In Quebec patients are being told to wait two years for public care or pay $10,000 to have their surgery within two weeks with the same specialist.
Many specialists in Quebec work both sides of the street, with one foot in the public system, another in the private.
Are specialists deliberately dragging their heels on public appointments to pad their private practice?
Quebec’s Health Minister says the practice of inflating waits in the public system to push patients into the private system is untenable and has asked the College of Physicians to investigate.
The Montreal Gazette reported a year ago that such practices were taking place. They documented the case of a patient at Charles LeMoyne Hospital who couldn’t get an appointment with a specialist for two years, but could walk across the street and get an appointment with the same physician within two weeks.
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