NBMS Statement on RHA By-laws

The New Brunswick Medical Society wrote the leadership of both Regional Health Authorities late last week to advise them that after months of work, we still cannot support their revised by-law documents. We have reached this impasse because of our concerns about required documents which affect physicians, our rights to patient advocacy, and our functions within the health care system.

We first notified our members of our concerns in June after obtaining a set of draft by-laws that we could not support. We publicly committed to work together with the RHAs over the summer in an attempt to create a document we could mutually recommend to doctors. After working together to resolve many issues over the summer, there are still several issues that we cannot agree upon.

We have sent a document outlining our concerns to our members and are receiving their feedback as we decide how to move forward. In the meantime, we have urged all physicians not to sign any documents as a condition to practice in the RHA. New Brunswick’s doctors believe strongly in working together with the RHAs in a collaborative manner and still believe we can resolve our challenges with further efforts.

Robert Desjardins, MD FRCPC
President, New Brunswick Medical Society