She died of infection after an abortion. Now, her sister wants accountability

Investigations into Ontario woman’s treatment reveal missed red flags

The Globe and Mail (BC Edition)
27 Aug 2025

WENDY GLAUSER

From the moment Rheanna Laderoute was born, her older sister Kassandra Costabile doted on and protected her. Eight years younger, Ms. Laderoute was deeply empathetic, with a quiet grace and an offbeat sense of humour, Ms. Costabile recalls. And she remembers fondly how Ms. Laderoute could pull off silly sound effects and voices that no one else could – always making her laugh, even when she was upset.

Ms. Laderoute adored her older sister, too. Ms. Costabile once asked her sister why she would sometimes tell their mother about a relationship or school problem, but not her. “You’re the one I’m most fearful of disappointing,” Ms. Laderoute told her.

Continued: https://globe2go.pressreader.com/article/281487872460648 

American doctors look to relocate to Canada to avoid the Trump administration

May 29, 2025

By Brett Kelman

Earlier this year, as President Donald Trump was beginning to reshape the American government, Michael, an emergency room doctor who was born, raised, and trained in the United States, packed up his family and left the country.

Michael now works in a small-town hospital in Canada. KFF Health News and NPR granted him anonymity because of fears he might face reprisal from the Trump administration if he returns to the U.S. He said he feels some guilt that he did not stay to resist the Trump agenda but is assured in his decision to leave. Too much of America has simply grown too comfortable with violence and cruelty, he said.

"Part of being a physician is being kind to people who are in their weakest place," Michael said. "And I feel like our country is devolving to really step on people who are weak and vulnerable."

Continued: https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/05/29/nx-s1-5414345/american-doctors-look-to-relocate-to-canada-to-avoid-the-trump-administration

Ontario’s top court rules religious doctors must offer patients an ‘effective referral’ for assisted dying, abortion

Ontario’s top court rules religious doctors must offer patients an ‘effective referral’ for assisted dying, abortion

Kelly Grant Health reporter
Published May 15, 2019

Physicians who object on moral grounds to providing health-care services such as assisted dying, abortion and birth control must offer their patients an “effective referral” to another doctor, Ontario’s highest court has ruled.

In a unanimous decision released Wednesday, the Court of Appeal for Ontario reaffirmed a lower court’s conclusion that it was a reasonable limit on the religious freedom of doctors to require them to connect their patients with willing providers of medical assistance-in-dying (MAID) and other contentious health services.

Continued: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-religious-doctors-must-make-referrals-for-assisted-dying-abortion/

Expert group denounces the refusal to treat under ‘conscientious objection’

Expert group denounces the refusal to treat under 'conscientious objection'

Joyce Arthur
July 5, 2018

For the first time ever, an expert group has arrived at a majority consensus that the practice of so-called "conscientious objection" by health-care professionals should not be allowed. The experts agreed that the practice of refusing to provide legal and essential health care due to a doctor's personal or religious beliefs is a violation of medical ethics and of patients' right to health care. Abortion and other reproductive health care are the most commonly refused services.

Unconscionable: When Providers Deny Abortion Care is the title of the expert group's just-released report with recommendations. It is a product of the first global meeting on the topic of "conscientious objection," which took place in Montevideo, Uruguay in August 2017 because the refusal to treat is a major barrier to abortion access in many Latin American countries.

Continued: http://rabble.ca/columnists/2018/07/expert-group-denounces-refusal-treat-under-conscientious-objection