Butter Torts: A Truly Canadian Legal Podcast

Brenda Agnew, your host, is accompanied by Susan Haas to today's episode of Butter Torts: A Truly Canadian Legal Podcast. Even though Susan and Brenda never met in person, they know each other profoundly since they both have children with Kernicterus and they have been companions in navigating this journey. Susan shares in today's episode about her daughter Lexi and the amazing book they wrote together with the aim of educating (and entertaining) people about the lives of children with special needs.

Key Takeaways:

[2:05] What are vacations like for Susan?

[3:20] Brenda shares her perspective in regards to camping with her family.

[7:46] Susan talks about her daughter, Lexi.

[12:18] Lexi has an IQ of 160 but is completely trapped in her body.

[15:43] Susan and Lexi wrote a book called The Year of the Buttered Cat: A mostly true story

[17:08] Who decided to write the book?

[21:20] Lexi's book aims to educate a generation.

Mentioned in this episode:

To learn more about the work we do at Gluckstein Lawyers, please visit Gluckstein Lawyers.

The Year of the Buttered Cat: A mostly true story, Susan Haas and Lexi Haas.

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Brenda Agnew and Jordan Assaraf, your hosts, welcome you to another episode of Butter Torts: A Truly Canadian Legal Podcast. They are accompanied by Barb Andrews to today's episode. Barb has been with Gluckstein Lawyers since 2001 working within the accident benefits department advocating for client's benefits. Barb has 18 years of experience administering Personal Injury claims. She is a licensed paralegal with the Law Society of Ontario.

In September 2015, Barb was honored with the OTLA Distinguished Law Clerk Award which is awarded to a senior law clerk who has consistently exemplified the mission of the organization.

Barb is involved in various volunteer programs with the Native Canadian community and also conducts motivational seminars and speeches. In 2018, Barb was the recipient of the Hilda Goulding Award.

Barb is presently attending Ryerson University on a part-time basis within the Occupational Health and Safety Management Degree Program. She graduated from the University of Toronto, Theology Degree Program in 2012 and is an ordained Minister.

Key Takeaways:

[2:30] Barb is an amazing cook and she shares some of her expertise in this field with the audience.

[3:33] Barb got a beautiful rescue dog named Sweet Pea and she talks about the current state of dogs, cats, and bunnies that are waiting for adoption.

[9:36] How did Barb get to Gluckstein?

[16:55] Barb talks about what full-circle care is about sharing the story of a client who needed company in his last days of life.

[23:40] What is the role of a Law Clerk?

[27:20] Get to know your client!

[31:00] The whole team is needed to provide full-circle care for clients.

[33:03] Barb talks about her involvement in the works with the communities.

[37:20] Barb rides a motorcycle and she shares her passion with the audience.

[41:07] Barb is also a member of a sailing club (even though she doesn't sail, gets seasick, and does not own a boat).

[41:57] Barb is a minister, and she shares where this passion comes from.

[45:20] Barb shares her love for country life.

[45:52] Barb talks about her work as a bodyguard for about 20 years.

[50:45] Barb explains why she embraces diversity as she does.

[54:05] "This or that" questions.

[58:36] Barb shares her favorite recipe.

Mentioned in this episode:

To learn more about the work we do at Gluckstein Lawyers, please visit Gluckstein Lawyers.

Learn more about Barb Andrews

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Brenda Agnew, your host, welcomes Jan Marin to today's episode. Jan and Ryan Breedon recently conducted the case of Amstrong vs. the Royal Victoria Hospital that went to the Supreme Court of Canada. Listen to this episode where Jan shares the details of this case, the legal journey that took it so far, and what that means for the analysis of standard care and causation for other similar cases in the future.

Key Takeaways:

[1:57] Jan talks about how the case of Armstrong vs Dr. Ward (a surgeon at the Royal Victoria Hospital) started.

[12:55] Surgical cases are rarely easy.

