Medical Test - How people are being exploited?

[SiddApsAdAy]

Hi All

This is just to inform you that what is happening in the name of medical test in Toronto. I visited with my family for medical checkup. After checking me and my son, doctor asked me to leave the room so that he can checkup my wife and my daughter. Following is what doctor communicated:-

My wife has to lift the shirt up so that he can check her properly.
Checking by stethoscope only works on the skin.
He insisted by we refused to do so.
We were suggested to surely make a visit to his son who is a dentist.
Wrong information was entered in the system and later email came to us from a personal account.
Doctor spoke to us by blocking his calling no.
When objections were raised doctor didn't gave the letter for confirmation related to correction of record in letter head.

please be aware of these types of doctors.

I am going to raise this thing to local new papers and also wants to raise the same with Cic. Can anyone suggest what can be done to pass this information to icici?

best regards,

 

[Poojaree]

I just cannot believe this, have you reported this to the police?

Hi All

This is just to inform you that what is happening in the name of medical test in Toronto. I visited with my family for medical checkup. After checking me and my son, doctor asked me to leave the room so that he can checkup my wife and my daughter. Following is what doctor communicated:-

My wife has to lift the shirt up so that he can check her properly.
Checking by stethoscope only works on the skin.
He insisted by we refused to do so.
We were suggested to surely make a visit to his son who is a dentist.
Wrong information was entered in the system and later email came to us from a personal account.
Doctor spoke to us by blocking his calling no.
When objections were raised doctor didn't gave the letter for confirmation related to correction of record in letter head.

please be aware of these types of doctors.

I am going to raise this thing to local new papers and also wants to raise the same with Cic. Can anyone suggest what can be done to pass this information to icici?

best regards,

 

[SiddApsAdAy]

It happened so fast that we didn't know what needs to be done. Now I am trying to find out how I can send this info to CIC and new papers.

 

[nagrish]

everybody goes through this process. it is a few minutes that are not nice at all for both male and female. you can request female nurse present during examination. Maybe these contact details will help if you want to make official complaint. Good luck.


In Canada

Operations Directorate

Mail: Director of Operations
Health Branch
Citizenship and Immigration Canada
219 Laurier Ave. West, 3rd floor
Ottawa, ON K1A 1L1

Interim Federal Health Program

Mail: Director, Interim Federal Health Program
Health Branch
Citizenship and Immigration Canada
219 Laurier Ave. West, 3rd floor
Ottawa, ON K1A 1L1

Email: IFH-PFSI@cic.gc.ca

 

[scylla]

It's actually completely normal and correct that the stethoscope should be against the skin (not through a shirt). If there is a shirt in the way then the doctor can't hear the patient's lungs/heart clearly. The doctors completing the medical exams for immigration applications have to do a thorough exam per CIC's rules to ensure the applicant's lungs/heart are clear - this can only be done with the stethoscope against the skin. I've lived in Canada all of my life and gone to many many doctors. No one uses the stethoscope through a shirt. It's always on bare skin.

I wouldn't bother reporting this part of your complaint since what the doctor did was perfectly normal and the correct approach. You can feel free to report the rest of your concerns.

 

[zardoz]

Hi All

This is just to inform you that what is happening in the name of medical test in Toronto. I visited with my family for medical checkup. After checking me and my son, doctor asked me to leave the room so that he can checkup my wife and my daughter. Following is what doctor communicated:-

My wife has to lift the shirt up so that he can check her properly.
Checking by stethoscope only works on the skin.
He insisted by we refused to do so.
We were suggested to surely make a visit to his son who is a dentist.
Wrong information was entered in the system and later email came to us from a personal account.
Doctor spoke to us by blocking his calling no.
When objections were raised doctor didn't gave the letter for confirmation related to correction of record in letter head.

please be aware of these types of doctors.

I am going to raise this thing to local new papers and also wants to raise the same with Cic. Can anyone suggest what can be done to pass this information to icici?

best regards,

See http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/publications/dmp-handbook/#chap3.4.9

 

[Mightytonewheel]

My wife has to lift the shirt up so that he can check her properly.

I'm no medical ethics expert but doctors ask patients to remove their clothing all the time. It's routine.

Checking by stethoscope only works on the skin.

Again, this is normal. Doctors are taught to use a stethoscope on bare skin because doing it through clothing reduces the quality of the measurement. I've never had a Canadian doctor try to use a stethoscope on me over a shirt.

