Handling of doctor shortage sparks suit

Union sues clinic after thousands of patients lose care

- ROB FERGUSON

As Premier Doug Ford’s government scrambles to improve access to health care, fallout from the front lines of Ontario’s growing doctor shortage is moving from the examination room to the courtroom.

A Sault Ste. Marie medical clinic that made headlines across Canada for its dramatic decision to cut loose 10,000 patients in May because of physician retirements and departures is the subject of a lawsuit from United Steelworkers Local 2251.

The lead plaintiff is local president Mike Da Prat, one of the patients who was dropped from the clinic roster and who has yet to find another doctor. His lawyer has filed a statement of claim in Ontario Superior Court of Justice against the Group Health Centre.

Among other things, it alleges age discrimination played a role in the decision, and seeks an injunction forcing the clinic to take back Da Prat and about 200 “original subscribers” of the clinic (in addition to their immediate family members), which was founded and built with $800,000 in contributions from the union local’s members in 1963, before medicare and the Ontario Health Insurance Plan.

“We were to be members of Group Health for the rest of our lives. Instead, we were de-rostered,” said Da Prat.

The allegations in the lawsuit have not been proven in court, which will hold a hearing on the injunction request Oct. 30. To put it in perspective, the original $800,000 at stake is the equivalent of $8 million today, according to the Bank of Canada inflation calculator.

Group Health called the lawsuit “unfortunate,” given the challenges in recruiting new doctors at a time when physician shortages are widespread across the country.