EDMONTON — The Canadian Medical Association says it believes there has been systemic intimidation of physicians by Alberta health officials — and it has to stop.
Dr. Anne Doig of the CMA and Alberta Medical Association president Dr. Linda Slocombe make the statement in a joint submission to a council reviewing problems in the province’s health care.
“Do the AMA and CMA believe that systemic intimidation of physicians has occurred in Alberta? The simple, unequivocal answer is ’Yes,”’ reads the document.
The two medical leaders presented the submission to the Health Quality Council of Alberta last Thursday. It calls on the province to develop and enforce rules to prevent medical administrators from bullying, intimidating or treating doctors unfairly.
They recommend that Alberta’s ombudsman be given expanded powers to review unfair treatment complaints and to report directly to the legislature. They say the ombudsman could be the final point of appeal to resolve difficult and complex cases.
The associations also say the government should consider passing a law to ensure physicians who speak out for patients can’t be punished.
“Explore statutory provisions to discourage intimidation,” reads their submission. “Some jurisdictions have legislation to protect health professionals who advocate for patients.”
The AMA represents about 10,000 physicians, medical residents and students.
Last month, Dr. John Cowell, CEO of the Health Quality Council of Alberta, said he was hearing disturbing reports from doctors about being punished after speaking up for patients.
In an interim report, he said some physicians told the council they lost hospital privileges, had contracts cancelled and were shunned by peers for their advocacy. Some say the intimidation was so bad they ended up leaving Alberta to work elsewhere.
Alberta Health Services says it has bylaws that deal with physician intimidation and that it is looking at developing a phone line to deal with doctors’ complaints.
The health council is to deliver its final report to the legislature by late February.
Dr. John Haggie, president of the Canadian Medical Association, said the issue of physicians being able to speak out on behalf of patients has come up in other provinces, but the problem has been more acute in Alberta.
That’s partly because of fallout from the provincial government’s decision a few years ago to amalgamate nine health regions into one superboard known as Alberta Health Services.
Haggie said it is important for the national organization to support the AMA’s call for clear rules that allow doctors to advocate for patients without fear of political reprisal.
“There is concern that while exercising this legitimately, they have been put in a situation where their livelihood and professional reputation have been put at risk,” he said from Appleton, NL.
“At the moment, Alberta appears to be the pressure point, the wedge point where this has reached a flash situation.”
In a letter to physicians, Slocombe said the Alberta Medical Association still wants the government to call a public inquiry into intimidation of doctors.