Home / Health / Former LHSC Doctor Blows Whistle on $60M Fraud, Warns of Patient Suffering
Former LHSC Doctor Blows Whistle on $60M Fraud, Warns of Patient Suffering
18 Jul
Summary
- $60 million alleged fraud at London Health Sciences Centre
- Former doctor Ian Chin-Yee says mismanagement will hurt patients and workers
- Chin-Yee worked 35 years at LHSC, focused on improving efficiency and care
A former doctor at one of Canada's largest hospital networks is blowing the whistle on a major fraud scheme that he says will have devastating consequences for patients and healthcare workers.
Dr. Ian Chin-Yee, who spent 35 years working at the London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC), including 20 years in leadership roles, retired in January. He is now speaking out about the $60 million in alleged fraud uncovered in a recent audit of LHSC's finances. The hospital has filed lawsuits implicating several former executives and board members in what it calls a "calculated, multi-year campaign of deceit and theft."
Chin-Yee says the revelations have triggered feelings of "anger and betrayal" after he worked alongside dedicated professionals to improve care within LHSC's financially strained system. He warns that the repercussions of the mismanagement will ultimately fall on patients and frontline workers, as the hospital has been forced to make cuts, freeze funding, and overwork staff.
The former program head of laboratory medicine says his own department experienced staffing reductions even as it struggled to meet demand, leading to delayed test results that could impact timely treatment. Chin-Yee is hopeful LHSC can rebuild trust, but cautions that the damage has already wasted valuable time and energy that the hospital system can ill afford to lose.
