Ottawa woman's MRI cancelled after mentioning her family doctor retired
Lisa Kis booked time off work, fasted, drove across the city and paid for parking on her way to a long-awaited MRI appointment. When she got there, she was turned away.
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The reason? Her family doctor had retired.
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The situation left the Ottawa woman — who works in the health-care field — in disbelief. 'An MRI is a pretty serious thing. It never occurred to me I would be turned away.'
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Now Kis is looking for answers for herself and thousands of people like her who are trying to navigate Ontario's health system without a family physician.
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'When I started walking back to the car (after being turned away from the MRI appointment) I wanted to cry because I was so frustrated. I know wait times for MRIs are long. What about people who have something seriously wrong?'
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In 2024, doctors found spots on Kis's liver and advised her to undergo a follow-up MRI a year later to see whether they had changed or grown.
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Her doctor put in a requisition in January and Kis's appointment was set for July 16. But then her doctor retired in April.
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Kis regrets mentioning at the check-in that her doctor had recently retired. As soon as she did, she was told by an apologetic health worker that the MRI could not go ahead because there was no way to bill for the MRI if her doctor had retired. She was also told that the situation should have been explained to her when the MRI was booked – something that Kis noted was done through an automated system. 'I talked to no one.'
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Now her only option is to go to a walk-in clinic to make a case for another referral, something that she fears will put her at the back of the lengthy queue for an MRI in Ottawa.
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In a letter to Premier Doug Ford, Health Minister Sylvia Jones and others, Kis wrote:
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'Millions of people in Ontario do not have a family MD, as you know. I am fortunate that otherwise I am in good health. I would hate to think of an elderly person with respiratory or mobility issues going to the effort of attending this appointment for nothing, including no food/water in a heat wave.
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Her experience with an MRI is not the first time Kis has struggled to get needed healthcare since her doctor retired.
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Earlier this year, she received a letter from Cancer Care Ontario informing her that she should get a FIT (fecal immunochemical test), which is the recommended colon cancer screening test for people with average risk to detect cancer early.
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