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Letter: ICBC dilemma

As Canadians we need to have a no fault compensation system
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Penticton Western News letters to the editor.

The legal professionals are invading ICBC just as they have done to our health care system.

The financial statement which is online, for the 2016 B.C. Medical Services Commission, page 56, shows that they have paid out $23 million of our tax payer money to an organization called Canadian Medical Protective Association. And ‘Protective’ is the operative word. Their employees – lawyers – are paid, using our taxes dollars, to defend physicians and institutions, even when there is reasonable questions, to the point of financially breaking families who are looking for answers when a loved one has been injured or died due to medical errors.

Every province pays tax dollars to this association. And their rates have gone up 200 per cent in the past three years. Canada is the only country that engages in this bizarre practice. That money should be used for long term beds that are so urgently needed for our senior population who are taking up beds in our general hospitals.

Norway, Sweden and New Zealand to name a few, have a ‘no fault compensation’ system. And this system has reduced the number of medical errors in those countries because there is no longer any cover up. Instead these errors are used as learning/prevention exercises.These professional are invading ICBC now and will advance when they get both feet in the door, they already have one foot in and must be stopped.

As Canadians we need to have a no fault compensation system in all our programs including vehicle and health care coverage.

George Noriega

Penticton