Medical misinformation causing Canadians harm: CMA

The overwhelmed Canadian health-care system is facing yet another crisis, this time in the form of incorrect information.

The Canadian Medical Association (CMA) says in a new survey, 37 per cent of respondents shared they have no choice but to go online to find answers because they don’t have access to primary care.

“I am feeling very worried. There are two separate problems we need to be addressing at the same time,” Dr. Joss Reimer, president of the CMA tells 1130 NewsRadio. “One is the misinformation, and the second is access to the system.”

One solution Reimer puts forward is access to team-based care.

“We want to see our government investing in having nurses, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, social workers, all on the same primary care team sharing a space, sharing a record, and sharing the care for patients so they always have access to the best team member who can provide them that primary care in the absence of enough family doctors to provide that care for everyone,” she explained.

Reimer says the CMA is also calling for less administrative burdens for physicians.

“To see provinces and territories get rid of sick notes or reducing the forms we need to fill out. Our family doctors spend 10 to 19 hours a week on paperwork. But on the misinformation side, the Canadian Medical Association is investing in quality health journalism because we know having those sources of truth is important,” she said.

“And like this survey, we’re trying to track things. So, Canadians can see where things are at with misinformation so they can have an understanding of it and we want to share information with Canadians about how to use information online, where to go for trusted sources, how to be skeptical, what questions to ask, what are the red flags when they do see this information coming at them.”

She points out that on the heels of communication and media giant Meta saying it’s going to stop fact-checking, it’s concerning health care professionals from coast to coast.

“We are moving in the wrong direction when it comes to this,” said Reimer. “We are going to continue to fight and we’re asking Canadians to be really cautious when they’re online.”

“Take a step back and ask, ‘Where is this information coming from? Who is this person? What are their credentials? And why are they trying to sell this information? Are they selling me supplements? Are they selling me some sort of program?’”

Reimer adds there is no doubt people can make themselves worse by following through on what they read online.

“Misinformation is harmful … in fact, 23 per cent of the people in our survey said they had been harmed by following information they saw online,” she explained.

“Recently, I had a patient when I was in the hospital who refused a blood transfusion, despite the fact she needed one because she had just had a baby, because she didn’t want ‘vaccinated blood.’ This is someone trying to make the best decision they can for their health, for their family’s health and her life was at risk because of health misinformation.”

She points to a generational gap in getting the right information.

“There’s no question that there’s a generational difference about where people get their news sources. We saw that as people got older, they were more likely to get their news sources from TV and traditional media and the younger generations were more likely to get their news from online sources and social media,” Reimer explained.

“But the generations that are younger are more likely to be faced with misinformation, particularly with social media where the algorithms that profit off of social media are pushing misinformation to them.”

Reimer adds there’s now also a risk with artificial intelligence.

“Sometimes when you go and Google something now, an AI answer comes up first and it may or may not be accurate. This is another issue that we need to make sure people aren’t just taking everything at face value and instead are going to those trusted sources.”

In December 2024, the Canadian Institute for Health Information said for the first time in a decade there was a decrease in the number of family doctors across Canada.

“And that’s really worrying because our population is growing, so anything more than the growth of population means a decrease in access,” Reimer explained.

“That’s why it’s so important that we’re working on these team-based care solutions, that we’re increasing class sizes for medical students, that we’re decreasing administrative burdens to keep people in the health field because right now we are seeing burnouts at levels we’ve never seen before.”