[20:02] Jan shares the experts' statements and how the surgeon's malpractice was proved.

[24.18] They received a notice of appeal.

[27:04] You can hold a physician to a standard of perfection.

[31:22] Jan finds out they allowed the appeal, a heart-sinking moment.

[35:54] 90% of civil case appeals are refused by the Supreme Court.

[42:27] Jan shares the moment she started investigating if there was an element of proficiency required in the case.

[43:55] Going to the Supreme Court in the middle of a pandemic.

[49:04] You can't change your strategy on appeal.

[50:43] What is the impact that Amstrong vs Royal Victoria Hospital will have on other similar cases?

[52:50] This case can be important for other tort matters, not just medical malpractice.

Mentioned in this episode:

To learn more about the work we do at Gluckstein Lawyers, please visit Gluckstein Lawyers.

Learn more about Armstrong vs Royal Victoria Hospital

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Brenda Agnew, your host, is joined by Kim McLeod, child and youth counselor. When working with Kim, parents find two opportunities in developing their parenting skills: the personal work, and the functional work, focusing on how they can show up to parent their child throughout their development. Her work is based on years of experience working through foster care with children and their biological families, adoptive families, and the blending that occurs in family makeup.

Kim's work also has a specialty in supporting the mothers of children who have special needs and medically complex needs. With this group of parents, she works on advocacy: finding the voice and self-compassion.

Key Takeaways:

[2:08] How Brenda met Kim.

[2:23] Kim talks about One More Thing Parents Group (OMT)

[8:38] Where are you going to find community?

[11:12] What supports?

[13:10] Homecare givers save the health system millions of dollars.

[15:05] Let's talk about the mental health struggles.

[19:50] The difference between a typical parental duty and the real life of a caregiver.

[23:06] What are the costs for children that need different support in place to learn life skills and to become autonomous beings?

[24:45] Brenda and Kim talk about OMT's mission of helping parents become the best advocates for their children's health.

[26:13] Kim talks about an example of a woman that brought the issue of the lack of proper changing tables to the OMT community.

[31:50] OMT is a community where anyone can find people that will stand up for them and have their back.

[34:39] There are lots of benefits of having a united message.

[35:50] Kim talks about how OMT impacted her after the death of Kevin, her son.

[38:32] There is a compassion statement that everyone needs to sign before entering the group.

[41:05] There is great power in groups formed by parents for parents.

[50:40] Facebook groups can be the beginning of great friendships.

Mentioned in this episode:

To learn more about the work we do at Gluckstein Lawyers, please visit Gluckstein Lawyers.

Learn more about Parenting Connections and One More Thing Parents Group

Learn more about Kim McLeod at GrandmaK.ca

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Brenda Agnew and Charles Gluckstein, your hosts are welcoming Richard Halpern to today's episode. This episode is dedicated to having a discussion about the critique Richard Halpern recently did about the 2020 Clinical Practice Guidelines number 396 by the Society of Obstetrician and Gynecologists of Canada and the impact it has on legal cases.

The SOGC is one of Canada's oldest national specialty organizations. Established in 1944, the Society's mission is to promote excellence in the practice of obstetrics and gynecology and to advance the health of women through leadership, advocacy, collaboration, and education.

The SOGC has over 4,000 members, comprised of obstetricians, gynecologists, family physicians, nurses, midwives, and allied health professionals working in the field of sexual reproductive health.

Key Takeaways:

[2:08] Gluckstein has always shown interest and represented victims of birth injury cases.

[3:55] Why the SOGC group set guidelines and why they are relative to legal cases.

[5:38] Is the SOGC 396 guideline updating a previous one?

[6:55] Why is the SOGC doing this review?

[8:30] How should this guideline be used by lawyers?

[10:41] Richard explains the process it took for him to write the critique.

[12:13] Richard talks about the difference between the American and Canadian Guidelines.

[13:47] What is fetal health surveillance?

