Make Her Go Insane... Like a Tumour in Her Brain...

Basically, I'm talking about living la vida Shona. Shona Holmes, that is.

Originally, I didn't consider Mrs. Holmes to be AotD material - and I still don't, but she's certainly headed in that direction.

For those who are unaware, Shona Holmes is a Hamilton resident who suffered from what's known as a Rathe's Cleft Cyst. It is a cyst that occurs in nearly a third of all individuals, but asymptomatically; usually, it's only uncovered incidentally in an autopsy. In a very small percentage of cases, the cyst grows (filling with fluid, not multiplying cells, as would be the case in a tumour), and can put pressure on the visual centre of the brain as well as the pituitary gland, causing headaches and hormone troubles, as well as visual disturbances or reduction in quality of vision. These symptoms, in virtually all recorded cases of symptomatic cysts, go away once the cyst is drained or surgically removed.

Originally, I didn't think that Mrs. Holmes was a candidate for the title, because it seemed to me that she was a gullible woman being taken advantage of by right-wing american political movements for their own purposes.

Then, on As It Happens, she claimed that a doctor at the Mayo Clinic told her that if she didn't receive surgery for the "tumour", she was going to die.

"Well, alright," I said to myself, "Some money-grubbing fear-mongering doctor at the Mayo Clinic lied to her to get her panicking and grab her money. Not really her fault she was scared. Still stupid, but not her fault."

But she decided to sue OHIP, and that suit is backed by the Canadian Constitution Federation.

She has been told, time and time again, that what she had was not life threatening, that it could have been treated in Canada, and that a lawsuit against OHIP simply does damage to a system she's already criticizing, thus making things harder for everyone else. She is willfully cooperating with people who vilify our health system and attack Obama's attempts to reform American healthcare in a positive way.

If she's not an AotD just yet... she's certainly gunning for a position.