Sued doctor claims health region owes him money

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This article was published 09/03/2024 (716 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Shoal Lake’s former physician, Dr. Kayvan Alamian Harandi, who is being sued by Prairie Mountain Health for $144,000, filed his statement of defence that claims PMH owes him money for working overtime in a setting that did not have appropriate support.

The health region filed the lawsuit against Harandi last December, seeking $144,385.60 in damages for the financial assistance it provided in the form of a loan.

Under a return of service agreement he signed with PMH in September 2018, Harandi agreed to work as a general practitioner until the end of March 2023, but he left in September 2022, according to the health region’s statement of claim.

The lawsuit also stated that if Harandi failed to fulfil the agreement, he would be required to repay the loan, plus any interest.

The allegations have not been proven in court.

Harandi, through his Winnipeg lawyer, filed a statement of defence and counterclaim on Feb. 22 in Court of King’s Bench in Brandon.

In it, Harandi stated that a year after he started working, he was regularly and consistently required by PMH to work unpaid hours “which greatly exceeded the hours which were contemplated by the Return of Service Agreement,” stated the court document.

The physician also said he has suffered losses because of the breach of contract by PMH, including not being paid for overtime, damage to his reputation and loss of income.

As a recent immigrant to Canada from Tehran, Iran, the defence document stated, Harandi had no legal training and English was his second language.

“Under these circumstances, PM owed him an ad hoc fiduciary duty to consider his best interests and not prefer its own interests over those of Dr. Harandi.”

Fiduciary duty means having a responsibility to act in the best interest of another party.

Harandi saw patients at the Shoal Lake-Strathclair Health Centre and the Yellowhead Community Clinic in Shoal Lake, drove to the Hamiota Health Centre about 20 minutes away and was required to be on call.

The physician also claimed PMH closed various lab and X-ray facilities in the health region, which “contributed to the unsafe practice setting.”

Four months before he left Shoal Lake, Harandi said in his statement of defence, he spoke with a representative of PMH to try to come up with solutions, “but no viable options were provided by PM.”

In Shoal Lake, there is no doctor and the hospital’s emergency department is closed, but the community has a nurse practitioner, said Merv Starzyk, the mayor of the Rural Municipality of Yellowhead.

“Oh, we’re the holding our own,” said Starzyk. “There’s no doubt that more of the local residents are seeking health care and have established a family doctor in other communities. So, there is this exodus of residents and patients that are seeking health care elsewhere.”

Starzyk said many of the residents are travelling 20 minutes to Hamiota, 40 minutes to Minnedosa, about 45 minutes to Russell, or spending an hour to drive to Brandon to see a doctor.

“It just does not make sense. So, last week we sent a letter to the health minister and asked for a meeting, just for an update and a chance to present some ideas that hopefully they’re open to,” Starzyk said.

According to PMH, it is still looking to fill Harandi’s position.

“We have not recruited a new physician to Shoal Lake yet, and we are still actively recruiting for a full-time physician to serve Shoal Lake and Hamiota,” a PMH spokesperson said in an email statement to the Sun.

The Sun reached out to Harandi for comment, but neither a phone message nor an email was returned by press time. He is working at McPhillips Medical Clinic in Winnipeg.

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