This doctor experienced an unimaginable trauma. Quebec’s proposed law would penalize her for it

Quebec doctors are pushing back against the Quebec plan to table a bill tying their pay to performance targets.

The Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government has been highly criticized for trying to pass legislation that would tie doctors’ pay to collective performance targets.

Critics say this approach would punish all doctors because some physicians can only work part-time.

Dr. Isabelle Gaston is one of the province’s doctors who works 25 hours a week.

Her name is known to many Quebecers.

Just over 16 years ago, Gaston suffered one of the worst traumas imaginable when her ex-partner, Guy Turcotte, killed their two young children.

She says her own long healing process has made her a better physician.

The former ER doctor now works in family medicine at a CLSC.

“When somebody is suffering, we’re talking the same language,” she told CTV News. “This makes me stronger and more able to give resources to my patient.”

But Gaston’s wounds never fully healed.

The physician suffers from post-traumatic stress and can’t take on a full-time workload.

She says the sounds of children screaming would be enough to trigger her at times.

“I would freeze, and then I would become all sweaty. Just talking about it, the chills come,” she said. “But you can’t not take care of this child ... so when the child goes away, I have to really calm my brain and go slower.”

Under the proposed Bill 106, tabled earlier this month, part-time physicians like Gaston and the clinics where they work would be penalized for not seeing enough patients.

Right now, doctors are paid on a fee-for-service basis.

The new law would link 25 per cent of doctors’ pay to collective performance targets.

That means if Gaston is unable to hit her targets, her colleagues would suffer as well.

“I serve my patients well. They are happy, I do a good job, and I don’t think I should feel ashamed, or my colleagues should be penalized because of all the bad things that happen in my life,” said Gaston.

She says there are many more doctors like her who, for age, disability or mental health reasons, cannot work full time.

She believes that doesn’t make them less valuable to the health system.

Marc Tanguay, interim leader of the Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ), agrees with Gaston, saying that “Quebecers don’t want to see their government starting a fight with their doctors.”

Instead, he said, the government should find ways to improve its capacity to offer services.

He called the bill a “last-minute” attempt at winning Quebecers back after promising to better the health care system for seven years.

Health Minister Christian Dubé’s bill is also facing opposition from the College of Physicians and the Quebec Federations of Family Doctors and Specialists.

Consultations on the bill are expected to start next week.

“Let’s see how it evolved until we get the consultation next week, and we’ll see after that,” Dubé said at the National Assembly.

With files from CTV News’ Maria Sarrouh.