Canadian veterans victims of health care financial fiasco 

By Michele Mandel

Don Clouston, 86, holds a photo of himself and his brothers when they returned from the Second World War at his Kirkfield-area home on Wednesday. DAVE FLAHERTY/QMI Agency)

TORONTO - They were veterans of Canada’s most storied fighting unit in the Second World War. But now in the twilight of their lives, two elderly brothers find themselves on the hook for a $233,613.55 Ontario hospital bill while fighting lawsuits on both sides of the border.
They deserve much better than this.
All four Clouston brothers went off to war from Yorkton, Sask. — Jimmy was in the infantry while Johnny, Mac and Don all joined the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion. Mac, the oldest, fought in D-Day while Don, younger by five years, followed in the Battle of the Bulge on Christmas Day 1944 and parachuted into Germany in March 1945.
“I celebrated my 20th birthday with Mac on VE Day sitting in Wismar on the Baltic coast of Germany and drinking red wine,” recalls Don, 86.
Miraculously, all four brothers came home to Canada in one piece, their triumphant return captured in a prized newspaper photo that Don treasures to this day.
Jimmy and Johnny eventually passed on, leaving just two surviving Clouston brothers. Soon after the war, Mac moved to Niagara Falls, N.Y. to marry his American sweetheart and lived there for most of his adult life, driving a city bus. Don worked as a data programmer for an insurance company in Toronto before retiring to his home on Balsam Lake. But the two brothers always stayed close — crossing the border often for golf dates and family visits.
In 2009, Don’s family went down to Niagara Falls to attend the funeral of Mac’s second wife. They immediately knew he wasn’t well. “You could see Alzheimer’s was setting in,” recalls Don’s son, Mike, 43.
With his two children predeceasing him, 89-year-old Mac was now all alone. Don, who had his legal power of attorney, tried to find him a nursing home there but none would take him because of his Alzheimer’s. On Aug. 25, 2009, he did what a loving brother felt was his only choice — he brought Mac home to Canada to live with him. “There was no hesitation when I knew he was in trouble,” explains Don, who also cares for his 85-year-old wife with dementia.
Within days, though, Mac had to be rushed to Lindsay’s Ross Memorial Hospital. As a Canadian citizen who had lived so many years outside the country, OHIP wouldn’t begin covering the cost until he’d been a resident for three months. Until then, the hospital was told Mac had full health coverage under his plan with BlueCross of Western New York.
Mac remained at Ross Memorial for six months before he was moved to a nursing home in Fenelon Falls. Don visits him there every week, sharing the past with a brother who has forgotten much of the present — and is blissfully unaware of the financial trouble they now find themselves in.
Earlier this year, Don received a shocking letter from the hospital. BlueCross in New York was refusing to cover his brother’s hospital stay, claiming it was “custodial care” — or warehousing — rather than skilled medical care. He says officials at Ross Memorial had told him privately that BlueCross was angry because they’d wanted a 5% discount on Mac’s bill and were offered only a 2% reduction.
In a rather despicable move, the Lindsay hospital then demanded Mac and Don, as his legal guardian, pay for his stay. At $2,600 a day for the three months before OHIP took over, they’re being sued for a whopping $233,613.55 — plus interest.
The hospital declined to comment, saying the matter is now before the courts.
The Cloustons’ lawyer sent a letter to BlueCross asking them to resolve the matter. When the company refused, the brothers sued the American insurer, arguing it’s the one who should pay. They were unaware that BlueCross had already launched its own lawsuit in New York, asking for a court “declaration” that it’s not responsible for the bill.
“Now you have the unfortunate situation where two elderly men who are veterans are being sued in two different jurisdictions over the same matter,” says their lawyer, Clifford Jackman.
These are battles this octogenarian should never have to fight.
“I think it doesn’t mean a damn thing to them what you did in the past,” Don shrugs. “All they’re looking for is money. Period. What you did in the war doesn’t mean anything to them.”
So on the eve of Remembrance Day, two elderly paratroopers who served this country well are being dragged through the courts by a heartless insurer and a merciless hospital. Shame on them both