FOURNIER: Canadian pathologists stumped by explosive growth in deaths from unknown causes

Statistics Canada has a talent for reporting deaths with numbing precision, but in such a way that makes it hard to know what’s really going on. Perhaps it’s just me but for example, if 16,043 people out of 334,623 are recorded as having died of unspecified ‘unknown causes,’ I’m sure they’re right. But take a look at the chart below.. Table 1: Statistics Canada data on Leading Cause of Death in Canada from 2019 to 2022That’s almost five times as many as in 2019. Yet in their list, StatsCan doesn’t even rank order it: That right hand column is my addition.Wouldn’t you think that was worth some comment? Just how many obscure causes of death are out there to fool pathologists?Now, maybe there’s a perfectly rational explanation. But there’s none to be found in StatsCan’s breezy press release.Look over here, it says: Life expectancy has declined for the third year in a row. (They do at least offer some explanation.) In 2022, cancer and heart disease remain the two leading causes of death.(Not news: they have been forever.) And here the furrowed brow, COVID-19 deaths were the highest since the start of the pandemic.Think about that one. When COVID deaths were not even two thirds of that, governments were telling us to stay home and putting people in jail if they went to church. But if it doesn’t matter now, why did it matter so much then? Just asking.This is the elephant in the room. And given the political reputations at risk as all the people who told us vaccines were safe and effective now run for cover, does this not demand closer scrutiny?I will do my best, in this the second in a series of Western Standard articles to be devoted to Canadian health statistics in the post COVID-19 lockdown era.Here are things to look at.First, something is seriously dysfunctional with the Canadian Association of Pathologists (CAP) and their provincial counterparts. Death certificate protocols are of course a joint responsibility of CAP and provincial health services. But who is ultimately accountable for what goes on a death certificate? Our legislatures should be working on this.Second, relative to 2019, ‘Unknown Cause’ of death in 2022 grew by more than 475%, which stands out starkly among all categories in the data shown.The third matter is who it is, who’s doing the dying. This too merits some discussion.Let us for a moment focus back here in Alberta. Here are Alberta statistics on the annual rate of occurrence of deaths defined as being caused by an unknown factor by Albertan Pathologists..The nearly 5,000% increase in the annual rate by which Albertan Pathologists were unable or unwilling to define a cause of death over the short period 2018 to 2021 is astounding.Likewise concerning is the fact this trend is seen to be occurring predominately in younger Albertans (0 to 64 years old.) The bulk of the COVID deaths are among older people, 70+, so what is killing the younger ones? Unknown causes.The concentration of these Unknown Cause fatalities among younger Albertans is reminiscent of the health statistics shown in my Western Standard article titled The 2020 lockdown and the rise of fatalities among young Canadians. That article highlighted the clear step-change from no trend to an increasing All Cause Mortality trend among healthy younger Canadians starting in 2020.The silence on this matter is deafening.Canadians must demand an answer as to why Canadian pathologists and our provincial health services have not acknowledged this explosion in Unknown Cause of death since 2020 — and why it is hurting people under 64 so badly.

FOURNIER: Canadian pathologists stumped by explosive growth in deaths from unknown causes

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