Ontario's low-budget Trump-alike wants to eliminate sedation for people getting colonoscopies

Doug Ford (previously) is the trumpian buffoon elected to the office of Premier of Ontario by rural voters who never experienced his laughable bumblefuckery firsthand (the people of Toronto -- who suffered under his tenure on city council while his asshole crackhead brother was mayor -- resoundingly voted against him).

As part of his nonsensical "anti-government waste" campaign, Ford has ordered a review of provincial health spending, with an eye to eliminating "unnecessary" procedures. Among the procedures he wishes to eliminate: giving sedation during colonscopies (Ford is apparently an expert on narcotics: Canada's national paper of record says he was once one of the nation's leading hash dealers)

Instead, the people of Ontario will be offered his personal, bulletproof edition of "Atlas Shrugged" to bite down on.

Ford also wants to severely curtail treatment for chronic pain.

Christ, what an asshole.

In total, 28 services are on the list for potential savings including sedation offered during colonoscopies which would save $16 million. According to the documents, anesthesiologist-assisted colonoscopies has increased five-fold over the past decade and the government has questions about the appropriateness of this usage.

Eric Thompson from Crohn's and Colitis Canada says the proposal is not realistic.

"It is unthinkable to have a colonoscopy without sedation," he says. "Its a very uncomfortable, invasive procedure, so its extremely critical that patients are very comfortable when they are having this procedure."

He adds that not having sedation would discourage patients from choosing to have a colonoscopy.

"Any barrier to access would ensure that some patients would opt out of the procedure," says Thompson. "Patients are going for colonoscopies to detect disease worsening, to see if they have any precancerous lesions, polyps " so its extremely critical that there's no barrier to access for colonoscopies."

EXCLUSIVE: changes proposed to OHIP coverage [Cynthia Mulligan, Cristina Howorun and Dilshad Burman/City News]