the healthcare system faces.
[00:18:45] Sometimes it can feel like the headlines are filled with
[00:18:47] stories focused on healthcare challenges or shortcomings,
[00:18:50] but there are advancements happening every day that are
[00:18:53] improving our overall health. Let's take a look.
[00:21:14] Rarely does a cancer drug get a standing ovation from
[00:21:17] scientists and doctors. And we're all standing there in
[00:21:20] this massive room crying with and standing. It was really
[00:21:24] quite wonderful. I just have to say that I'm still emotional
[00:21:27] about it. For decades, metastatic pancreatic cancer
[00:21:31] has been one of the deadliest diagnosis. There's still no
[00:21:35] cure, but now there's New Hope.
[00:21:38] American Debbie Orcutt has stage 4 pancreatic cancer. As
[00:21:42] part of a trial, she's been taking the new drug,
[00:21:45] Durak Exxon Razib. I knew my diagnosis was bad,
[00:21:48] So what have I got to lose? In a newly published study,
[00:21:52] 500 patients were randomly assigned to receive Draxon
[00:21:55] racib, or chemotherapy as a second
[00:21:58] line treatment. On average, the new drug helped people live
[00:22:02] about twice as long as standard chemotherapy, about 13 months,
[00:22:06] instead of six to seven. It targets this mutation called
[00:22:09] Ras, which is
[00:22:11] driving pancreas cancer in over 95% of the cases and it was
[00:22:14] thought to be undruggable. You can think of Ras as a family of
[00:22:18] genes that make proteins acting like on off switches to control
[00:22:22] cell growth. In pancreatic cancer,
[00:22:25] one of those switches gets stuck in the on position and
[00:22:28] keeps telling the cells to grow out of control. Draxon Rasid
[00:22:32] works by blocking that broken switch,
[00:22:35] effectively cutting power to the cancer or cut. Was
[00:22:38] diagnosed 2 years ago. The drug appears to be working.
[00:22:42] Believe me, it's not lost on me. I just
[00:22:44] feel like God's given me another chance. You better make
[00:22:48] the most of it and do all good things. While found to be less
[00:22:51] toxic than traditional chemotherapy,
[00:22:54] common side effects of the new drug are blistering skin rashes
[00:22:57] and mouth sores and some concerns about the side effects.
[00:23:01] Because the side effects do look like it's going to take a
[00:23:04] lot of learning on our part as well that people going to
[00:23:07] afford it. There's no price tag yet. And this drug has not been
[00:23:11] approved by the FDA or even submitted to Health Canada
[00:23:15] for review, but doctors we spoke with say
[00:23:17] if all goes smoothly, patients could have access to
[00:23:20] this drug in about a year. There is promise for other
[00:23:23] cancers. Yes, that's right. These rats mutations that we're talking about,
[00:23:27] they're a big problem in other cancers. So we're talking about
[00:23:30] lung, colorectal, gynecological and even gastric
[00:23:33] cancers. Just going back to pancreatic,
[00:23:35] immunotherapy works in other cancers,
[00:23:37] but not in pancreatic cancer. So it's possible if we could
[00:23:41] shut off this Ras mutation, then immunotherapy could also
[00:23:44] work in pancreatic cancer. Wouldn't that be
[00:23:46] amazing? All right, Christine, Barack, thank you. Thank you.
[00:23:51] But when we turn on the AI algorithm,
[00:23:53] this is what it looks like to use AI in breast cancer
[00:23:56] screening, we see that this area is
[00:23:59] becoming with higher risk. Lesion score. Radiologists at
[00:24:02] Toronto's Women's College Hospital have been using
[00:24:06] artificial intelligence as another set of eyes for about
[00:24:09] two years. On the left, the scans the radiologist sees.
[00:24:13] On the right, the same scans reviewed by AI.
[00:24:16] We proved that this nation was a malignant nation.
[00:24:20] Now more research adds extra support for using AI in breast
[00:24:25] cancer screening. What I wanted to achieve with this study is
[00:24:29] to improve the screening test for all women. The new study
[00:24:34] divides more than 100, 000 women in Sweden into two
[00:24:37] groups. One had their breast scans read by two radiologists,
[00:24:42] the standard in Europe. The other had AI sort scans based
[00:24:46] on low and high risk. The great outcome that we have seen
[00:24:51] is very promising. The findings show that AI is more sensitive,
[00:24:55] detecting 29% more cancer than the radiologists and catching
[00:24:59] it before it turns into more aggressive and advanced forms,
[00:25:03] potentially saving lives. These studies confirm that they pick
[00:25:07] up things that we don't the human eye doesn't see. Early
[00:25:11] detection means less burden on the healthcare system,
[00:25:15] which can translate into thousands of dollars in savings
[00:25:18] per patient, according to some experts.
