AMA throws weight behind judicial inquiry
EDMONTON - The Alberta Medical Association called on the provincial government Friday to launch a full judicial inquiry into growing concerns over physician intimidation in the health system.
But Health Minister Gene Zwozdesky said that won’t happen because he isn’t prepared to spend years and up to $40 million on such an inquiry when the Health Quality Council of Alberta is currently conducting a nine-month review that will cost significantly less.
“We’re going to stick with our grounds on this,” Zwozdesky said. “I’m not going to advocate for tying up $20, $30, $40 million of taxpayers monies to do a public inquiry that would take two, three or four years to get accomplished when we need answers right now. To me, that’s a stronger position for building relationships and for moving forward with the health outcomes Albertans want.”
Concerns over alleged intimidation of doctors who speak out about long waits or lack of resources has dominated the spring session in the legislature as opposition parties continuously press the government for more action. Until now, the AMA has largely remained on the sidelines, but had to advocate for its 6,500 physician members when seven of its 38 medical sections wrote letters demanding a public inquiry. An inquiry could subpoena doctors who have signed non-disclosure agreements, and compel former health ministers and Capital Health administrators to explain their actions after they learned about an emergency crisis in 2008 through hundreds of documented cases of bad patient outcomes.
“A few weeks ago (association members) were talking about staying out of the political domain,” Zwozdesky said, surprised by the association’s decision to weigh in. “I would say that this is a bit of a strange way to go about putting into effect the arrangement that was agreed to in the premier’s office last week (to rebuild the government-physician relationship) but sometimes that’s what people do.”
Dr. P.J. White, president of the AMA, said the association’s board remains supportive of the Health Quality Council to study quality of care issues, including long waiting times for emergency and delayed cancer care that allegedly cost 250 people their lives.
But following a Thursday meeting that lasted longer than two hours, the 15-member medical board was near-unanimous the council doesn’t have the powers to dig into the issue of intimidation.
“We have to deal with what we believe is a pervasive environment of intimidation for quite some time over many years in order for the outcome to be accepted by the profession,” White said.
“The decision reflects concerns within the medical profession that it is time to clear the air, and a public inquiry — with the authority to compel evidence — is the best forum in which to accomplish this,” White wrote in a letter to Alberta’s 6,500 doctors. “Albertans deserve a health-care system that values and encourages physician advocacy, where physicians feel secure speaking out and advocating for the best possible care for each and every patient; a system free of intimidation and fear of retribution.”
Several doctors have come forward to say they were silenced with threats from health administrators or government representatives in the past.
Because the Health Quality Council will hold all interviews behind closed doors, doctors and the public won’t be able to monitor progress and determine if the end report is adequate, White said.
Zwozdesky questioned if the association was indeed speaking for Alberta’s 6,500 physicians. But Dr. Felix Soibelman said he was pleased with his association’s stance.
“The government should take the call for a public inquiry to heart, given that the AMA is really the voice of physicians in Alberta,” said Soibelman, president of the Edmonton Emergency Physicians’ Association. “As far as the government goes, I would see this as an opportunity for them to review what’s gone on in the health care system and really move forward.”
Liberal Leader Dr. David Swann said the medical association joins a “huge movement calling for an open inquiry into this mess of intimidation, threats, potential financial misconduct, (and) dismissal of some health professionals including nurses.
“It’s clear that the only way to restore confidence, not only among professionals but the public, is to open up things that have been done badly, hold accountable those officials including politicians who haven’t done their jobs so that we can move on with some sense of trust.”
“If the Tories really care about restoring confidence in our health system, they’ll act now that doctors are speaking loud and clear,” NDP Leader Brian Mason said in a statement. “The AMA’s support for an inquiry adds tremendous weight to the opposition’s calls.”
