Surgery Is More Dangerous for Indigenous People. It Needn’t Be – Toronto Star
June 9, 2021
Indigenous patients in Canada are 30 per cent more likely to die after surgery than other patients, according to new research. And that’s not going to change without transformational change to address anti-Indigenous racism in health-care systems in B.C. and across Canada, according to the first First Nations woman surgeon in Canada.
A recent review of 28 studies co-authored by Dr. Nadine Caron of the University of British Columbia found that after surgery, Indigenous people die at a rate 30-per-cent greater than other patients.
Indigenous patients also experienced higher rates of post-operative infections and complications than others, despite getting surgeries less often.
