Internal medicine doctors at N.L. hospital give mass resignation notice, warn of 'impending crisis'

Ryan Cooke · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 27, 2025 4:30 AM EDT | Last Updated: June 27

Five doctors astatine a St. John's infirmary person tendered a associated announcement of resignation, saying their enactment situation has go "unsafe for some diligent attraction and supplier well-being," CBC Investigates has learned.

The doctors marque up the interior medicine department at St. Clare's Mercy Hospital — liable for a wide scope of captious services provided for some exigency patients and those admitted to the hospital.

The letter says the doctors volition not beryllium performing immoderate duties extracurricular their contractual obligations — nary evenings oregon weekends — starting connected July 1, until their resignation takes effect on Oct. 1.

"It has go progressively wide to them that continuing nether the existent exemplary would further compromise diligent information and the already fragile well-being of the team," reads the letter, written by lawyer Kyle Rees of O'Dea Earle and sent to the provincial wellness authority's enforcement connected Monday.

Rees declined remark erstwhile reached on Thursday, and stressed that neither helium nor his clients provided the letter to CBC Investigates.

In a statement, Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services said it cannot remark connected the resignation letter, but said it values relationships with each health-care providers, and seeks to guarantee diligent attraction remains unchanged by quality resources challenges.

In the letter, Rees writes that aggregate concerns person led to this point, citing a caller determination to region the hospital's nonmigratory support.

The doctors consciousness NLHS has not done capable to find solutions to the simplification of diligent sum resulting from the move.

"NLHS has consistently deferred work and failed to supply immoderate substantive program to code this impending crisis," the missive reads.

The 5 doctors are Michael Jakovac, Olatunji Odumosu, Stephanie Genge, Sanampreet Gurm and Evan Wee. 

Sources say two others — Leonard Phair and Alex Dias — had antecedently resigned.

Concerns backed by doctors astatine 2nd St. John's hospital

Meanwhile, internists astatine the Health Sciences Centre successful St. John's are informing the wellness authorization not to displacement the workload to their infirmary if the squad astatine St. Clare's resigns en masse.

Another missive was sent connected Thursday, co-signed by the interior medicine teams astatine St. Clare's and the Health Sciences Centre.

"Transferring the workload to the Health Sciences Centre is besides not an option," it reads. "HSC is operating astatine afloat capacity, and determination is nary infrastructure, abstraction oregon staffing to sorb the further burden."

According to that letter, St. Clare's routinely manages 100 admitted interior medicine patients, on with work for 15 to 20 exigency country consults connected a regular basis.

The missive besides warns that erstwhile the nonmigratory doc sum ends on July 1, St. Clare's volition not person an effectual squad successful spot to grip Code Blue emergencies — cardiac oregon pulmonary arrest.

"Lack of a due Code Blue squad is unsafe and volition person disastrous diligent outcomes for aesculapian and surgical patients."

The teams are calling for "immediate engagement" and privation a written response "outlining however N.L. Health Services volition guarantee harmless and sustainable interior medicine sum astatine St. Clare's beyond July 1, 2025."

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