Wrong information was entered in the system and later email came to us from a personal account.

Could this have been a human error? Everyone makes mistakes.

Doctor spoke to us by blocking his calling no.

I don't know how common this is but there's a simple explanation. Doctors are bound by confidentiality and privacy. Many of their patients live with other people, and doctors want to protect their patients from roommates, spouses, parents, children, etc., knowing that the patient is in communication with a physician. Blocking a phone number is an easy way to make sure other people in the household are not informed of the doctor-patient relationship. It should not be viewed with suspicion.

Maybe I'm missing something but I honestly don't see much wrong here.

 

[jes_ON]

My wife has to lift the shirt up so that he can check her properly.
Checking by stethoscope only works on the skin.
He insisted by we refused to do so.
We were suggested to surely make a visit to his son who is a dentist.
Wrong information was entered in the system and later email came to us from a personal account.
Doctor spoke to us by blocking his calling no.
When objections were raised doctor didn't gave the letter for confirmation related to correction of record in letter head.

please be aware of these types of doctors.

I am going to raise this thing to local new papers and also wants to raise the same with Cic. Can anyone suggest what can be done to pass this information to icici?

I understand you are upset, but the worst this doctor can be accused of is maybe being culturally insensitive.

Removing the shirt is normal practice here, as others have pointed out. Your wife can ask for a gown if that makes her uncomfortable - she can be covered while the doctor can still do what s/he needs to do.

Asking you to leave the room is also normal, this way he can speak directly to your wife. But for future reference, you do have the right to ask that a female staff person is also present. Most doctors do that automatically (it is safer for them too), but perhaps because your daughter was there (depending on how old she is), it was not deemed necessary.

You can also look for a female physician, if that would make you more comfortable.

Blocking the phone number is also normal - if patients had the doctor's direct line, s/he would never get off the phone or be able to do anything but answer the phone.

 

[SiddApsAdAy]

thank you for the replies. No doctor so far has asked us to remove the shirt to use stethoscope so far. Also this doctor did a mistake with date of passport and he has communicated to me over plain letter. He is not ready to issue me the correction over letter head. His staff communicated to me using personal email id.

 

[Naheulbeuck]

To be fair, you refused and my guess is you accused him of inappropriate behavior when he was only doing his job and what is required from him by CIC.

It does not seem that surprising that after that he didn't pay extra attention when filing information and made mistakes. Also if he wasn't able to do all the check required by CIC i fail to see how he could provide you the letter you are expecting from him as this would jeopardize his own licence to provide the CIC medical exam...

You can't wrongly call out their professionalism and expect after that that they will do the best job possible...

I would suggest that you ask for a female doctor for your wife and do some research on stethoscope as doing it through clothes is actually a mistake some doctors do, not the proper practice...

 

[pfse]

No doctor so far has asked us to remove the shirt to use stethoscope so far.

Depends on what is being tested. For lung tests it is very important to use stethoscope directly on skin as even hardly noticeable noise in lungs may indicate a serious injury. Doing this test on shirt a doctor can miss these noises and ,as a result, give a wrong diagnosis.

 

[jes_ON]

Depends on what is being tested. For lung tests it is very important to use stethoscope directly on skin

Exactly right.

It's not entirely clear how much of the exam was affected by your refusal. You need to try to verify (with CIC) whether the exams were "complete" or not. Because if they were not complete, you will need to repeat the exams, otherwise your application could be refused for lack of medical clearance - you should perhaps contact CIC and explain the situation (you were surprised and upset by the doctor's practices because they are different from what you are used to, and you had some miscommunication).

 

[scylla]

thank you for the replies. No doctor so far has asked us to remove the shirt to use stethoscope so far.

If no doctor has ever done this it means you have never had a proper chest exam. A proper chest exam is required as part of the PR process. Again, there is nothing to complain about when it comes to the stethoscope exam. What the doctor did was correct.I hope you complied with the doctor's instructions, otherwise your medical may be incomplete.

 

[mesumrizvi]

Well i have done 3 medical tests for Canada so far.. 2 for study permits and 1 for PR.. the only time i was asked to take off shirt was in 2001 (Pakistan).. apart from that my other 2 exams 2012 and 2015 (both in Canada) i never had to take off anything.