MRI clinic joins injunction bid against B.C. government
Plaintiffs argue province should wait for verdict in constitutional challenge trial
A private radiology clinic in Surrey has joined a bid for an injunction to stop the B.C. government from activating legislation on Oct. 1 to impose penalties on doctors and private clinics that charge patients fees for expedited treatment.
There are about 70 private surgery and radiology clinics in B.C. that depend on private-paying patients.
Surrey MRI is the latest private clinic to join the lawsuit that seeks to prevent the NDP government from activating changes to the Medicare Protection Act.
The government has yet to file a response to the request for an injunction.
Dr. Brian Day’s Cambie Surgery Corp. is the lead plaintiff in both the injunction and the slowmoving constitutional challenge to medicare laws. He argues the government should wait for the end of the trial over the constitutionality of provincial and federal laws restricting private health care before it imposes the new penalties.
Besides fee-paying patients, the clinics often contract with B.C. health regions for medically necessary procedures. That option would disappear in B.C. because some clinics will have to close because of a loss of private-paying patients, the private clinics argue.
Dennis Hummerston, senior director of Canada Diagnostic Centre, said private clinics serve as a relief valve through contracting out and patients should be very concerned about the ability of hospitals to absorb tens of thousands of additional cases that would be added to wait lists if private clinics close.
“There are shortages of (imaging) technologists and nurses in hospitals, so I’d be very concerned about the ability of hospitals to cope with the added deluge,” he said.
The injunction hearing is scheduled for Aug. 13.
The related, marathon constitutional trial — which began two years ago — is on a summer break and is expected to take several more months to finish.
Earlier this month, former premier Gordon Campbell waded into the legal medicare fight when he filed an affidavit in support of the injunction. Campbell said although the penalty clauses that the NDP plans to enact were drafted by his government in 2003, he didn’t activate them because they “would be harmful to the health of British Columbians,” many of whom wait far too long to get treatment in the public system.
Campbell admitted his government rationed care because it couldn’t afford an ideal system in which all people get quick access for all their health care needs.
Dr. Amir Neyestani, the medical director of the Surrey MRI clinic, could not be reached for comment.
Peter Gall, the lawyer representing the plaintiffs in the injunction and the trial, said there’s no “health care reason” why the amendments should come into force while the trial is going on.
“This is about NDP ideology,” he said, referring to the government’s commitment to a purely public health care system in which patients are not allowed to buy expedited access. The legislation does, however, allow certain patients, like those who are injured WorkSafeBC claimants (injured workers) or federal jail inmates, to get expedited surgery and other treatment in private clinics.
Gall said the amendments would have a crushing effect on patients and clinics. He also warned many clinics would close and patients will be forced to go to the U.S. to avoid long waits in B.C.’s public system.
During the medicare trial, a government witness testified that in the first quarter of 2018, there were 85,468 adult and pediatric patients
B.C. has been the only province to be fined every year by the federal government for the last 10 years.
waiting for surgery in public hospitals.
Laura Heinze, who speaks for the Ministry of Health, said the government can’t comment on the litigation but is “fundamentally opposed to two-tier health care,” so it is bringing into force the new penalties.
“In 2006, some measures around auditing were proclaimed ... Since (then), extra billing of patients has continued in this province, leading to a situation where B.C. has been the only province to be fined every year by the federal government for the last 10 years.
“This year, the extra billing that took place in 2015-16 is penalizing patients and their public health care system with a $16 million fine.”