March 11, 2008

What does the enigmatic Dr. Brian Day want for Canada's health
care system?

The new president of the Canadian Medical Association
preaches public health care but his private practice
suggests otherwise. He says: "I will commit to a policy
that all Canadians receive timely access to medically
necessary services, regardless of their ability to pay."
But at his private Cambie Surgery Centre in Vancouver, he
also openly lets those who wish to pay privately to jump the
queue - - in clear violation of the law according to the
Toronto Star (August 23, 2006).

When push comes to shove, Dr. Day is all elbows.  It's
not nice to push others aside so you can get to the front of
the line, yet Dr. Day condones it.  Not just once did he
jump the queue but twice.  The first time was when he used
his connections to get surgery on his knee; then again when
a bone scan revealed a potentially cancerous tumor in his
five-year-old daughter's leg (National Post, December 03,
2007). They told him to come back in a week for a CT scan
but the impatient Dr. Day couldn't wait.  What was he
thinking when he used his influence to get a ahead of other
little girls whose needs are just as urgent?

Dr. Day's problem is not his knee - - it's his judgment. If
we follow his example, mayhem will result.  If it's OK for
him to use professional connections to abuse the system,
then it's also OK to use whatever it takes - - influence,
power, money. What next, will we need to slip $100 to the
ambulance driver to get speedy delivery to the hospital?

"Listen to what I say and not what people say I say," says
the defensive Dr. Day.  Fair enough.

He says that if wait times were reduced, no one would have
to elbow their way to the front of the line.  "There
shouldn't be wait times in a country that's a rich country,
that's got a booming economy, that's got taxes going down."

"Like most Canadians and physicians, I believe there is a
place for the private sector and for public and private
partnerships." says Dr. Day. But he is being disingenuous
when conflates existing private practices of doctors with
the scale of entrepreneurial health care he proposes.

Actions speak louder than words, even when they come from
Dr. Day's mouth; not just his queue-jumping but his
promotion of privatization.

When Day spoke to the Los Angeles Association of Health
Underwriters, it was clear what he meant. His speech was
advertised as a discussion "at length the disadvantages of
providing and receiving care in a government-run delivery
system."

It's just the kind of message that the U.S. health care
industry wants to hear, especially now when Democratic
presidential hopefuls are talking about scrapping the
inefficient but lucrative U.S. health care system.

It's hard to imagine how Dr. Day could be an unequivocal
advocate of universal health care while attending a
conference where he was to argue the opposite.

Dr. Day is creating a new gold rush. In the first one,
Californians came to north to Canada to line their pocket
with riches. Now Canada is the new land of opportunity
where money is waiting to be made by creating an inefficient
health care system, just like in the U.S.

The San Mateo Medical Association of California sees gold in
the north. Its web site says: "The coming changes will
create a massive new industry and enable the Canadian health
industry. On the basis of extrapolations from other
countries, we may see $40 billion a year added to the
Canadian health system."

Where do health corporations expect $40 billion will come
from? It will come from Canadians who are able to pay.
Others need not apply.

The health underwriters ad makes it clear what new president
of the Canadian Medical Association intends: "Day refers to
his election as evidence that doctors there are ready to
give private health care a bigger role in the Canadian
system."

Really? Is that the message of Canadian doctors want to
send through his election? I suspect that it's a sign of
how frustrated doctors are. With a doctor shortage in
Canada, the remaining ones are working harder and feeling
appreciated less.

The talented Dr. Day would do well to apply his Hippocratic
Oath to our health care system: do no harm.

David Charbonneau is the owner of Trio Technical.
He can be reached at dcharbonneau13@shaw.ca

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