What is angioplasty?

Angioplasty …

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

On July 2nd 2010 the organization Angioplasty for All was formed in Toronto Ontario. The purpose of the organization is to fund a
legal challenge against the discrimination of Canadians diagnosed with

multiple sclerosis.

Every Canadian diagnosed with MS knows of the recent break-through in the treatment of those with MS. Diagnosis no
longer equals destiny. The growing realization among MS sufferers and

their medical specialists is that MS is not some kind of core disease –

it is rather a convenient label that has been attached to a series of

symptoms that science did not seem to know the cause of. Until now

medical treatment for MS sufferers has amounted to treating symptoms,

not knowing how to treat the underlying cause. Medicine did not know the

cause.

The treatments and the research that has taken place in recent years confirm the reality of what was previously only a hope. To
put it simply and in summary fashion, MS is no longer a total mystery.

The vascular system draining blood from the brain has been determined to

be the fundamental obstacle at the source of the many and varied things

that MS sufferers have reported about their disability over the years.

It is not as though the idea is new to science and medicine. Angioplasty
to relieve blood flow from the brain and / or spinal cord has long been a

technique used by medical specialists. Everyone in Canada enjoys the

benefit of the angioplasty technique when their doctor determines that

it is a way of addressing a medical condition.

People like you and I, people who have been diagnosed with MS, are the only Canadians
who are denied the benefit of this treatment. We never thought that

labeling us with the words ‘multiple sclerosis’ would amount to denying

us access to a simple treatment that thousands of Canadians receive in

hospitals every year. If you have a dialysis problem and your doctor

thinks that angioplasty might help – like the rest of Canada – you are

put into surgery and given angioplasty. You don’t pay for it. You aren’t

denied it because you are of limited means. In Canada you rarely have

to wait for it.

This simple procedure is denied to only one group of Canadians – those carrying the label ‘multiple sclerosis’. You
and I are denied equal protection of the law of Medicare; you are denied

equal benefit under the law of Medicare. You and I live and die by our

label – ‘multiple sclerosis’ – not even a true disease. We live and die

by a word, attached to us and used to categorize us as people that are

deemed not to benefit from angioplasty.

Angioplasty in our cases, is categorized by the Ontario Ministry of Health as experimental
and unproven and therefore to be denied to us. Everyday some of us get

worse and some of us die. The simple procedure has been repeatedly and

categorically demonstrated already - in Ontario is deemed by the

Ministry of Health to be ‘experimental’ and is therefore prohibited.

Doctors now hang up the phone, hospitals - where MS patients are already

gowned for procedure, - suddenly produce their chief of neurosurgery to

advise us to ‘get dressed – we don’t do that procedure here’. No

explanation is given.

Canada doesn’t work like that. Ontario doesn’t work like that. Medicare doesn’t work like that. We are going to
try to do something about it.

The sufferers of MS in our organization have retained a lawyer. Edward Conway is an Ontario lawyer,
referred to us by Lawrence Greenspon, the renowned Ottawa civil rights

lawyer. Mr. Conway explained to us his significant experience in

representing patients seeking medical treatment.

Mr. Conway tells us that this is not complicated. Litigation is complicated. But
the fundamental point of equality under the law and equal protection of

the law is not complicated. It is the spirit of the law and it will be

seen by judges in our case.

We are going to court with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Section 15 of the Charter of Rights and
Freedoms was once said to be the most powerful and unknown right brought

forward in the law twenty-eight years ago. We plan to make use of it

in this case.

The Ministry of Health has its reasons, invalid as they may be, for denying this treatment to MS patients. Rationing is a
way of life in a Medicare system. But the decisions that are made are

not supposed to be made in a way that simply prohibits one group from a

treatment available to all.

Edward Conway has represented MS patients, people with spinal damage, psychiatric disorders, nerve
disorders and many other types of people with disabilities over the

years. He has used the Charter on many occasions with successes and

failures. Charter litigation is not easy. There will be numerous

countering legal moves by the parties that become defendants in this

case.

We are aiming at the Ontario Ministry of Health. We are aiming at their determination that the label ‘multiple sclerosis’
amounts to a categorical denial of angioplasty. We are saying this is a

distinction. It is a distinction based on a disability. It is

discrimination. The facts are with us.

In many Charter cases the facts are against the plaintiff. Every Canadian with MS who
has followed recent developments, every Canadian with MS who has already
received the procedure and can walk, where they couldn’t walk before,

who can stand, where they couldn’t stand before, these people know the

facts are with us. We need to show the facts to the judges and we need

to do it using section 15 of the Charter.

The litigation process needs to be funded. That is a fundamental purpose of our organization.
It is estimated that the filing process could cost $10,000 per month.

The plaintiffs in the case will have to retain experts in the field. We

know the experts and we are confident of being able to retain them. We

need to factor in the cost of retaining experts which we estimate

roughly at $5000 for the first couple of months.

We have already raised funds toward the cause. We need your assistance. A corporation
was established on July 6th 2010, to make the organization formal and

transparent, to make the fund-raising formal and transparent.

Corporate Name: 7593066 Canada Inc.
Head office: 80 Overton Crescent Unit #1
Director: Diana Price
Director: Brian Light
Director: Tim Donovan

A bank account has been established for the corporation at the Royal Bank
of Canada at Don Mills and Lawrence in Toronto, Ontario. If you feel

that you wish to participate and assist this cause we urge you to donate

as soon as possible. The litigation should be commenced immediately if a

result is to be seen as soon as possible.

Please make all cheques or money orders payable to '7593066 Canada Inc.' All donations
should be mailed to Diana Price (one of the directors of this

organization) at the address below. Direct deposit can be made at any Royal Bank - However, it must be in "cash" only.

Diana Price
80 Overton Crescent
Unit #1
Toronto ON
M3B 2V2
dianaprice@rogers.com

Diana will deposit your donation into the corporate account. The corporate account
will be used strictly to fund the litigation and for no other

purpose. No expenses or salaries will come from the corporate account.