Duckett apologizes for cookie comments

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Duckett apologizes for cookie comments

1 hour, 41 minutes ago

By Jen Gerson and Renata D'Aliesio

The chief executive of Alberta Health Services apologized Saturday for his

cookie comments as critics renewed calls for his dismissal.

Followed Friday by a group of reporters seeking comment about the state of the

province's lengthy emergency room wait times, AHS CEO Duckett's primary

response was: " I am eating my cookie. " He then continued to walk away and munch

on the snack.

Duckett apologized on his blog and in a written statement on Saturday.

His repeated cookie remarks followed a daylong meeting of about 100 medical

leaders from Alberta Health Services pulled together to draft remedies to the

emergency care crisis.

" The meeting made great progress, " Duckett wrote on his blog. " That success has

to some extent been overshadowed by my poor responses to the media afterwards,

which I deeply regret and for which I apologize unreservedly.

" I certainly respect the media's right to ask timely questions in the public

interest. "

The response has since been posted to video-sharing website YouTube and has

garnered both humour and outrage online, where it has become a talking point

among local Twitterati and was even turned into a mock music video.

The comments incensed one patients' rights advocate.

Dawn Eres, who is fighting cancer and once spent eight hours waiting to have her

heart checked while dealing with a massive infection, said she's seen too many

patients stuck in hallways to be unaffected by Duckett's behaviour.

" I'm very, very angry. He's being flippant about the state of our health-care

system when there are so many people out there begging to make ends meet. That's

what gets to me, he's so flippant. "

The blog-post apology did little to quell government critics, who are calling

for Duckett's head.

" He needs to go, " said Liberal opposition leader Swann.

" This is too little too late and I think we need to move on. He has had 18

months and more to deal with the most serious crisis (in emergency rooms).

" This cookie incident is the last straw, in my point of view. "

NDP Leader Mason agreed, adding he was shocked when he watched the clip.

" I thought it was so inappropriate. It reminded me of Marie Antoinette saying,

'Let them eat cake,' " he said. " I think it looks terrible, especially in the

context of a health-care system in crisis and people dying in emergency rooms

because of the system. "

Health Minister Gene Zwozdesky said the AHS board chair, Ken , would be

looking into the comments, but that he continued to have faith in Duckett as the

CEO.

" I told him I thought those were inappropriate comments. (I said) I'm sure you

regret you uttered them, and he said, 'Yes.' "

When asked about Duckett continuing in his position, Zwozdesky said, " Well,

someone has to lead it -- he has performance measures, he has his targets. "

Alberta Health Services has come under fire this week from Dr. Raj Sherman, the

province's parliamentary assistant for health. He accused the organization of

making several " knucklehead " decisions, including a proposal last year to close

acute care beds at a mental health hospital.

Sherman also contends action to ease hospital overcrowding and long patient

waits has been too slow, citing the cases of several Albertans who died because

they didn't receive timely medical aid.

The impromptu cookie scrum was the only opportunity for members of the media to

obtain a comment from Duckett on Friday.

In his apologetic statement, Duckett acknowledged the problems: " Most

regrettably, I did not convey what I deeply feel, which is the greatest respect

for the difficult challenges our health-care providers face every day, and their

innumerable achievements, and what those challenges and achievements mean for

our patients and their families. "

He said a news conference had been planned to respond to emergency room concerns

later on Friday. However, Dr. Eagle, the vice-president of quality and

service improvement with AHS, was going to answer questions, not Duckett.

" It has been my practice that because I am not an elected official, I do not

respond to comments from elected officials. I should have stopped to make all

this clear. "

Leader of the Wildrose Party, le , said the cookie commentary didn't

inspire her to call for his resignation, but she said it's clear the AHS needs

to be broken down into regional boards.

" I was speechless when I saw the video. It isn't just the comment itself. It's

the entire flippant attitude that Duckett expressed. It would have been enough

to say, 'Please come to our press conference in half an hour,' but he showed

such disrespect. "

His attitude shows that he doesn't feel he has to account to the people he's

serving, she said.

With files from the Edmonton Journal