Comments on: Canadian doctor defection

By: Rob

Rob — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 08:32:00 +0000

A medical resident is still a student. They are still learning. They are not doctors.

Canadian medical grads have their residencies in taxer-payer funded hospitals. We pay for their training.

The "plumber" argument doesn't hold water. Sorry bad pun. Plumbers don't get their most valuable training (ie residency) in a publicly funded facility.

Universities reserve medical school spots for residents of their respective provinces. Also, as was mentioned before, I would imagine that part of their tuition comes from tax-payer dollars.

That being said, the Canadian public "owns" Canadian doctors. They should be forced to practice here for at least 5 years after their residencies.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 05:00:00 +0000

Well said.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 00:22:00 +0000

I’m a Canadian Doctor with Three specialities. Believe it or not I can’t find a job in a decent part of Canada. All I keep hearing is move to some little hick town and set up shop there. I spent over 12 years of my life working on my career. Why should I not get the lifestyle I deserve? I’m moving to the US as soon as I can. And as for the notion that I owe anything to the Canadian taxpayer….forget it. 6 years of working as a resident more than adequetly covers any cost the taxpayer incurred in paying for my education.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 06:34:00 +0000

I hate all doctors in North America! They are all money hungry animals and the governmets are their dogs. Period!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 04:00:00 +0000

So why should I not complain about something I am paying for but not receiving? If plumbers were leaving the country during a plumber shortage I would be just as concerned. Since when did the “everybody else does it” excuse come back into style?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 19:23:00 +0000

See these articles for the truth:

Numbers leaving:

http://www.pnhp.org/news/2005/august/more_doctors_returni.php

Salaries:

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20061004/ont_doctors_061004?s_name=&no_ads=

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 18:50:00 +0000

Um…sorry, what Canadian attitude?? There was one complaint on here, from someone we don’t even know for sure is Canadian, and the other was from an American.
The election results speak for themselves – Canadians have no problem supporting education of our citizens with tax dollars. If we did, we wouldn’t elect a government that places more emphasis on public investment than tax cuts.

The only reason this is an issue is because med tuition is more expensive than regular grad school tuition, and we have a doctor shortage up here. We don’t have a plumbing shortage.

Let me guess – you’re an embittered Canadian doc who went to the States to make more money.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 04:55:00 +0000

I am sick of this Canadian atitude of “I am susidizing them with my tax etc”
Wake up – its a socialist country you are subsidizing everyone in Canada who goes to any kind of educational institution , whether its a plumbing training college or med school.Start whining about all the plumbers moving south next- they should really stay and fix your crapper for CAD 29 (PCP consult fee) rather than move to the Great Satan.
Idiots.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 22:18:00 +0000

Oh relax. There is in actuality only a small percentage going to the States, and recently we have more docs returning than leaving.

This is not what is causing the shortage. In the early 90's a flawed economic report caused med school places to be cut by 10%, resulting in thousands less trained doctors over the years. In 2000, med schools opened up more spots, but we won't see results for a while.

Waht really gets me is that we also have qualified foreign doctors who would be more than happy to work here, but who find the obstacles to getting certification here almost insurmountable.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 21:34:00 +0000

I agree that there should be systems in place to keep Canadian docs out of the US but not because I am a doctor in the US, but because I am Canadian. In many places in Canada the health care system is HORRIBLE!! Trying to find a new doctor can be a huge pain, and some of the wait times for specialists are ridiculous. I am subsidizing these Canadian doctors’ educations with my tax dollars and then paying the price in the form of crappy care when they leave. If these docs decide to screw over the people that helped provide their education in order to receive a higher salary in the US, fine, but the gov should have systems in place to keep them stealing our tax money before doing so.