Star-Phoenix from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada • 83

to CO Medical writer's book timely Health care system's prognosis dim CONDITION CRITICAL CANADA'S HEALTH CARE SYSTEM By Nicholas Regush Macmillan, $24.95 CO 7T JD 3 Ui CO 7T BJ. zr CD OJ 3 CO 5T zr a CD Regush probes the failings: the health gap between rich and poor, the uneven distribution of doctors, emphasis on treatment rather than prevention, the haphazard introduction of technological advances, the reluctance of Health and Welfare Canada to police drug companies and manufacturers of medical devices. It's a thorough work-up, right down to the horrifying revelation that masking tape is holding together anesthetic equipment in some outdated operating rooms. About the only thing that's missing aside from an index) is information on the Canadian victims of the Dalkon shield, a faulty contraceptive device. Finally, Regush prescribes an independent national health council to guide the system's growth, inform Canadians about health issues, and use public input for the tough decisions on the use of resources.

The idea of such a council has been endorsed by the country's 10 major health and consumer organizations, but not by the federal and provincial health ministries, Regush notes, No matter, he says, suggesting the time is right for Canadians to demand a greater role in their own health care. Unfortunately, his reference early in the book to "orthopedic surgeon" Marc Balt-zan, a Saskatoon internist and nephrolo-gist, may leave some readers questioning the care he's taken. In addition to Baltzan, interviewed concerning the clash between physicians and politicians over extra-billing, Regush uses other Saskatchewan resources. He talks with Emmett Hall, author of 1964 and 1980 reports on Canada's health care system; and Ron Waschuk, head of the Saskatchewan Drug Plan, on the virtues of subsidized prescriptions and computerized drug tracking. While the prescription situation changed this summer, another provincial crisis Regush describes the lengthy wait for surgery remains.

An interview with Gordon Reed, a retired farmer living in Saskatoon, spurred Regush to write this book. Painfully enduring a four-month wait for hip surgery, Reed pronounced the health care system "a hoax. It's fine as long as you don't need it." That was in 1982, but little has changed. How has the system gone awry? Why isn't it meeting people's needs? By Sheila Robertson of the Star-Phoenix As medical writer for the Montreal Gazette, Nicholas Regush is no stranger to emergency wards. In this timely book, he offers a dim prognosis for Canada's health care system.

The national dream for top-notch, universally-accessible health care frets in the waiting room as the system struggles to survive. The symptoms include overcrowded hospitals, inadequate facilities for the rapidly aging population, soaring public expectations and dwindling public funds. Regush has done his homework, and he recounts in an engaging matter his chats, across the country, with doctors and nurses, patients and politicians, social workers and medical industry officials. He even outlines innovative programs in England, Denmark, and the U.S. Nicholas Regush Dark side of U.K.

justice system revealed AN AFFAIR OF STATE THE PROFUMO CASE AND THE FRAMING OF STEPHEN WARD By Phillip Knightley and Caroline Kennedy Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, $24.95 passing state secrets to Moscow. We are informed, further, about how the authorities undertook to "cook a case" against Ward once they realized that he might speak out publicly on the Profumo-Keeler-Ivanov triangle, and contradict Profumo's denials. The police reportedly put pressure on certain prostitutes, for example, to falsely testify that Ward had procured their services for prominent men. The government and treat several leading lights of the British establishment, including Winston Churchill and Sir Anthony Eden. Moreover, by sketching his patients and others, he had established a reputation as a leading British portrait artist (Prince Charles and Harold Macmillan were numbered among the large group of the rich and famous he painted.) Ward had taken up the practice of using his connections to help young "waifs" he as to make him no longer a threat to Profumo and the government" Profumo eventually resigned in spite of such efforts.

The two investigative reporters draw on three major sources of information to put the pieces of the puzzle together. The first is interviews with more than 80 people who were directly involved in the events, including two conscience-stricken members of the police squad who framed Ward. The second is government documents which were declassified recently. The third is a series of interviews conducted- with Ward before his death, and other unpublished memoirs. It is apparent that the authors have a sense of moral outrage -about the whole episode.

They see Ward as a kind of British Dreyfus, the "historic victim of an historic injustice." Their bias does not appear to detract from their account though. For those who want to deepen their understanding of the dark side of the British criminal justice system, their book is well worth reading. Smeets is a historian who recently moved from Saskatoon to Edmonton. Much of the book is devoted to giving insight into the character and lifestyle of Stephen Ward, a prominent player in the By Larry Smeets The British police and judiciary are renowned for their sense of fair play and justice. This reputation may not be fully deserved, if this book on the treatment given one prominent British subject during the "Profumo scandal" Stephen Ward is an indication.

Ward was convicted in. July 1963 under the Sexual Offences Act of procuring and living off the avails of prostitution. He took his own life soon afterwards, while awaiting sentencing. According to the two authors, he was framed. Much of their book is devoted to giving us insight into Ward's character and lifestyle.

We learn, among other things, how he functioned as a channel of communication of sorts between the upper and lower classes in Britain. In tha nnnrw nf nrnrtisinff OSteODathV went so far as to call an inquiry to buy time so the police could bring their "investigation" to a close. According to Knightley and Kennedy, Prime Minister Macmillan approved this believing that "the source of most of the continuing allegations about Profumo came from Ward and that when this concluded and Ward was prosecuted, either he would shut up or his credibility would be so seriously undermined found on the streets to advance in careers such as modelling. The authors relate how one of Ward's "waifs," a topless dancer named Christine Keeler, had an affair with Secretary of State for War John Profumo. She also had sexual relations with a Soviet secret agent, Yevgeny Ivanov, who was posted with the Soviet Embassy in London under the guise of naval attache.

As a result, it was suspected that Profumo was Ail vm ww cj i in London, Ward had occasion to meet v..