Sudden termination of doctor’s service curious

The physician who had to fight against professional misconduct charges when he spoke out about high cancer rates in Fort Chipewyan, a community downstream from tar sands development in northern Alberta, has been let go – by the community he advocated for.

John O’Connor, who signed an agreement with the Nunee Health Board Society seven years ago to deliver on-call medical assistance, received his termination letter via email May 8. No reason was given and his attempts to get an explanation have fallen on deaf ears.

He has gone from “stunned” to “angry.”

“I have absolutely no idea what happened,” he said.

O’Connor said he was given the “heads-up by a person who was aware of background discussions” that the Nunee board was looking for physicians to cover on-call for Fort Chipewyan.

On the morning of May 8, O’Connor, who has hospital privileges in Fort McMurray, was on a conference call with Alberta Health Services and asked about his position as one of Fort Chipewyan’s on-call physicians. He was told he could retain the position if he submitted a business plan.

He was surprised by the direction but submitted his business plan by noon. Shortly after, he received a text from staff in Fort Chipewyan making him aware of a trail of emails that outlined discussion between Alberta Health Services and Nunee about replacing him.

About three hours later he received the email signed by Roxanne Marcel, Nunee board chair. O’Connor was directed to submit outstanding invoices for compensation by April 30, 2015, a timeframe that had already lapsed.

Marcel will not comment on O’Connor’s dismissal.

“We’re just working on something,” she said, but would not offer details.

Former Nunee society member Chief Steve Courtoreille of Mikisew Cree Nation says O’Connor was signed to an on-call agreement out of necessity.

“Because the doctors at the hospital in Fort McMurray weren’t going on-call for Nunee, so, because the changes were made with Alberta Health Services to have that changed (now), we didn’t need that service from Dr. O’Connor anymore,” said Courtoreille.

Nunee is in charge of health care in Fort Chipewyan, a hamlet which is home to members of the Mikisew Cree Nation, Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation and the Metis Local Association. All three groups have representatives on the board.

Tim Wilson, spokesperson for Alberta Health Services, says his department was not involved in the decision, but is aware that a number of steps have been taken by Nunee to “cover-off” O’Connor’s absence. From May 9 to May 20, 24/7 telehealth closed-circuit will be utilized, as will an on-call physician. After that date, there is to be a physician in Fort Chipewyan.

O’Connor said he has heard that Dr. Esther Tailfeathers will be resuming her monthly schedule of three or four days in Fort Chipewyan after leaving the community abruptly in April. Tailfeathers, who has a clinic on the Blood reserve in southern Alberta, had been making the trip to Fort Chipewyan for on-site appointments for the past three years. She also provided on-call services.

Staff at Tailfeathers’ clinic on the Blood reserve said she would return to the southern clinic on May 22. Tailfeathers could not be reached for comment.

O’Connor said he has also heard that Nunee is hoping to recruit a second in-community physician by September.

Courtoreille says, unlike Tailfeathers, O’Connor has not done clinical work in Fort Chipewyan for years.

O’Connor says it has been six years since he has been to the northern community as a treating physician but his contract was to provide on-call services for the nursing station, nurse practitioner, home care and paramedics.

His on-call duties ranged from prescription refills to organizing medivacs to liaising with physicians at the hospital in Fort McMurray to troubleshooting through telehealth. He says he was available almost 24/7 for the entire seven years.

Had he known he would be required to physically see patients, he says he would have “worked something out” with the health board.

O’Connor’s contract with Nunee was ongoing to be renewed annually. He believes the last time he signed an agreement was in 2013. For termination, either party needed to give three months’ notice. O’Connor’s letter said his termination was effective immediately.

Courtoreille said Fort Chipewyan patients can see O’Connor in the hospital in Fort McMurray.

O’Connor says he has received numerous phone calls from Fort Chipewyan residents, both offering their support and asking for his medical advice, which he is continuing to give.

“These calls, the solidarity, that’s what’s getting me through,” he said.

It was a solidarity he thought he had with the leaders in the Fort Chipewyan area as they banded together in 2007 to raise health concerns about living downstream of the oilsands.

“I’ve been standing on the platform with Fort Chip. I’ve travelled the world for Fort Chip on my own dime,” said O’Connor. He noted that when his medical license was threatened by the Alberta College of Physicians and Surgeons, the community and its leaders supported him.

Courtoreille said releasing O’Connor from his agreement has “nothing whatsoever” to do with the cancer issue.

The letter of termination received by O’Connor said he had “no authority to speak to or represent the Nunee Health Board Society in any way.…”

O’Connor presently spends three days each week in Fort McKay, where he serves as director of health and as a family doctor. The rest of the time he is on-call.