[16:54] Richard talks about the limited amount of data about the fetal heart rate that can be registered.

[20:50] This guideline perpetuates the misunderstanding about the data that doctors are relying on.

[22:18] Richard provides an example.

[25:27] Every guideline says that with augmentation or reduction of oxytocin you must have continuous EFM, but why is it this way? What is the logic behind it?

[26:14] EFM markers determine the baby's stress and then something needs to be done about it.

[26:55] How does the guideline update the uterine activity?

[30:05] The guideline captures too many things under one definition in regards to uterine contractions.

[32:54] What is the motivation to be so imprecise in this guideline?

[33:35] What does the guideline say to do in the event that it is tachysystole?

[36:53] How do you resuscitate if there is no oxytocin in the picture?

[38:27] Does this guideline update the issues of dealing with tachysystole and resuscitation?

[38:47] Richard explains some of the fetal heart rate baseline terminology.

[42:07] Richard talks about the subtle change between the old and the new guideline.

[44:50] Richard shares his two major critiques on the guideline.

[48:33] Richard gives an example of how a lawyer's case could be affected by the guideline's way of understanding causation.

[51:46] The SOGC guideline on causation is incorrect.

[52:49] The impact of this guideline on babies and mothers.

Mentioned in this episode:

To learn more about the work we do at Gluckstein Lawyers, please visit Gluckstein Lawyers.

Learn more about Richard Halpern

Learn more about The Society of Obstetrician and Gynecologists of Canada

No. 396-Fetal Health Surveillance: Intrapartum Consensus Guideline

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Brenda Agnew, your host, welcomes Rebecca and Nadine, two moms that Brenda met in a project for Achieving Beyond Brain Injury Charitable Foundation. They are both examples of resilience and advocacy, and in today's episode, they are sharing their stories.

Nadine and Rebecca are mothers of children who survived a brain injury and after struggling to get the right diagnosis and treatments for their kids, they managed to make the tragedy into an opportunity to create awareness, take action, help others, and build crucial bonds with families going through similar situations.

Key Takeaways:

[1:52] Rebecca tells the story of her son, Owen.

[8:56] How did the coach realize it was a stroke?

[11:51] Nadine shares the story of her son, Andrew.

[25:07] You don't realize how strong your kids are until you watch them fight for their lives.

[25:53] Rebecca talks about how she met Nadine.

[27:48] Brenda shares how her son got diagnosed.

[29:10] Nadine and Rebecca talk about the need for support from someone that can relate to their grief.

[33:21] The assistance parents give each other is the most valuable.

[37:50] The struggles of a child and young teenager going through recovering from a brain injury.

[41:04] The most terrifying thought: Is this going to happen again?

[43:49] Nadine and Rebecca talk about Achieving Beyond Brain Injury Charitable Foundation.

[45:56] Creating awareness of the signs and symptoms of a pediatric stroke.

[50:34] Nadine shares about the scholarships for brain injury survivors.

Mentioned in this episode:

To learn more about the work we do at Gluckstein Lawyers, please visit Gluckstein Lawyers.

Learn more about Achieving Beyond Brain Injury Charitable Foundation

Donate to Achieve Beyond Brain Injury Charitable Foundation

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Brenda Agnew and Charles Gluckstein are your hosts for today's episode and they are welcoming Dr. Cain Elliott, Vice President of Industry Expansion, and Brock Chambers, who works in strategic partnership at Filevine, to talk about the role of technology in the legal world, the impact COVID 19 had in legal processes, how Filevine is helping their clients to face the pandemic, and what are their predictions for the "new normal".

Key Takeaways:

[3:15] Technology in the pre-COVID era.

[7:05] Were lawyers prepared to work remotely?

[9:15] What does Filevine do with the customers that are in the mix of migrating their data?

[11:45] What happened to the companies that were reluctant to adapt to the change?

[13:23] Charles talks about pre-COVID times at Gluckstein Lawyers.

