NRM
spoke with controversial CMA president-elect Dr Brian
Day about his childhood in Britain, his famous friends
and what it's like to be the country's most controversial
MD.
NRM: What was
it like growing up in Liverpool?
Dr Brian Day: It was rough. It was
right after WWII and Liverpool had been bombed extensively.
My family had a hard time. But it was also very interesting.
I remember being at Queen Elizabeth's coronation
I was five or six. I remember the Suez Crisis because
we thought there'd be another war. And of course The
Beatles.
NRM: Speaking
of the Fab Four, who's your favourite Beatle?
Dr Day: Paul McCartney. I always thought
he was the most talented. They were four years ahead
of me in school, but I was often on the bus with them.
NRM: Did you always
want to be a doctor?
Dr Day: My father was a pharmacist so that's
what I wanted to do at first. I used to help him in
the shop and we would meet all the doctors. We decided
that medicine would be more interesting.
NRM: Your father
was murdered by drug addicts looking for a fix. Although
it was 20 years ago, do you still think about him often?
Dr Day: Yeah, I do. It was actually a father
and son. They followed him home one night, broke into
the house and killed him.
NRM:That's awful.
Dr Day:Yeah, it was.
NRM: You spent
some time in Cuba with Fidel Castro and his son, who's
also an orthopedic surgeon. What do a free-enterprise
physician and a socialist dictator talk about?
Dr Day: We talked about health policy and
education. Castro is remarkably knowledgeable about
medicine. Obviously our politics are not close, but
he's a very warm and charismatic individual. Know how
he eliminated waiting lists in Cuba? He got a letter
from an elderly patient, saying he was in a lot of pain
and needed a hip replacement but there was a year's
wait. So Castro called all the important people into
one big auditorium and gave a five-hour speech. He said
he'd call them all back again in a year and that there
would be 'consequences' if patients were still waiting.
He didn't even have to bring them back.
NRM: Your native
Britain has a blended private-public system, but the
NHS is now in crisis. Do you think Canada should follow
Britain's lead?
Dr Day: Who says the NHS is in crisis? They've
virtually eliminated wait lists with a pay-by-result
system. Instead of operating under a global budget,
hospitals get paid for what they actually do. It puts
the patient at the top of the pyramid. I'd love to see
that happen here.
NRM: How do you
feel about your nickname "Dr Profit"?
Dr Day: I prefer it to Dr Loser. But you
know, I co-own Cambie Surgery with 42 other shareholders.
We opened it because we couldn't operate on our patients,
not to make money.
NRM: Your wife's
a public healthcare FP. What's it like living a public-private
partnership?
Dr Day: We have four children under 11, so
she's out of it for a couple of years. But she is an
FP doing what they all do. The problem is the public
doesn't understand that FPs are running a business,
they're renting their own building, paying their own
staff, and they have to make a profit in order to survive.
They're publicly funded private practitioners.
NRM: What do you
do to unwind?
Dr Day: I go and watch my kids play soccer.
It's so stressful and relaxing at the same time. I'm
not a quiet spectator, but I only really yell when my
wife's not there.
NRM: Where'd you
go on your last holiday?
Dr Day: (Laughs) PEI?
NRM: I'm not sure
the CMA meeting qualifies as a vacation....
Dr Day: We took the family to Mexico last
January.
NRM: What's the
last book you read?
Dr Day: The Da Vinci Code. But it was too
long and I already knew the ending.
NRM: Be honest:
could you take Jack Burak in a fight?
Dr Day: Oh, I wouldn't fight Jack! I don't
think he should have done what he did, but he had the
right to.
NRM: Were you
surprised by the brouhaha surrounding the election?
Dr Day: A bit. I didn't like that the media
tried to turn it into a referendum on public vs private
healthcare, which it wasn't.
NRM: What's your
#1 goal for your first six months as head of the CMA?
Dr Day: I'd like to see wait lists drop and
some improvement in all the areas that are in crisis
mental health, rural, aboriginal and children's
health. I think the CMA can really influence governments
in those areas. But you know, being at the head of the
CMA is not like being Fidel Castro.!
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