The story of a newborn baby whose birth documents were initially withheld
by an obstetrician ("Marley's the baby who didn't exist," Nov. 27, and
"Pediatrician offers to treat baby Marley," Nov. 28) exposes a
lamentable, all-too-frequent reality. It represents the tip of a much
more significant problem faced by people who do not have permanent
residency status in Canada. Dr. Yvonne Vasilie from the Lakeshore
Hospital withheld baby Marley's birth documents because her parents,
Laura Cobian and Wayne Samuels, were not able to fully pay the fees for
the obstetric care provided to Cobian.Vasilie's actions are

Newcomers sucked into health care vacuum

Immigrants don't get breaks

by Stephanie O'Hanley

Imagine you were born in a developing nation and decided to leave in search of a land of opportunity, where the water doesn’t give you diarrhea, political militants don’t break into your house in the middle of the night and everyone has access to essential services and resources. Then, once you finally reached your destination, you discovered that you are ineligible to receive basic health care, even in case of an emergency, for a period of at least three months. Well, that would be the case if Canada were your land of choice.