Hon. Terry M. Mercer:

Honourable senators, in politics you should always declare your conflicts as you begin to speak. As I speak on this particular bill, I have to say that I do have a conflict of interest. I have been the recipient of three implants through different knee replacements that I have had, so I do declare that. I would also say that gives me a bit of expertise in the field. I understand a little more about it perhaps than a normal Canadian citizen might who has not had the experiences I have had — both good and bad.

I have had, as I said, three knee replacements. Obviously one of them did not work. One of them brought me to 28 days in the hospital, with 14 days in intensive care in a coma because of infection that came a month or two after the surgery for my second knee replacement. People ask me whether I would do it again. I say "in a minute" because today my knee replacements work extremely well. I am pain-free in my knees.

Honourable senators, I have listened carefully to what my colleague has said. I have had discussions with my orthopaedic surgeon and other orthopaedic surgeons whom I have encountered in my travels through the medical system dealing with my knees. By the way, I am not just an expert on my own. My sister has two artificial knees, my brother has two artificial knees and my oldest brother told me earlier this week, when I spoke to him in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, that he is now scheduled for surgery. It is not just because I am fat and old; it is because all of the Mercers must have weak knees. I am not sure where that came from. We have a family of experts, if you will.

In discussing with orthopaedic surgeons the issue of Senator Harb's bill in the past, my orthopaedic surgeon at the Queensway Carleton Hospital in Ottawa has told me that this would be a very beneficial thing to them. Therefore, I hope we will get this bill to committee so that we can have people like my surgeon and other orthopaedic surgeons come in and talk to us about this.

Several years ago, when I was on a Commonwealth Parliamentary Association trip to New Zealand, as we are allowed to meet with certain officials in the various countries we visit, I asked to meet with the registry people there, because New Zealand does have a registry for medical devices. I spent an afternoon with them, and Senator Harb and I talked after that. I am not sure that their registry is exactly the same as what Senator Harb has proposed — I did not think so — but this is a very worthwhile discussion to have. If we get this bill before committee, and we call the right witnesses, I think we will find out that the voluntary stuff is not doing the job that is necessary.

I would like to know that if something were to go wrong with the two artificial knees that I have, it is traceable. A lot of things worried me when I finally woke up from a coma. However, one of the things that worried me was if the problem was in manufacturing as opposed to handling it in the hospital. How many other knees were manufactured on that day? How many of those knees are being implanted today in some other innocent patient somewhere in Canada or elsewhere in the world? My surgeon told me there is no way of knowing where exactly those knees are because there is no registry.

There was a registry in Ontario at one time. It was paid for by the Province of Ontario, but in those sessions of budget cuts that governments go through in the cyclical fashion that governments fund things it was cut. The money was not there.

I hope when this bill goes to committee we will have an opportunity to review all of that data. I encourage all of honourable senators to please support sending this bill to committee so that we can have a more detailed study of this very important issue.

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