[14:50] Dr. Cain talks about Filevine's mission.

[18:01] Charles talks about the new habits acquired by the tools technology provides.

[19:22] Filevine's security protocol.

[23:02] Look for outliers, the things that seem unusual.

[23:49] Biometric features that allow better security control for the user.

[25:50] The difference between office and home internet and how it affects people to get their work done.

[28:57] How does Filevine see the future after COVID?

[32:40] What was the work that Filevine had to do on their product in order to make it more accessible for people with disabilities?

[35:37] There will be a reduction in the scope of the legal services that are provided now by humans.

[38:30] The power of technology to analyze data fast and efficiently.

[42:33] What will the "new normal" look like?

[48:01] There is a lot to lose when you are not in person.

[49:01] "Zoom fatigue" is teaching us where the technology needs to progress.

[53:15] "This or that" questions with Dr. Cain Elliot and Brock Chambers.

Mentioned in this episode:

To learn more about the work we do at Gluckstein Lawyers, please visit Gluckstein Lawyers.

Learn more about Filevine

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Brenda Agnew and Charles Glusckstein, your hosts of today's episode, are welcoming Jane Lou to talk about the Chinese community and her journey as a Chinese writer and producer moving to Canada.

Jane Lou joined the Gluckstein Lawyers team in early 2016, bringing with her over ten years of experience in the legal, marketing, and customer service fields.

Prior to joining the firm, Jane had been in private practice, owning and operating a successful immigration and paralegal service. Jane is a paralegal licensed by the Law Society of Ontario (LSO), an immigration consultant certified by the Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council (ICCRC), and a member of the Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO).

Before immigrating to Canada, Jane obtained two Bachelor's degrees with Honours at Zhejiang University and Beijing University, respectively. She had worked as a television producer, director, and writer with a Chinese state-owned television station. Her works (live shows and documentaries) have won numerous local, provincial, and national awards.

Jane's ability to speak both Mandarin and Cantonese allows her to build and maintain a strong and trust-based relationship with other members of the Chinese community, and with clients requiring legal assistance when unfortunate accidents occur.

Jane is actively involved in the Chinese community and devotes considerable time and expertise to pro bono work. She also sits on the board of several non-profit organizations.

Jane is a frequent writer of articles for the Chinese media and has been called upon to provide her insights and commentary for Canada's national media when immigration policy is reviewed or modified by the Federal and Provincial Governments.

Key Takeaways:

[1:42] Jane talks about the Chinese New Year Tradition.

[3:22] Jane talks about her background.

[7:35] The matter of languages in China.

[10:46] How Jane ended up in Canada?

[12:13] Why did Jane leave Canada?

[14:21] Jane talks about the freedom to travel in China.

[16:21] The unforgettable experience to be a new immigrant.

[17:02] Jane shares how she built her English while she was still in China.

[19:10] Jane talks about the moment when she started to seek a job.

[23:43] Charles shares how Jane became part of the Gluckstein family.

[28:01] At Gluckstein the main goal is to help people.

[29:14] The challenges of advocating for yourself when you are speaking a different language.

[30:42] Jane talks about her experience with the range of interpreters and how she found her place in that field.

[33:25] In comparison to China, is there a different approach in North America to sales tactics?

[36:29] The value of honesty and dedication.

[38:50] The Chinese community tends to trust their own community members more.

[43:29] Jane talks about the reasons why she enjoys her work at Gluckstein.

[46:30] Jane shares how the pandemic affected her as an immigrant.

[47:33] Jane talks about her dog, Picasso.

[53:01] This or that questions with Jane.

[56:45] Jane shares her favorite recipe.

Mentioned in this episode:

To learn more about the work we do at Gluckstein Lawyers, please visit Gluckstein Lawyers.

Learn more about Jane Lou

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Brenda Agnew and Jan Marin, are co-hosting today's episode, and they are joined by Fabiana Bacchini, executive director of the Canadian Premature Babies Foundation.

