Patients upset over losing doctors to private clinic

Two family doctors have closed up their practices and joined Calgary's newest private medical clinic, angering some of their former patients.

The Copeman Healthcare Centre opened on Monday and among the health-care staff of about 40 people are doctors William Halliday and Cindy Mitchell.

"It's just totally, morally wrong," said Helena Grant, one of Halliday's former patients. "It's the haves and the have-nots."

For a fee of $3,900 the first year and $2,900 every year after, patients at the Copeman Healthcare Centre get access to a range of uninsured services at the downtown centre. They also receive a specialized health plan designed by a team of doctors, nurses, registered dietitians and kinesiologists.

Chris Nedelmann, the centre's general manager, said Halliday was forced to move his practice because the property is being annexed for the west leg of the light rail system, while Mitchell was in the process of shutting down her practice because it was no longer economically viable.

"[Mitchell] has never been a high volume physician, and as such her overheads were pretty comparable to her revenues and we were able to keep her in the public system," he said.

'Catering to people who are rich '

Two of Halliday's former patients say that while they could afford to follow him to the Copeman Healthcare Centre, they won't.

"Our family thought about it, but it's wrong," said Grant, who is losing a family doctor for the second time.

"One to the United States and now in this case. So we were kind of shocked, and I was kind of disappointed and kind of angry a little bit … he could have still probably opened an office somewhere else rather than opening up a private health-care clinic."

Jill Rathje, her husband and two young children scrambled and successfully found a new family physician, but her father-in-law is still hunting for a new doctor to replace Halliday.

"My family, luckily, are in the position that if we wanted to we could probably afford to go there, but just in principle we are against it. I feel that it is just catering to people who are rich and it is starting to bring in two-tiered health care."

Nedelmann said the centre is focusing on bringing home Canadian physicians who have been practising in the United States, recruiting overseas doctors and hiring physicians working in the private sector, such as for pharmaceutical companies.