[00:25:21] It also eases radiologist workload. Healthcare and
[00:25:25] regulators have to move at the speed of cancer,
[00:25:28] not at the speed of bureaucracy. We actually AI assisted. Breast
[00:25:33] cancer screening isn't readily available across Canada,
[00:25:37] something advocates hope to change. We have a helping us to
[00:25:41] identify more cancer. It's still not a perfect tool. AI
[00:25:45] can flag false positives, but experts say over time it
[00:25:49] will become more refined and hope it lands
[00:25:52] hospitals across the country. Jennifer Legrasse at CBC News
[00:25:56] Toronto.
[00:25:59] What? What happened here? A man comes in after a fall,
[00:26:01] but something's off with his heart. For ER doctor nor Katib,
[00:26:04] the clock is ticking to find the cause. You're going to
[00:26:08] cardiovert him now? Yeah. OK, let's do it. In the ER,
[00:26:11] everything's high stakes. Cases can be complex,
[00:26:14] and decisions come fast. Researchers wanted to know if
[00:26:17] artificial intelligence could reason like an ER doctor. And
[00:26:21] this newly published American research suggests it can,
[00:26:24] using the newest generation of AI5. Observational test
[00:26:28] studies found the AI outperformed physician baselines on
[00:26:31] complicated cases. Its diagnosis was correct roughly 8
[00:26:34] out of 10 times. It doesn't mean that computers can do
[00:26:38] medicine. It means that within this narrow task,
[00:26:40] it can solve diagnosis better than humans, which is exciting,
[00:26:44] but is only the beginning of the conversation. AI is not
[00:26:48] going to be a replacement. It might be another tool for us,
[00:26:51] a great tool for us. At Ontario's Oak Valley Health,
[00:26:54] they're doing a pilot. So when the AI tool starts,
[00:26:57] I click on Transcribe, using AI to streamline note taking,
[00:27:01] basically help me spend more time with the patient,
[00:27:04] less time on the screen. More than 80% of US doctors now say
[00:27:08] they're using AI in their work, including platforms like Open
[00:27:12] Evidence. But there are limits. The study evaluated the quality
[00:27:16] of the AI's reasoning or diagnosis in ER's it did not
[00:27:20] look at the safety or the outcome for patients. The
[00:27:23] authors stress it would make sense as a second opinion,
[00:27:27] but say there can be downsides as well.
[00:27:29] There was a study about AI supported colonoscopy and what
[00:27:33] I found was that the gastroenterologist that got
[00:27:36] used to using AI actually started performing worse when
[00:27:39] they stopped using the AI. So there can be a dependence and
[00:27:43] there can be a skill erosion over time. Doctors need
[00:27:46] experience to judge whether AI is offering sound advice,
[00:27:49] but no one disputes its potential. I think if we're
[00:27:53] looking at AI clear eyed and straight in the face,
[00:27:56] we should feel both scared and excited. Ask you to take a deep
[00:27:59] breath
[00:28:01] with guardrails. Doctors do hope it can safely be used as a
[00:28:04] tool to help care reach more people. Christine Burak,
[00:28:08] CBC News, Markham, ON.
[00:28:12] And that's all the time we have. For the latest on health and
[00:28:15] much more, head to cbcnews.ca.
[00:30:24] I'm Mark Kelly, and this is CBC News. Here's a
[00:30:26] look at some of the big stories making news across the country
[00:30:29] and around the world.
[00:30:33] WE HAVE BREAKING NEWS FOR YOU. YOU. STELCO SAYS IT IS GOING STELCO SAYS IT IS GOING AHEAD WITH HUNDREDS OF
[00:30:37] AHEAD WITH HUNDREDS OF LAYOFFS AT ITS HAMILTON LAYOFFS AT ITS HAMILTON STEEL PLANT.
[00:30:40] STEEL PLANT. THAT'S DESPITE THREATS OF THAT'S DESPITE THREATS OF LEGAL CONSEQUENCES FROM
[00:30:43] LEGAL CONSEQUENCES FROM FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. >> FAILING IT FOLLOW THEIR
[00:30:46] >> FAILING IT FOLLOW THEIR COMMITMENTS -- FAILING TO COMMITMENTS -- FAILING TO FOLLOW THEIR COMMITMENTS
[00:30:50] FOLLOW THEIR COMMITMENTS WILL RESULT BY ACTIONS BY WILL RESULT BY ACTIONS BY THE GOVERNMENT, AND SO
[00:30:53] THE GOVERNMENT, AND SO BASICALLY, MY POINT IS THEY BASICALLY, MY POINT IS THEY NEED TO COMPLY.