“On July 15, 2022, the British Columbia Court of Appeal ruled that patients in BC were suffering, and many risked dying, as a result of delayed access to care. The ruling included a conclusion that the delays were caused by planned and deliberate government strategies to limit resources and capacity. Despite that, they upheld laws that cause patients to die. Their rationale was that allowing non-government options, which is something every other country on the planet allows, might negatively impact our existing, grossly underperforming, health system. Canada is currently ranked 10th out of 10 universal health systems in highly developed countries. The Appeal Court made its decision despite an admission that the trial data “represents real people, with real pain, a real setbacks, and real risk of dying prematurely” and that “waiting inherently carries the risk of death.” This book traces a personal journey through a Canadian health system that has reached the point of imposing serious harm on patients. Governments have stubbornly adhered to principles developed over 60 years ago. Medicare was supposed to act as a safety net. Instead, it has become a trap in which patients are forced to suffer. Wole Soyinka, the 1986 Nobel Prize winner for literature, once stated: “Books and all forms of writing have always been objects of terror to those who seek to suppress the truth.” While this book may not strike terror in those who have opposed me over the years, I hope it will at least promote guilt in the hearts of those who fought us in the courtroom, many of whom have benefitted from their own extensive use of private clinics, including ours.”–
