Doctors take NB government to court
CMAJ 2000;162:1186
Seven years, 7 presidents, 6 expert reports, 2 executive directors and 1 lawyer later, it's off to court they go. The Professional Association of Residents in the Maritime Provinces (PARI-MP) and 4 New Brunswick doctors are suing the provincial government, claiming that a physicians' resource management plan the health department introduced in 1992 infringes on 4 of their rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. "This plan is so restrictive," says PARI-MP Executive Director Sandy Carew Flemming. "Essentially it restricts mobility for people [wishing] to enter the province and gives physicians already here an unfair advantage."
Under New Brunswick's plan, the province was divided into 7 health regions, each of which had a cap on the number of physicians allowed to practise. Since the plan was implemented 8 years ago, New Brunswick has suffered a shortage of doctors, says Carew Flemming. "It's starting to get quite critical. The perception out there is that this is a closed province."
PARI-MP, which represents 370 residents in Atlantic Canada, is arguing that the government's resource management plan violates the charter in 4 areas: it restricts doctors' mobility, violates the concept of liberty as described in the charter, does not allow for free association and discriminates on the basis of sex. With respect to the latter claim, Carew Flemming notes that New Brunswick has approximately 1300 physicians, 1000 of whom are male. Fifty percent of medical school graduates are now female; PARI-MP argues that, because of the New Brunswick government's cap on physician numbers, female physicians have been, in essence, denied equal access to employment in New Brunswick. The government is arguing that under Section 1 of the charter, it has the legal right to restrict certain freedoms if there are sound reasons for doing so.
The College of Physicians and Surgeons of New Brunswick has been named as a codefendant in the suit because of its licensing role. However, the college registrar, Dr. Ed Schollenberg, has also expressed concern about the government's resource management plan, and the college is seen as friendly to the plaintiff. Indeed, in 1996 the provincial government attempted without success to have the college removed as a party in the lawsuit.
Neither PARI-MP nor the 4 doctors involved in the lawsuit — all are now employed in New Brunswick — are asking for remuneration. Rather, they want the government's resource management plan declared illegal. The case, which is now being heard before a judge in the Court of Queen's Bench in Saint John, was expected to end Mar. 31, but a decision is not expected until this summer — at the earliest. — Donalee Moulton, Halifax
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