Australian doctor heads to court after coming up short in quest for B.C. medical licence

This story is part of Situation Critical, a series from CBC British Columbia reporting on the barriers people in this province face in accessing timely and appropriate health care.

An Australian doctor who says he wasted years trying to get a licence to practise in B.C. through a program he wasn't actually eligible for is taking the province's health recruitment service and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of B.C. to court.

According to a 2021 notice of claim filed in B.C. Supreme Court, Dr. Brian Nathan, a Melbourne-trained general practitioner, began looking into transferring his licence in 2013, when he moved his family to the Vancouver area so his son could attend a specialized school.

Nathan says he contacted the recruitment service Health Match B.C. to ask about his eligibility, and was told in February 2013 that he would need to follow the "provisional-family" registration route, which involves completing two years of approved postgraduate training and 44 weeks of rotations in seven specific disciplines.

He says the college approved his action plan for meeting those requirements.

But, according to the claim, "at all material times, the plaintiff was ineligible for 'provisional-family' registration."

It goes on to allege that, "at all material times, Health Match and the College knew or ought to have known that the plaintiff was not eligible."

It was only in August 2019, after completing a self-assessment questionnaire on the website of the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC), that Nathan learned he would never meet the requirements for "provisional-family" registration because of the specific pathway he'd gone through to become registered in Australia.

In the meantime, he'd paid a $600 fee to the B.C. college, filled out years' worth of paperwork and sold his practice back home in Melbourne, the claim suggests.

The lawsuit alleges both the college and Health Match were negligent in their duties, and should be held liable for his loss of income from selling the Australian practice as well as his application fees and expenses for moving the family to Canada.

The two bodies, Nathan says, should have reviewed his Australian documents when he submitted them and told him they weren't acceptable.

"Despite being in direct correspondence with the plaintiff since early 2013 and with regular exchanges occurring between October 2017 and August 2019 the College and Health Match failed to advise the plaintiff of the correct route for licensure in British Columbia," Nathan's claim reads.

Health Match and the college deny responsibility

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of B.C. applied for a dismissal or summary judgment on the lawsuit on the basis that there is no genuine issue to be tried, but that application was denied by a B.C. Supreme Court judge on Nov. 29.

The college's response to Nathan's claim says it is not responsible for assessing eligibility for the CFPC, and that college staff had told Nathan his postgraduate training had to be recognized by that body. The response also denies any responsibility for advice provided by Health Match, and says the college did not owe a duty of care to Nathan.

It says any losses suffered by Nathan are his own responsibility.

Health Match's response says it is a free advisory service that does not have the power to make any decisions about eligibility for a medical licence.

"A degree of self-assessment and a thorough review of provided information is required of all candidates when applying for B.C. licensure as a physician," the response says.

"Health Match works in tandem with candidates who are themselves expected to carefully review the provided information, provide the requested materials and inquire with the appropriate bodies if questions arise."

The response goes on to say that Health Match acted with "reasonable care, skill and diligence" at all times.

The allegations in Nathan's claim and the responses from Health Match and the college have not be proven in court.

The legal battle comes in the middle of a severe shortage of family doctors across the province. Just last month, B.C. government announced plans to licence more internationally trained doctors to help fill some of the gaps.