My Fight for Canadian Healthcareis Dr. Day’s personal journey through a failing healthcare system that has deviated far from its intended purpose, ensnaring patients in long cycles of waiting and suffering. It lays bare the incongruity of Canadian governments holding fast to principles established six decades ago in the face of mounting evidence of patient harm. This book makes a powerful case for a complete rethink of how we deliver healthcare in the twenty-first century.
In 1995, Vancouver orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Brian Day opened the Cambie Surgery Centre, a private surgical clinic that provided patients with more timely care than could be found amid the lengthening wait lists of Canada’s public healthcare system.
Cambie grew to accommodate surgical and procedural specialists performing procedures on up to 5,000 patients per year. It became the busiest private multi-specialty hospital in Canada.
Cambie later became a target of the British Columbia government, which, despite referring patients to reduce its own costs and wait lists, sought to shut it down for operating in violation of the Medicare Protection Act. This triggered a legal battle that lasted over 13 years.
My Fight for Canadian Healthcare is Dr. Day’s personal journey through a failing healthcare system that has deviated far from its intended purpose, ensnaring patients in long cycles of waiting and suffering. It lays bare the incongruity of Canadian governments holding fast to principles established six decades ago in the face of mounting evidence of patient harm. This book makes a powerful case for a complete rethink of how we deliver healthcare in the twenty-first century.
Brian Day
Dr. Brian Day is an associate professor in orthopaedic surgery at the University of British Columbia. He is a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London (internal medicine), and the Royal Colleges of Surgeons of England and Canada.
Dr. Day is a recipient of the Edouard Samson Award, the premier award for Canadian orthopaedic research, and the Don Rix Leadership Award. He is a former chair of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada Test Committee in orthopaedics. He has been a visiting professor and lecturer at academic societies worldwide and has published over 200 articles and book chapters.
Dr. Day has served as president of the Canadian Medical Association, as well as the Arthroscopy Association of North America, the world’s leading academic society in his field. His international patients include well-known professional athletes and celebrities. He served as a medical officer for multiple international sporting events and was the first orthopaedic surgeon to be inducted into the BC Sports Hall of Fame.
1 review for My Fight for Canadian Healthcare
Rated 4 out of 5
Willaim Sanders –
My Fight for Canadian Healthcare by Dr. Brian Day
Whether you agree or not with the idea that the Canadian heal care system would be improved with the addition of private insurance and private providers, one thing most would agree on is that Dr. Day has remarkable staying power. He has been a tireless advocate for private care for decades and this book is the culmination of his many years of writing about, debating and ultimately taking the government to court over the idea that patients should have the right to use their own financial resources to manage their own health. Despite many setbacks and a torturous 14 year legal battle (which he lost) he has never given up nor backed down on his quest to have his message heard. The BC Medicare Protection Act renders illegal any provision of private healthcare services that fall under the rubric of Medical Services Plan i.e. public, coverage and Dr. Day does an excellent job of exposing the reducio ad absurdum consequences of this Act which allows patients from out of province to seek private care in BC while prohibiting BC residents from dong the same, a situation made even more outrageous by the fact that patients are seeking private care in the first place due to unacceptably long wait lists in the public system. Day also exposes the hypocrisy embedded in the system where politicians, federal prisoners, police, WBC workers and others can and do access expanded private care through various private insurance schemes while others cannot.
The bigger question raised in this book is what to do about our failing public heal care system in the first place. Clearly a single payer monopoly run by hidebound government bureaucracies will always struggle to innovate. We need brave, informed, non-ideological politicians to initiate change in our healthcare system, perhaps using examples from other countries with better performing systems than us. Unfortunately, despite many Royal Commissions, various task forces and billions of dollars being thrown at the problem, our system continues to deteriorate. It’s debatable whether access to private services would substantially improve healthcare in Canada without radical change to the way we deliver public services occurring at the same time. What is clear though is that no government should be able to legislate away a citizens right to pay for his or her own healthcare with their own money. Hopefully, as Dr. Day heads into retirement, someone else will continue to fight for this basic right.
Willaim Sanders –
My Fight for Canadian Healthcare by Dr. Brian Day
Whether you agree or not with the idea that the Canadian heal care system would be improved with the addition of private insurance and private providers, one thing most would agree on is that Dr. Day has remarkable staying power. He has been a tireless advocate for private care for decades and this book is the culmination of his many years of writing about, debating and ultimately taking the government to court over the idea that patients should have the right to use their own financial resources to manage their own health. Despite many setbacks and a torturous 14 year legal battle (which he lost) he has never given up nor backed down on his quest to have his message heard. The BC Medicare Protection Act renders illegal any provision of private healthcare services that fall under the rubric of Medical Services Plan i.e. public, coverage and Dr. Day does an excellent job of exposing the reducio ad absurdum consequences of this Act which allows patients from out of province to seek private care in BC while prohibiting BC residents from dong the same, a situation made even more outrageous by the fact that patients are seeking private care in the first place due to unacceptably long wait lists in the public system. Day also exposes the hypocrisy embedded in the system where politicians, federal prisoners, police, WBC workers and others can and do access expanded private care through various private insurance schemes while others cannot.
The bigger question raised in this book is what to do about our failing public heal care system in the first place. Clearly a single payer monopoly run by hidebound government bureaucracies will always struggle to innovate. We need brave, informed, non-ideological politicians to initiate change in our healthcare system, perhaps using examples from other countries with better performing systems than us. Unfortunately, despite many Royal Commissions, various task forces and billions of dollars being thrown at the problem, our system continues to deteriorate. It’s debatable whether access to private services would substantially improve healthcare in Canada without radical change to the way we deliver public services occurring at the same time. What is clear though is that no government should be able to legislate away a citizens right to pay for his or her own healthcare with their own money. Hopefully, as Dr. Day heads into retirement, someone else will continue to fight for this basic right.