No hospital wait for 'buddies' of Alta. politicians: doctor

Source: CBC News

An emergency room doctor says "buddies" of Alberta politicians received preferential medical treatment while other patients were left waiting.

Dr. Raj Sherman said Tuesday he personally experienced requests from hospital executives for certain patients to get preferential treatment.

"It was a practice that was common, that we regularly saw on the front lines. Where certain members of society got in the back door while others had to wait," he said. "Certain people got to jump the queue regularly."

Sherman is a former Alberta Progressive Conservative MLA who is now an indpendent MLA.



Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/story/2011/06/07/calgary-alberta-doctors-waiting-health-care.html

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Duckett's claim fuels health-care fight

EDMONTON - After months of debates over how to solve the long wait times for health care in Alberta, the solution was right under our noses all along: become a member of the Alberta Progressive Conservative party.

It seems well-connected Tories have been able to jump the queue for years.

At least that's the allegation made by Stephen Duckett, the former chief executive of Alberta Health Services and perhaps the only person ever fired for eating a cookie on the job.

In a presentation made at the University of Toronto a month ago (and just coming to light now via an online video of his speech), Duckett talked about what many critics in Alberta had suspected: that people with government connections got preferential treatment.

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Duckett+claim+fuels+health+care+fight/4904106/story.html

than an American being given preferential treatment because he has a close relationship with Benjamin Franklin.