An open letter was published in La Presse+ (French) this morning. Share the letter on your social media, share the petition too.
Thank you for your support!
Courtesy translation
The Ministry of Health advocates a patient-centred approach to medicine, which includes the importance of informed consent and respect for patient choice. This week we were shocked to learn that the Department is potentially denying a permit that is essential to the survival of the OriginElle clinic in Montreal, which treats more than 1,000 patients from across Quebec.
With a team of five internationally renowned doctors and three nurses assisted by a group of clinical technicians, this clinic performs miracles and receives numerous referrals from other clinics in North America for couples who are often turned away by clinics because of the degree of difficulty of their situation. The government's direction would therefore cause immediate harm to over 1,000 people and the thousands more who will have special needs in the future.
A petition signed by over 600 people is already pleading with the Department to ensure that OriginElle Clinic is licensed.
It is clear that the mere prospect of closure is causing major stress to patients who all want to continue their treatment with the medical team of their choice.
The Department points out that there is an "adequate supply of clinics in the region". This justification seems empty and insensitive when we know that the government is aware of the number of patients treated by the clinic and that it must foresee the impact of its decision and act in the primary interest of the patients who have chosen this clinic. Our patient group also points out that a clinic recently closed in the Montreal area. This means that there are 5 centres for the entire province, while in the Toronto area alone, there are 16 centres for the local population.
SHOCKING CONTRADICTION
The contradiction between the Department's orientations is shocking. On the one hand, it vehemently advocates respect for patients' free choice, while on the other hand, it imposes an obstacle to it without it being in the interest of the principal concerned. The context in which this orientation is given is also worrying since assisted reproduction is above all an intimate journey and the doctor and his team are more than carers: they are family partners.
When a couple chooses a care team in this field of practice, they choose confidants, friends, people who join them in their intimacy and family ambitions.
It therefore seems essential to us to ask the government to analyse this issue in terms of the needs of the 1000 patients undergoing treatment and their interests.
For all of these reasons, and in order to defend the principle of free choice for patients to continue their treatment with the doctor of their choice, we are asking Prime Minister François Legault and his Minister of Health Christian Dubé, as well as the Minister of Health Lionel Carmant, to intervene in this matter in order to avoid shattering the hopes of the 1,000 patients of the OriginElle Clinic who are currently being treated.