Many elderly patients who are taken off the work list at Group Health Center this Friday will die before they can find another doctor, union leaders warn
Mike Da Pratt has had cancer. Twice.
He has diabetes.
He has kidney problems.
He also has a stent inserted to open one of his coronary arteries.
For all these reasons, the longtime president of the United Steelworkers Local 2251 union needs to undergo regular medical checkups.
But come this Friday, Da Prat will be left without a doctor to coordinate his primary health care and specialist referrals.
On Jan. 25, Group Health Centers sent him a letter informing him that he was one of 10,000 patients who would be removed from the registry as of May 31.
Not only will he lose his family doctor, but he will also lose access to the group health center's other services, including the walk-in clinic.
“The impact of the roster removals would be devastating,” Da Pratto said.
“Many, if not most, seniors require regular medical care to maintain their quality of life. This care includes regular medication checks, blood tests, quarterly diabetes testing and follow-up for many chronic conditions,” he said in an affidavit filed Thursday in Sault Ste. Marie court.
“Being taken off the rota left me with no realistic option to access medical care other than going to the emergency ward at the hospital in Sault Ste. Marie or a local walk-in clinic.”
“Like the rest of the province, emergency departments in Sault Ste. Marie are at capacity and walk-in clinics will only be able to treat a fraction of the 10,000 patients who will be taken off the roster,” Da Pratt said in the affidavit.
“Going to the emergency department for non-urgent care is not practical. Patients who visit the emergency department for non-urgent issues are likely to be turned away or face excruciating wait times, leading many to give up and go home without treatment.”
Da Prat's affidavit was filed in Ontario Superior Court as Steelworkers Union Local 2251 prepares to file a lawsuit against Group Health Centre and Algoma District Medical Group.
None of the allegations have been heard in court, and so far neither Group Health Centre nor Algoma District Medical Group have filed detailed written responses.
Local 2251 has sought an injunction to block the removal of the names and has notified GHC and the medical group that it plans to take legal action.
Da Prat notified union members on Friday that a tentative court date to consider the union's motion has been set for “no earlier than June 6, 2024.”
“Waiting until a particular medical issue reaches the level of an emergency puts our health and lives at risk,” Da Prat said.
“Without access to primary care, deregistered patients would be faced with having to drive eight hours north to Thunder Bay or three and a half hours east to Sudbury to receive care.”
“Neither is a realistic option for people with serious health problems or who require regular face-to-face care. Furthermore, GPs act as gatekeepers to specialist and other health services.
“I relied on GHC to get the referrals I needed, whether through my GP or through the walk-in clinic. Now I've been taken off the register and I have no idea how I'm going to access these services,” she said.
“Many of these patients are elderly and will pass away before they can find another family doctor.”
Da Pratt has served as president of USW Local 2251 since May 2003, which currently represents approximately 2,200 hourly workers at Algoma Steel.
He started working at the steelworks in 1967 as a laborer in the couplings plant and, except for a two-year hiatus in the early 1970s, has worked for Algoma Steel ever since.
Group Health Centres were conceived and built by Salt Steel workers in the early 1960s, before there was a provincial health insurance system in Canada.
” [Group Health] “Although the association was established primarily to provide quality health care to its steelworker members, the association had the capacity to provide services to all residents of the Sault Ste. Marie area,” Da Pratt said in the affidavit.
Da Prat knows quite a bit about the inner workings of GHC.
“As a member of the Board of Directors [Group Health] “I've been with the association for over 10 years and am familiar with its governance structure,” he said.
“Among the deregistered patients are a large number of steelworkers, including elderly people. As of the date of this affidavit, we have been contacted by 85 steelworkers who have informed us that they are being deregistered.”
On May 7th of this year, union members at Local 2251 voted to authorize legal proceedings, with Da Prat serving as lead plaintiff on behalf of all affected steelworkers.
The group's plans are as follows:
They seek to persuade the Court that GHC is violating the Ontario Human Rights Code because elderly patients are being deregistered at disproportionate rates compared to other patient groups. They argue that GHC is breaking a decades-old promise to provide lifelong health care services to its members. They ask the Court to rule that changes made to the Group Health Association's governance in 2013 violate section 332 of the Corporations Act. They allege that GHC violated section 174(2)(b) of the Not-for-Profit Corporations Act by wrongfully deregistering long-standing members. The Steelworkers present evidence that patients will suffer irreparable harm if the deregistrations are not stopped.
“The damages we will suffer cannot be compensated for by compensation payments in the coming years,” Da Pratto said.
“The inability of disenrolled patients to receive timely health care services will undoubtedly result in adverse outcomes for some disenrolled patients.”
“It can take months, or even years, for patients who are disenrolled from a group health center to find a new primary care physician. Many of these patients have complex medical needs and chronic conditions that require frequent follow-up with their primary care physician.”
“Going without primary care for an extended period of time will have extremely negative health effects that money cannot compensate for.”
“Even if they were to find an alternative primary care provider, they would likely have to travel farther from Sault Ste. Marie to do so, which could result in significant delays in receiving needed health care services, unaffordable travel costs, and potentially jeopardizing their personal safety, especially during the winter months.”
“In rural communities, long winter commutes can be dangerous and may force some people to make difficult decisions between attending to their medical needs and risking their safety on the roads,” Da Prat said.
