DOCTOR’S CASE SEES LIGHT OF DAY
Private health care proponent finally takes the stand
Denounced by many as the Great Satan of Medicare, Dr. Brian Day is finally getting his day in court — two years into the marathon B.C. Supreme Court trial he launched.
The man behind the constitutional challenge to B.C.’s restrictions on access to private health care took the stand Monday in his fight to end the existing putative single-tier medical system.
The feisty 71-year-old, Liverpudlian and a founder of the private Cambie Surgery Centre nearly a quarter of a century ago wants to call a spade a spade.
In spite of attempts to deal with dangerous, too-long surgical waiting lists, Day insisted that after two decades the situation in the province is not better, but worse.
“I have witnessed first-hand the significant problems — medical, financial and personal — that patients suffer when their surgeries are cancelled or otherwise delayed as a result of the restrictions I have reviewed,” he said.
“I have personally observed my patients suffering mentally and physically while they waited for medically necessary surgeries at public hospitals.”
He provided a lengthy affidavit supporting his views.
Government lawyers, however, have spent most of the last two years trying to gag Day by savagely editing his affidavit of embarrassing anecdotes naming politicians and highlighting dysfunction in the health-care system.
He said private clinics do more than 60,000 operations a year and that saves Victoria $300 million annually.
The government argued much of what he said was irrelevant or hearsay.
The animosity between the two sides was palpable.
Day had barely entered the witness box and started describing his professional history when provincial lawyer Jonathan Penner objected, saying Day’s affidavit alone must be considered his evidence and he should only be cross-examined on it.
Justice John Steeves agreed that the doctor had to restrict himself testifying in chief by answering only a few questions within the ambit of his affidavit.
“It’s not an opportunity to open up areas that should have been in the affidavit,” he said before allowing Day’s lawyer Peter Gall to continue.
“I can see both parties have come prepared to do war on this issue.”
The testy moments that punctuated the rest of the day proved him right.
“I don’t intend to get into a debate with you on that point,” Penner snapped at one point.
“You asked me a question and I gave you the answer,” Day shot back.
They were soon sniping at each other again.
“I don’t understand your question,” Day complained.
“Well, Dr. Day, I must confess I don’t understand your answer,” Penner responded.
Later, he rebuked the scrappy physician: “Dr. Day, here I will ask the questions and you will answer.”
Day insisted that the public was being hoodwinked about the health-care system’s viability and that B.C.’s roughly 60 private clinics were essential.
Far from being one service for all, he maintained exemptions include those covered by workers’ compensation, RCMP officers, Canadian Armed Forces members, federal prisoners and ICBC-insured patients.
The 100 or so physicians and dental surgeons at Cambie, established in 1996, treat about 5,000 people a year.
Day said that as waiting lists grow, the health of British Columbians deteriorate and some have died from lack of timely care.
Lineups have been a problem since the 1980s because of the rationing of surgical services. Private clinics were suggested as a way of easing that pressure and that’s where Day got the idea to open Cambie.
Government lawyers have accused him and the other doctors of wanting restrictions on access to private care lifted so they can make more money.
A celebrated orthopedic surgeon, Day scoffed.
Offered high-paying jobs in the U.S., he said he turned them down because his goal “was improving the provision of surgical services in B.C. and not maximizing (his) financial well-being.”
“Cambie pays three, four or five times more than MSP gives surgeons,” Penner countered.
“We pay more than MSP fees to have our surgeries carried out for private patients,” Day replied.
“We have to stay in the black to exist. So we have to charge patients enough that we are a viable operation. We lost money for many years, we still lose money some years — 2014 … a study on our operations showed we made $65 (profit). You say that isn’t relevant.”
He added he was one of 50 shareholders in Cambie, owning roughly eight or nine per cent.
But Penner pointed out dividends paid in the last two years by the clinic totalled more than $700,000 with yearly revenue of about $11 million. He said its sister specialist clinic paid dividends last year of $600,000 on almost the same amount of revenue.
He accused Day of being “the single individual most responsible for bringing this claim” and of being so passionate he was capable of making up government quotes to support his case and of posting them to his webpage.
“Am I a passionate believer that patients should not have to wait on waiting lists — that is my belief, so yes I am a passionate supporter that patients have a right to bypass public waiting lists when the public says they have to wait,” Day conceded.
But he vehemently denied inventing the quotations.
“These paragraphs are copied from documents or statements or reports put out by someone representing the government in this case. I will try to find the source, I don’t know if I can. I will find this tonight and bring it into court tomorrow if I can.”
The trial continues.