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I am a queer crip living in New Brunswick & I want a Dr. My options are: have no Dr., go on a waitlist to try to get a Dr. with no guarantee of safety, or--and this makes me lucky!--begging an anti-abortion Dr. that works about 150 km away from me to take me on as a patient! Woo!
Here's the story. When I was a kid in St. George we had a family Dr. Since the early 2000s, the waitlist for a family Dr. in NB has gotten absurd--it's ~37,000 people long. And, because Higgs is forcing the closure of Clinic 554 in Fredericton, it's about to become ~40,000 people
But I'm disabled. I NEED a Dr. and I can't afford to wait years and years--I am on some really complex medication plans & access other medical treatments that are difficult to manage even with consistent care.
I accessed care through the student health centre for 6 years, where I was consistently followed by a NP. But, because I graduated last May, I lost access to that service on September 1st. I knew that this was going to happen so I've been on the family Dr. waitlist since 2018
& due to a psychiatric mix up, I am currently on a cocktail of medications that I am not supposed to be on, but can't go off without medical supervision, I'm months away from accessing psychiatry (though I do finally have a referral to a trustworthy psychiatrist...)...
(...& I emphasize "trustworthy" because I have seen 3 psychiatrists in Fredericton who all either tried to medicated me for my facial hair, called me a liar for saying I'm not on T, or dismissed the influences of trauma on mental illness. My new psychiatrist is in Saint John)
...Still, it will be months before I can get off this medication regimen that I am not supposed to be on bc I don't have a Dr. to follow this dangerous transition, & I've been taking these meds for 7 months already
But I'm lucky! I used to live here! I could access a family Dr. (maybe!) by calling up the Dr. in St. George, giving my deadname, & asking him to take me on again! What a great idea! Except... If you look up Dr. Corey Burton in St. George, you'll notice some things...
If you can get past that distractingly bad website design, you will notice a tab called "Christian Resources". Nothing against loving Christians, but religion has no place in medicine, especially when there are vocal sects of that religion which are aggressively anti-abortion.
This Dr.'s website is FULL of anti-abortion "resources", including websites which are vocally anti-queer. Which is, y'know, pretty dangerous for a queer person with a uterus.
But I feel so bad for being afraid of this Dr. I'm so lucky to have an opportunity to subvert the system! I could get a Dr.!!! I could get healthcare!!!!! But this is exactly the problem with healthcare in NB;
In Canada, we literally have a legal human right to choose our Dr.s, but, in NB, this is stigmatized as "shopping around" & frowned upon bc there aren't enough Dr.s for the needs of this population--and our provincial government keeps insistently slashing healthcare access
I should not have to make this choice. We shouldn't have anti-abortion, anti-queer Dr.s, & we especially should not be made so desperate that we feel guilty for wanting a safe Dr. when so many people in NB have no Dr.
NB is making me choose between my safety & my healthcare.
And what do the increasing waitlist size for a family Dr. in NB & my fear of Dr. C. Burton have in common? Men in power thinking they can & should stomp on reproductive rights.
Blaine Higgs is in violation of the Canada Health Act & his actions are making me feel pressured to compromise my safety, & Dr. C. Burton is creating dangerous spaces in medical care in NB. & this is why being randomly assigned to a Dr. from a list is so terrifying
NB, we have a right to choose our healthcare providers. We have a right to our safety, we have a right to our wellness, we have a right to our autonomy. & we need to demand these men in power stop taking them away &--more importantly--they need to LISTEN.
