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‘They have a lot to answer for’: HHS refuses to explain third patient in tonsil surgery review
Posted: November 3, 2025
(November 3, 2025) By: Joanna Frketich, The Hamilton Spectator (behind a paywall)
–> Natalie Mehra, executive director of the Ontario Health Coalition, is quoted within:
Three patients were included in internal reviews of tonsil surgery at McMaster Children’s Hospital, documents released during the freedom of information process show for the first time.
The reviews were triggered by the deaths of two children after tonsillectomy surgeries in May and June 2024.
The public has a right to know what happened to the third patient, said Natalie Mehra, executive director of the Ontario Health Coalition, which advocates to protect and improve the health-care system.
“It is shocking to me that the hospital does not feel that it should be accountable to the public,” Mehra said. “Why are there three patients in the internal review? There is a compelling public interest to know this, and one would think it would be in the hospital’s interest to be transparent and open, at the very least, to ensure that the public can have confidence in their services.”
“They have a lot to answer for here,” Mehra said. “These are literally life and death issues for the families who bring their children to the hospital.”
“The bottom line is that quality of care information is vital for the public to know,” Mehra said. “For people to have confidence in their local hospitals is critical. Hiding information does not instil confidence.”
In addition, Mehra emphasizes hospitals are public services, funded by taxpayers and accountable to their communities. She questions how many health dollars have been spent fighting to keep secret the reviews into tonsil surgery at McMaster.
“All of the money that they are spending is public money,” Mehra said. “That should go to improving patient care and not to hiding information from the public.”
