Ontario allows hospital to hire private company to run ER

Privatization an 'absurd parallel'

Smitherman told CBC Radio he was "inherently uncomfortable" with the idea of the hospital hiring a private employee.

He said that he's not "drawing a line in the sand," but wanted his position to be made clear to other hospitals across the province.

And McGuinty said that he suspects that using private doctors would be more expensive in the long run and lead to constant change in personnel — something he said hospitals must avoid.

Cambridge Memorial managers defended the decision as necessary to address a chronic shortage of doctors in the busy emergency department.

The hospital's 23-bed ER sees 110 patients daily, or more than 40,000 a year.

"I think [privatization is] an absurd parallel and I think that's there's no basis for it," chief executive officer Julia Dumanian said. "Privatization, by its own definition, means that a patient is purchasing a service, they are paying out of their pocket for it.

"This is nothing to do with that at all. This is a private contractual arrangement between the hospital and Med-Emerg."

Position temporary

Hospital officials stressed that the Med-Emerg's Dr. James Ducharme will likely be employed on a six-month contract.

"The job Dr. Ducharme has going forward is to make himself redundant as soon as possible," said John Bell, the chair of the hospital's board of governors. "We would hope that would be done in six months or sooner if possible."

Mississauga-based Med-Emerg supplies emergency room physicians and nurses to hospitals on contract.

The average fee paid to publicly employed emergency room doctors is $170 an hour, but it has been reported that Med-Emerg will receive an additional 10 per cent for the service.

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