Growing up in an affluent community, but as the only non-white kid in her school, Rachel Winters learned early how our social narratives, be they ethnic or medical, can have profound impacts on our life trajectory.

Coming from a family of physicians with a ‘better living through chemistry’ approach to medicine and pharmaceuticals, Rachel’s trust in the medical system was deeply ingrained from an early age. 

Her father assured her that medications were safe, and encouraged Rachel to not feel ashamed about taking pharmaceuticals. When Rachel had trouble sleeping, her mother shared her own sleeping medications. When Rachel had a foot issue and wanted a simple out patient treatment, her father insisted on ‘proven’ invasive and disabling surgery.

So when Rachel’s body became dependent on medication given for an erroneous diagnosis, and her foot surgery induced blood curdling screaming pain, Rachel began to see the cavernous cracks in the health care system. She realized she had been repeatedly betrayed by so-called evidence based medicine. In fact, health care is often decision based evidence making.

When Rache’s family dismissed the medication side effects and her physical symptoms as psychological, the sense of medical and familial betrayal deepened.

In part 1 of this interview Rachel shares how her family of physicians shaped her trust in the scientific process and medical establishment, but it was her real world experience of multiple medical errors that opened her eyes to the reality of health care, big pharma, and the role of physicians in perpetuating profits over people.

 

Connect with Rachel and community:

Accutane Long-Term Side Effects 3.3k members

https://www.facebook.com/groups/214733665588935/

 

Accutane Survivors, Roaccutane, Isotretinoin Injuries & Side Effects 10.7k members

https://www.facebook.com/groups/AccutaneSurvivors/

 

Life After Accutane - A Group For People Damaged By Isotretinoin  - 300 members (for accutane survivors only)

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?https://www.facebook.com/groups/lifeafteraccutane/

 

RxPilld (our awareness platform for pharmaceutical injuries):

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2FCCzGU8gWCFrzS5CbjCoQ 

 

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Be my Guest

I am always looking for guests to share their medical error experiences so we help bring awareness and make patients safer.

If you are a survivor, a victim’s surviving family member, a health care worker, advocate, researcher or policy maker and you would like to share your experiences, please send me an email with a brief description:  RemediesPodcast@gmail.com 

Need a Counsellor?

Like me, many of my clients at Remedies Counseling have experienced the often devastating effects of medical error.

If you need a counsellor for your experience with medical error, or living with a chronic illness(es), I offer online video counseling appointments.

**For my health and life balance, I limit my number of counseling clients.** 

Email me to learn more or book an appointment:  RemediesOnlineCounseling@gmail.com

Scott Simpson: 

Counsellor + Patient Advocate + (former) Triathlete

I am a counsellor, patient advocate, and - before I became sick and disabled - a passionate triathlete. Work hard. Train hard. Rest hard.

I have been living with HIV since 1998. I was the first person living with HIV to compete at the triathlon world championships.

Thanks to research and access to medications, HIV is not a problem in my life.

I have been living with ME (myalgic encephalomyelitis) since 2012, and thanks in part to medical error, it is a big problem in my life.

Counseling / Research

I first became aware of the ubiquitousness of medical error during a decade of community based research working with the HIV Prevention Lab at Ryerson University, where I co-authored two research papers on a counseling intervention for people living with HIV, here and here. 

Patient participants would often report varying degrees of medical neglect, error and harms as part of their counseling sessions.

Patient Advocacy

I am co-founder of the ME patient advocacy non-profit Millions Missing Canada, and on the Executive Committee of the Interdisciplinary Canadian Collaborative Myalgic Encephalomyelitis Research Network.

I am also a patient advisor for Health Quality Ontario’s Patient and Family Advisory Council, and member of Patients for Patient Safety Canada.

Medical Error Interviews podcast and vidcast emerged to give voice to victims, witnesses and participants in this hidden epidemic so we can create change toward a safer health care system.

My golden retriever Gladys is a constant source of love and joy. I hope to be well enough again one day to race triathlons again. Or even shovel the snow off the sidewalk.