Tourist accuses Quebec of 'abysmal' treatment after wife's surgery cancelled over fee dispute
Florida man says wife's gallbladder operation called off minutes before surgery over payment issues
Michael Beattie says he had always considered Canada's health care system a model to follow.
The Florida man says he no longer feels that way, after an operation at Quebec City's Centre hospitalier de l'Université Laval (CHUL) to remove his wife's inflamed gallbladder was cancelled at the last minute by doctors who had demanded to be paid in advance.
Beattie and his wife, 62-year-old Patricia Goldman, had been visiting Quebec City last June when Goldman began having severe stomach pains. She was admitted to the CHUL on June 30 and scheduled for surgery the following day.
Beattie said his wife had already been wheeled into the operating room when he received a call from the anesthesiologist, demanding that he and the surgeon be paid $3,300 up front for their work.
"His exact words to me were, 'You have to come to the operating room to bring a credit card, or else we won't operate,' which I found to be grotesque," Beattie told CBC News.
Beattie said he was outside the hospital walking the couple's dog when he received the anesthesiologist's call.
He returned and tried to figure out how to process the payment. By the time he found his wife, the operation had been called off, he said.
CHUL spokeswoman Geneviève Dupuis confirmed that Goldman's surgery had been cancelled.
In Quebec, doctors' fees are charged separately from what the hospital collects for tests, medicine and room fees, she said.
Hospital policy dictates that doctors have the right to demand payment before treating a patient who isn't from Quebec, she said.
"If there is no medical emergency, every patient has to pay for medical fees in a foreign country," she said.
Dupuis said doctors determined Goldman's inflamed gallbladder was not a medical emergency.
Surgery done in Vermont
Dupuis said a payment agreement was finally worked out, and the operation was rescheduled for the next day.
My wife doesn't ever want to go back to Quebec. She was truly freaked out by this.- Michael Beattie, visiting tourist from Florida
By then, however, the attending doctor assessed the inflammation had gone down, and the hospital opted to continue administering antibiotic treatment.
"When we can avoid surgery, it's great news, because there is a certain risk to any type of surgery," Dupuis said.
Beattie acknowledged that the CHUL had offered antibiotic treatment, but he said the hospital staff also suggested Goldman fly back to Florida to undergo surgery because she would have a support network there.
"I thought that was unrealistic, given the amount of pain she was in," he said.
The couple ended up leaving the CHUL, discharged against medical advice.
They crossed the U.S. border and Goldman was admitted to the University of Vermont Medical Center, where she underwent surgery the next day and was dismissed the following morning.
Where do private insurers come in?
When asked why the doctors couldn't come to an arrangement directly with the insurance company, the CHUL said Goldman's policy didn't allow it.
"In this case, as with many insurance companies in the United States, the patients pay first, and the companies reimburse them," said Dupuis.
To have this treatment in Quebec was abysmal.- Michael Beattie
Beattie said that's not the case.
"Do you really think people in the U.S. could pay $100,000 for an operation and then wait to be reimbursed?" he asked. "Maybe Trump and Clinton can, but I sure can't."
In September, a collection agency representing the CHUL sent the couple an $8,300 bill for the three-day hospital stay.
Beattie sent CBC News an invoice showing his insurance company had issued a payment of $7,200.
The CHUL said the bill's payment is still pending.
The Florida couple said they have no intention of suing the CHUL. However, Beattie said he is just disappointed because his wife has crossed Canada off their vacation list.
"To have this treatment in Quebec was abysmal. It saddened me on a social and political level."