Medical upselling in Canada can cost patients thousands of dollars – CBC

‘I don’t know if it’s illegal, but it’s unethical,’ says one Ontario patient

Apr 02, 2023

Lois Cooper says she was upsold thousands of dollars in extra services at a private, for-profit clinic, and when she started to ask questions, the doctor told her to leave. She’s not the only Canadian who’s gone through the questionable practice.

It’s the pile of bills that sums up her medical journey.

“This is the note that I made when I got the phone call in January,” said the 75-year-old from Gravenhurst, Ont. “And I was told there’d be a $150 fee…. That was the beginning of starting to pay for stuff.”

Cooper had a macular hole in her right eye and needed medically necessary surgery called a vitrectomy, a procedure where the surgeon removes the gel-like substance around the eye called the vitreous and replaces it with another solution.

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/medical-upselling-private-clinics-patients-1.6797892