"We Don't Do That"

It is rather surprising - shocking even - that practitioners of the ancient and noble tradition of healing would betray their values as being so rudely gross, as to practise extortion on desperate people anxious to have their ill health restored to normalcy. There is nothing that can be said in explanation of a noxious practise that has become common enough that many people are complaining that their health has been held to ransom by rapacious health specialists.

And it is the specialists, those within the medical community whose services are so vital to returning people to full health by virtue of their specialized knowledge and surgical capabilities. And although people are initially shocked at the discreet suggestions that their surgeries can be notched forward in time so they won't have to wait as long, they will pay for leverage to enable them to put their pain behind them.

They will feel conflicted about the situation. In one sense aggrieved that they have been forced to pay up front when this directly contravenes the universality of Canada's health care system, and clearly is illegal. In another sense, simply grateful to the medical practitioner who has used his/her skills to such great effect as to solve the patient's quality-of-life-sapping medical condition.

And most patients, with an eye to the future when and if they will require further help, brood in silence.

Quebec's College des Medecines has stated that two prominent cardiologists will be called before its disciplinary court over allegations of bribery.The College is well aware that these two men, Drs. Mark Eisenberg and Andre Pasternac represent the tip of the iceberg, that many other doctors are involved in this practise of demanding cash for quick service.

But people, although they have suffered this kind of demand to bribe doctors, are loathe to lodge official complaints.

"I'm happy now, I'm healthy. But if I ever have problems, I want to deal with this surgeon again", confided a man who had undergone knee surgery. He recounted his experience, with the doctor's secretary confiding in him that he had three options: to pay $3,000 and have his surgery bumped up to two weeks; pay $500 and wait for four or five months, or pay nothing and wait for a minimum of eight months.

"I told her right away that I don't have that kind of money. I'll take option two, I'll pay $500", he explained. When he returned to the surgeon's office a few days later with $20 bills stuffed into an envelope: "She took the money out of the envelope and brought it to his office". He asked for a receipt, but the secretary responded that "We don't do that".

No paper trail, no proof, the patient's word against the doctor's.

"I thought it was fishy but maybe that's the price you pay to have a high-end surgeon. After I paid, she scheduled my operation."

And he had his knee back to good order four months later.