Huge public response to parking issue

On November 28th, 2011, an editorial appeared in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, by Dr.Rajendra Kale, MD, Editor-in-Chief (Interim).

Dr. Kale stated that, “(P)arking fees are a barrier to health care and add avoidable stress to patients who have enough to deal with. They can and sometimes do interfere with a clinical consultation, reducing the quality of the interaction and therefore of care.”

He went on to say that, ” such fees are, for all practical purposes, user fees and a barrier to health care. Using revenue generated from such surrogate user fees for health care is against the health policy objective of the Canada Health Act and could become the subject of a legal challenge.”

The full editorial can be found at http://www.cmaj.ca/content/early/2011/11/28/cmaj.111846.

In response, the major media outlets of the nation have taken up the story, bringing the issue to public attention and starting a dialogue in the press, online and on broadcast media.

We urge you to search out these stories and add your voice to those who challenge the impostion of parking fees on a moral and legal level.

Some of these stories are at the links below:

http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Parking+fees+both+happy+trips+hospital/5823399/story.html

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/new-health/andre-picard/hospital-parking-fees-are-just-another-cost-of-sickness/article2260572/?utm_medium=Feeds%3A%20RSS%2FAtom&utm_source=Life&utm_content=2260572

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/the-hot-button/are-hospital-parking-fees-a-barrier-to-health-care/article2252183/

http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Hospital+parking+fees+spark+cries+ouch+from+patients+families/5811671/story.html

http://www.torontosun.com/2011/12/02/ban-hospital-parking-fees

http://www.cbc.ca/whitecoat/blog/2011/10/28/park-your-frustration-show/