Court won’t hear case against Kingston doctor ordered to pay back $600k for COVID vaccines

A Kingston, Ont., doctor who organized dozens of vaccine clinics early in the COVID-19 pandemic — and who was ordered to pay back hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees for those services — says she’s feeling somewhat relieved after the latest turn in her legal ordeal.

But Dr. Elaine Ma says the process has still left her frustrated.

“It’s sad to me that we needed a court to tell Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) to be reasonable,” Ma told CBC’s All In A Day on Friday.

During the height of the pandemic, Ma organized 48 mass vaccination clinics where she — along with other doctors and medical students — administered thousands of doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

In 2024, the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) said she had to pay back $600,000 she had billed for the shots, plus approximately $35,000 in interest.

The case was first taken to the Health Services Appeal and Review Board (HSARB) — an “independent adjudicative and regulatory tribunal,” according to Ontario’s Ministry of Health — which ruled she needed to repay the government.

It was then taken to an Ontario court that ruled the HSARB had not considered extenuating circumstances.

OHIP then brought the case to Ontario’s court of appeal, which declined to hear it earlier this month.

What happens next is Ma’s guess.

The case could return to the HSARB, but Ma said she hasn’t been given a date.

CBC reached out to the health ministry for a statement, but did not hear back.

‘Time wasted’

Ma said the saga began because her name was on receipts sent to the ministry.

She said that was done because many of the medical students who helped arrange the clinics and give the shots weren’t in the billing system.

Ma said the $600,000 she initially got from the province covered all the preparation for the vaccine clinics, beyond simply just putting shots into people’s arms.

She said part of the reason she believes she deserves the money is because she’s responsible for medical students, overseeing what they do and taking responsibility for their work — in the same way that she would bill the province if a medical student delivered a baby.

Ma said she believed the province is pursuing her so strongly because it’s forgotten how pressing the danger was during the pandemic.

“The focus was on what’s the right thing to do. We’re in a medical emergency here. As a medical doctor, I believe that the right thing to do was to step up, and I have no regrets about that,” she said.

I’m both thankful for the courts that they are being reasonable and at the same point very disappointed that OHIP continues to pursue.– Dr. Elaine Ma

“I’m both thankful for the courts that they are being reasonable and at the same point very disappointed that OHIP continues to pursue.”

Ma lamented the fact there have likely been consequences to the public — and other doctors —because of her court battle.

Some physicians have stopped running drive-thru vaccine clinics, she said, something that was done well before the pandemic.

Ma said she’s still not certain when the court battle will end, because legally the case can return to the HSARB, which first ruled against her.

“It’s just frustrating that every time we go to another hearing board or another court, it’s just time wasted. It’s time and money wasted for that matter. It’s time away from my family. It’s time away from my medical practice,” she said.

“It’s time my other patients can’t see me. And for what purpose?”

OMA sticks with doctor

Ma’s ordeal has raised concerns about fairness, according to the Ontario Medical Association.

“We know that doctors were asked to step up during the pandemic and ensure we launch shots in arms and that we save lives, and that’s what Dr. Ma did,” said OMA president Dr. Rebecca Hicks.

Hicks said from the OMA’s perspective, it’s difficult to see someone act in good faith to protect patients and then end up being targeted.

“It squashes innovation in the future and it makes people afraid to act,” she said.