Fabiana is the Executive Director of the Canadian Premature Babies Foundation, a journalist and the published author of From Surviving to Thriving, a Mother's Journey Through Infertility, Loss and Miracles. While in the NICU with her surviving twin, born extremely preterm, she participated in the study of Family Integrated Care (FICare). This led her to extensive volunteering in the NICU at Mount Sinai Hospital and to become an ambassador for FICare, travelling across Canada and internationally to share her experience with this model of care.

Her son was diagnosed with cerebral palsy which continued to empower her to be a strong voice and advocate for premature babies and their families. Currently, Fabiana serves as an advisor on the National Steering Committee for FICare, the Critical Care Services Ontario (ONICAC group), Child-Bright Network, Cultivating Change Committee at the Sinai Health System and The Change Foundation Caregiver Project. She also sits on the CIHR Institute Advisory Board of the Institute of Human Development, Child and Youth Health. She is a member of the founding committee of Global Alliance for Newborn Care, (GLANCE).

​Key Takeaways:

[2:14] Fabiana shares about her story and how she got involved with the Canadian Premature Babies Foundation.

[6:05] Fabiana talks about the study in ICUs all around Canada that she got the chance to participate in, and how that program was impacted by COVID.

[9:30] Brenda talks about her experience and the loneliness she experienced.

[14:33] How do families find out about the Canadian Premature Babies Foundation if they are not googling it?

[17:17] Jan shares how she became involved with the Canadian Premature Babies Foundation.

[18:56] Fabiana shares how she got involved with the foundation.

[24:10] How does Fabiana find the balance between allowing families to keep hope while their babies are in NICU and at the same time, talk to parents realistically about the possible outcomes for the future?

[29:50] There is a full spectrum of possibilities when a baby enters the NICU.

[33:38] Brenda talks about the way doctors deliver a diagnosis.

[36:21] The aim is to challenge the values of how disability is perceived.

[43:28] Peer support is absolutely crucial.

[48:28] What ifs happen.

[51:20] "If there isn't a seat for you at the table, then bring your own folding chair."

Mentioned in this episode:

To learn more about the work we do at Gluckstein Lawyers, please visit Gluckstein Lawyers.

Learn more about Fabiana Bacchini

Gluckstein Lawyers on Twitter

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Brenda Agnew, your host, welcomes Rachel Martens to today's episode to talk about parenting a special needs child, becoming your best health advocate, and finding that no one should walk this journey alone.

Rachel is a busy advocate whose son was born with a rare chromosome diagnosis, cerebral palsy, and autism. She partners with CanChild as a research-engagement strategist for their online group Parents Partnering in Research. Rachel is currently also affiliated with mentorship support for students and caregivers involved with CanChild's Family Engagement in Research Course, she has also partnered in publications with the team and is currently working on multiple projects. Rachel has a deep interest in furthering pediatric disability policy at the federal level. Rachel returned to university in the fall of 2019 with an intended focus on population health.

Key Takeaways:

[3:33] Rachael shares about her family journey.

[11.33] Embracing the opportunities coming as a result of having a special needs child.

[12:33] Rachel talks about the opportunities she found while helping her son.

[14:23] When parents become a function of care while gradually losing themselves.

[17:17] Connecting with people more authentically opens the doors for opportunities.

[18:48] Brenda and Rachel talk about the research initiatives.

[22:30] Using humor to deal with difficult situations.

[27:13] Rachel's work turns into an inspiration to other families.

[30:26] Clinicians don't know what you find valuable.

[31:33] Learning to confront the fear of speaking up.

[34:03] Rachel gives her advice to families that recently received a diagnosis for their child.

[38:57] The power of community.

[45:00] Rachel talks about what she has learned being Luke's mother.

[48:55] All we could give our son was time.

Mentioned in this episode:

To learn more about the work we do at Gluckstein Lawyers, please visit Gluckstein Lawyers.

Learn more about Rachel Martens

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