Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my experience, patients have been handled with all the care and tenderness that a medical profession can apply. From my own experience, the dentists ask far too many times, *Does this hurt?" When I was at the hospital, the doctor that cared for me when I had kidney stones, asked more than once whether I was okay and made every effort to make me comfortable. I am assured by my own experience that the medical profession do everything to make the patient comfortable, to make the procedure as less traumatic as possible under those trying circumstances.
I can only assure the honourable Member that the medical profession go out of their way, in most cases, to ensure that the best quality of medical treatment is given to patients here in the NWT under our health care system. I cannot imagine anyone wanting to apply any techniques that are going to cause unnecessary comfort to somebody, knowingly and willingly doing that. I want to assure the public that in my experience, I am assured this is not the case. The patients are given, in most cases, a questionnaire to complete prior to and after any services that have been received at a hospital. They have avenues of presenting any concerns. It certainly should be first to their physician but failing that, to any other Member of this House. Surely the patients could have got a hold of any Member and given specifics and names and times and stuff like that and the Members would have brought this to my attention. They could have come to me; I would have dealt with it then or the department, through a process.
But I keep hearing of all of these cases and Mr. Speaker, I tell you I have not seen, and the department has not received, any formal complaints from the Status of Women Council or other member of the public that indicate there is a torturous procedure taking place in our hospitals and should not be condoned. I am asking that this be looked into and to assure the public and restore confidence in our medical practices here in the NWT, that they are not doing things here that are not standard and not in the best interests of the patient.
I know that it is a very delicate issue. It is something that I have absolutely no way of knowing, the discomfort and humiliation and anything else that goes with having an abortion. It is either by choice or else through some accident. But I am sure the doctors there, and I have been assured by the medical profession, that every effort is made to make the patient as comfortable as they can be under these trying and traumatic times.