Ian Mulgrew: Doctors trashed in defence of medicare
COVID-19 may have conferred a saintlike halo on some doctors, but as far as the B.C. government is concerned too many remain greedy, unethical and ready to ablate part of Canada’s soul.

COVID-19 may have conferred a saintlike halo on some doctors, but as far as the B.C. government is concerned too many remain greedy, unethical and ready to ablate part of Canada’s soul.

Lawyers for the province told the B.C. Court of Appeal those physicians exaggerate waiting times, manipulate wait-lists and want to provide private necessary health services that would destroy the country’s celebrated egalitarian public system.

Both the B.C. and federal governments asserted the future of medicare depended on the high bench upholding a 2020 B.C. Supreme Court decision endorsing provisions in the Medical Protection Act restricting access to private care even though patients in lengthy surgical queues may be suffering.

They agreed the impugned provisions suppressed a parallel private market, made it uneconomical for doctors to leave the public sector and erected barriers to the provision of private necessary health services.

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Ian Mulgrew: B.C. judge’s pro-Medicare door-stopper mauled in court
“I can tell you people who work for a living with their bodies can afford knee surgery … Those are … most affected by this,” lawyer says

The B.C. Supreme Court justice who endorsed restrictions on patients accessing private health care when public surgical queues are so long that they could suffer further harm has been excoriated in front of the Court of Appeal.

The lawyer for private clinics, which have existed since the last century, and two representative patients hammered Justice John Steeves for the lack of logic in his constitutional ruling and being wrong, wrong, wrong.

In two days of fierce criticism before a division of the province’s top court led by Chief Justice Robert Bauman, Geoff Cowper maintained Steeves understated the extent of waiting times, unfairly dealt with the evidence of doctors, gave too much deference to the government and ignored the widespread harm caused by the constraints on access to private care.

“He starts out wrong and he ends up wrong,” Cowper complained. “He didn’t pay attention to the proper questions.”

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Private clinics cost B.C. ‘tens-of-millions’ of dollars in funding, government lawyer argues
“The relief being sought by the appellants is unprecedented.”
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Ian Mulgrew: Medicare injunction sought
“The prohibition of private surgeries will have devastating consequences for these patients, unnecessarily prolonging their pain and disability, increasing…
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Ian Mulgrew: Plaintiffs will appeal landmark court challenge of universal Medicare
Universal Medicare survived a constitutional challenge with a B.C. Supreme Court ruling that upheld restrictions on public, private practice.
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