Learn more about your health and social services rights

Difficult to be treated by the doctor of your choice

Published on October 4, 2024 by Azalée Larouche. Journal Le Canada Français, page A-24.

Everyone who receives services or care from the health and social services network benefits from rights enshrined in the Act respecting health and social services (LSSS). To ensure your rights are respected, it’s important to know what they are. Today, we present the right to the professional and the establishment of his or her choice.

To illustrate this right, here’s a case in point: Yves is 52 years old, lives in Montérégie and is on vacation in the Eastern Townships. During a hike in the woods, he had vision and balance problems. li had a nasty fall and was vomiting. He was very worried about his condition and decided to go to the nearest hospital.

The emergency physician who saw him ran tests and initially diagnosed labyrinthitis and a mild ear infection. He prescribed antibiotics and referred him to an ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialist.

Back home, one of his friends had already told him about an ENT specialist he’d liked. He had appreciated the specialist’s skills and very human attitude. Yves decided to go straight to the specialist’s office to book an appointment.

Unfortunately, the secretary informs Yves that the doctor is not taking new patients. She also informed him of the procedure for seeing a specialist; he must register his request for a specialist via the Centre de répartition des demandes de services (CRDS).

EXPLANATIONS

In our example, we see that Yves can go to the hospital of his choice for an emergency consultation, and the doctor cannot refuse to treat him.
However, when he decides to consult a specialist, he is refused, as the specialist does not take new patients.
What’s more, with the introduction of the CRDS (Centre de répartition des demandes de services), it has become very difficult, if not impossible, to consult the specialist of one’s choice.

A counsellor from the Centre d’assistance et d’accompagnement aux plaintes (CAAP) de la Montérégie accompanied and helped him write a letter of complaint to the complaints commissioner.
With this letter, he wished, on the one hand, to denounce the inability of users to really choose their healthcare professional and, on the other, to point out the CRDS’s interminable waiting lists, with the aim of improving services in the healthcare network.

CAAP Montérégie is the community organization mandated by the Ministère de la Santé et des Services Sociaux to help users file complaints in the public services sector.

We inform and guide users through the complaint process, assist them in writing and formatting their letter of complaint and, if necessary, refer users to the appropriate body.

All our services are non-judgmental and confidential.
We respect the user’s desire to continue or not to continue the process, which means that the user can end the process at any time without having to justify it. If you think you need our services, don’t hesitate to contact us at 450 347-0670.