MONTREAL, Nov. 14, 2012 /CNW Telbec/ - Dr. Luc Bessette is suing the Ministère de la Santé du Québec [Québec's Ministry of Health] for patent infringement related to the province's electronic health record initiative. Dr. Bessette alleges that he informed the Parti Québécois government as early as 1999 that he held pending Canadian invention patents for shared network medical records. He claims to have discussed the matter with Mr. Bernard Landry, who was then Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, and Mr. Landry referred him to the Société générale de financement [General Financing Corporation]. Dr. Bessette also claims that the Ministry of Health prevented the project from moving forward in 2000 and is now infringing on his expected patent monopoly, with no regard to his intellectual property rights.
During the spring of 2012, Dr. Bessette learned that the Ministry of Health was planning to implement an electronic system that, according to him, would violate his patent claims. He then tried, on several occasions, to communicate with the Ministry, in hopes that they could remedy the issue. Despite Dr. Bessette's repeated attempts, the answer was a categorical no. In light of what seems to be a violation of his rights, knowingly committed by the Ministry of Health, Dr. Bessette decided to file a claim in the Superior Court, reserving the right to seek punitive and exemplary damages.
Dr. Bessette finds it regrettable that this mismanaged project, which has already exceeded the initial budget by several hundreds of millions of dollars, was not implemented earlier. As a result, several hundreds of million more dollars have been wasted, over the last 12 years, on medical errors and unnecessary testing caused by the fact that relevant information was not available in due time. This does not take into account the unnecessary suffering caused by the delayed implementation of better healthcare solutions.
When asked to comment on the situation, Dr. Bessette said: "On October 27, Les Affaires revealed that the Syndicat des fonctionnaires [Civil Servants' Union] is requesting a public inquiry into the awarding of IT contracts. According to the paper, the union is concerned that there may be instances of collusion or corruption related to this matter. And now that it is facing charges of possible intellectual property violation, the government refuses to respond. What message is the Parti Québécois government sending to inventors, creators and business people? Are they sending the message that, in Québec, neither creativity nor intellectual property rights will be respected? This is pathetic, unhealthy and tremendously counter-productive."
SOURCE: Crea-MeD clinique médicale privée Inc.
To obtain an interview with Dr. Luc Bessette, please contact Myriam Valcin at 514-574-6224.
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