Alberta Doctors Say Enough is Enough

There are several reasons why doctors, nurses and other health workers are so highly respected. For one, they have devoted their lives to caring for the sick and afflicted. There are few of us whose lives haven’t been touched for the better by their charity and skill.

These health professionals feel duty bound to treat and protect their patients as best they can. In fact, our doctors have taken sworn oaths to do so. And it is this very relationship of trust thatdoctors have with their patients that makes this PC Government’s treatment of them absolutely reprehensible.

I have written several articles over the past months documenting the continuous revelations of physician intimidation undertaken by this PC Government. And what were these doctors’ crimes? They voiced dissent against government decisions they felt would hurt the care of their patients. They simply advocated for their patients and were threatened, and in some cases, punished.

There was the case of Dr. Sherman; kicked out of the PC Caucus for pointing out the crisis in Alberta’s emergency rooms, followed by a campaign to question his mental sanity, and therefore, his right to practice medicine. There was Dr. Maybaum who came forward with documents clearly threatening his position if he continued to speak out for the Government’s broken promise to build a new facility for sick disabled children. Harvard thoracic surgeon Dr. McNamee claimed he was driven out of the province for sounding the alert for those on cancer wait lists. There was also Dr. Houston, Dr. Garbutt, Dr. Nunes and literally a host of other physicians who have spoken out claiming the same sorts of stories.

But despite all the evidence of wrongdoing, the PC Government continues to refuse Wildrose, Liberal and NDP calls for a full judicial public inquiry to get to the bottom of these allegations and ensure the wrongdoers are dealt with appropriately. They have continuously stated that there will be an internal review done by the Health Quality Council (HQC) which reports directly to the Minister of Health; and, the PCs argue, this should suffice.

This is, of course, nonsense. The HQC is comprised of doctors specializing in issues of patient quality care. They are neither qualified nor equipped with the subpoena powers or legal training necessary to undertake an investigation into what could border on criminal wrongdoing. Yet, the PCs continued to trot out the same old line despite the mounting evidence pointing to something terribly wrong in our health system. They even claimed that the doctors’ complaints were isolated, exaggerated and even politically motivated.

Then last week, Alberta’s doctors did something they have never done previously. Through the Alberta Medical Association (which represents all doctors across the province) they called for a full independent public inquiry into the issue of ‘physician intimidation’ and to address ‘physician disengagement from Alberta Health Services.’ Given the head of the AMA is a close personal friend of Minister Dave Hancock, as well as to Parliamentary Assistant for Health and MLA Fred Horne, no one can possibly suggest the AMA is somehow politically motivated to discredit the PCs.Doctors are simply fed up with what’s been happening and they want to get to the bottom of it so they can advocate freely for their patients’ health…and so they should!

This PC Government is truly amazing. First they shattered our province’s relationship with our most fiscally important industry through a reckless energy sector tax hike. Then they attacked landowners with a line-up of Soviet-style bills undercutting property rights. Now they have torpedoed the relationship with Alberta’s front line health care professionals. What’s next…a law banning men’s league hockey and chuck wagon races? You have to wonder.

If elected at the next provincial election, a Wildrose Government will immediately call for a full public inquiry into the issue of physician intimidation, paid AHS confidentiality agreements, and other questionable practices of this PC Government as it pertains to their relationship with our health professionals.

Our health care system is the most important social service we have as a province. We can no longer trust it to a Party that is clearly far more focused on controlling political damage than it iswith repairing the damage done to our health system.