The op-ed, "No one is illegal - Everyone in Canada is entitled to health care", published in last Thursday's Montreal Gazette resulted in some pretty racist, hostile and reactionary letters to the editor.
Below you will find links to articles about the baby Marley case that preceded the op-ed, and links (or transcribed text) of letters to the editor appearing afterwards (all from the Gazette).
1) Initial article: Marley's the baby who didn't exist (27/11/2008)
2) Follow-up article: Pediatrician offers to treat baby Marley (28/11/2008)
3) Letter to the editor: Sick of foreigners abusing medicare (28/11/2008)
4) Editorial: 'Maternity tourism' makes suckers of us all (28/11/2008)
5) Letter to the editor: Frustration is no excuse (29/11/2008)
6) Op-ed: No one is illegal - Everyone in Canada is entitled to health care (4/12/2008) [also included below]
7) Letter to the editor: Who's going to pay? (5/12/2008)
8) Letter to the editor: Grateful immigrants only, please (5/12/2008)
[print-version only; see below for transcribed article]
9) Letter to the editor: Open a free clinic (5/12/2008)
[print-version only; see below for transcribed article]
10) Letter to the editor: All names Canadian (6/12/2008)
11) Letter to the editor: Let them all in (8/12/2008)
12) Letter to the editor: Shocked by letter (8/12/2008)
**
No one is illegal: Everyone in Canada is entitled to health care
The baby Marley case shows the folly of a closed-border immigration policy
December 4, 2008 10:02 AM
The story of a newborn baby whose birth documents were initially
withheld by an obstetrician ("Marley's the baby who didn't exist," Nov.
27, and "Pediatrician offers to treat baby Marley," Nov. 28) exposes a
lamentable, all-too-frequent reality. It represents the tip of a much
more significant problem faced by people who do not have permanent
residency status in Canada.
Dr. Yvonne Vasilie from the Lakeshore Hospital withheld baby Marley's
birth documents because her parents, Laura Cobian and Wayne Samuels,
were not able to fully pay the fees for the obstetric care provided to
Cobian.
Vasilie's actions are contrary to medicine's mantra of "primum non
nocere" ("first, do no harm"): She unnecessarily delayed the process by
which baby Marley would receive her medicare card by not submitting the
relevant papers as per protocol. Vasilie's actions might have also
played a role in influencing baby Marley's parents to leave the hospital
earlier than necessary, despite the baby's reportedly being clinically
jaundiced.
An obstetrician's job is not to determine who can and cannot give birth
in a hospital, but to deliver care; a physician's role is not to judge
those she is treating. The primary responsibility of health-care
providers should be to restore and maintain the health of individuals
and populations whom they are serving; financial compensation for
services rendered should never compromise this prime directive.
The doctor's actions imply that some people have a right to be in this
country, while others don't. We categorically reject such a position. We
affirm that people have a right to migrate, work and live wherever they
wish. In particular, we recognize the fact that people migrate as a
result of being displaced for economic, political and social reasons,
usually because of exploitative policies by Western countries and
corporations.
As long as such iniquitous and exploitative policies persist, and as
long as borders exist that allow for the free flow of capital, these
same borders must remain open to the free movement of people.
In this situation, the hospital has taken a laudable position critical
of what Vasilie did, and Vasilie now says that this was all a
"misunderstanding."
Baby Marley's parents and family should be applauded for going public
with their case. There are far too many similar situations that go
unreported. The most extreme cases are those of non-status people (those
callously referred to as "illegals") who cannot risk reporting such
undignified treatment for fear that they will be detained or be deported.
Those fears mean people might delay accessing health- care services or
be forced to get care in more clandestine ways, often at their own
peril. As health- care workers on the island of Montreal, we see these
situations frequently and it is clear that such political encumbrances
undermine our ability to provide the standard of care these people are
entitled to as human beings. Universal and accessible health-care
services should be guaranteed for all, regardless of citizenship status
or ability to pay.
We live in a political context in which military spending costs billions
and money is wasted on other dubious initiatives and bureaucracies at
federal, provincial and municipal levels, while politicians continue to
be paid exorbitant salaries and enjoy comprehensive health-care
benefits. In light of this, it is disingenuous to cite money woes as a
justification for draconian health-care policies that have nefarious
consequences on everyday people.
Meanwhile, the claim that "foreigners" are supposedly "abusing the
system" ("Sick of foreigners abusing the system," Nov. 28) is a
convenient distraction that scapegoats migrants - primarily racialized
migrants - while ignoring the excesses that occur within the system and
reinforcing the as-yet unsubstantiated claim that more money necessarily
translates into better services.
From a public-health perspective, there is a myriad of studies that
underscore the heavy burden on individuals and society from a lack of
access or incomplete access to health-care services for all. Ensuring
that all people in Montreal are able to access health-care services is a
simple matter of dignity and justice.
There are campaigns in Toronto for a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy to
safeguard access to services - including health care - for people with
precarious citizenship status, spearheaded by groups like No One Is
Illegal - Toronto.
Indeed, the solution in Montreal, Quebec and Canada [is] quite simple:
health care for all. Period.
-Samir Shaheen-Hussain is a Montreal pediatrician. His opinion piece was
signed by Nazila Bettache, MD; Joey Bonifacio-Cruz, MD; Juan Carlos
Chirgwin, MD; Anne-Marie Gallant, a nursing student; Helen Hudson, RN;
Annie Janvier, MD; Jad Abou Khalil, a medical student; Tarek Loubani,
MD; Gillian Morantz, MD; Chi-Minh Phi, MD; Olivier Sabella, MD; Sophie
Schoen, a nursing student; and Brett Schrewe, MD.
**
Grateful immigrants only, please
Friday, December 5, 2008
The Gazette, A22 [print only]
Re: “No one is illegal: Everyone in Canada is entitled to health care”
(Opinion, Dec. 4).
So ironic to read this touching and moving article on the rights of new
immigrants concerning the health-care system and how it is so abusive
towards them.
In the middle, the author inserts the thought that “people migrate as a
result of being displaced for economic, political and social reasons,
usually because of exploitive policies by Western countries and
corporations.” I then look at the name of the author and the more than
dozen signatories and see that 90 per cent of them have names indicating
origins outside of Canada.
Geez, I guess gratitude to Canada does not exist in their vocabulary.
Pity. I guess I should forward this to the minister of immigration and
request that in the future he should seek immigrants who do not have a
grudge against the Western culture or, indeed, the country where they’re
seeking a safe haven.
John Liebman
Dollard des Ormeaux
**
Open a free clinic
Friday, December 5, 2008
The Gazette, A22 [print only]
Re: “No one is illegal: Everyone in Canada is entitled to health care”
(Opinion, Dec. 4).
I suppose it was “exploitative and iniquitous Western policies” that
compelled the Marleys to forego contraception and conceive a child
without the means or the citizenship to pay for its health care.
Someone should certainly lend them a hand. Perhaps Dr. Samir
Shaheen-Hussain and his colleagues would be inclined to open a free
clinic for those in such need, and those who object to a sovereign
nation setting its own immigration policies can donate to the clinic.
Eitan Ben Dor
Montreal
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