Ex-nurse loses benefits over CBC interview

Ex-nurse screwed, loses benefits over CBC interview,
bullied by government to sign "claim waiver"

by Debbie MacKenzie

Bones screwed together:

To give me temporary pain relief, my surgeon screwed a metal cup to thin bone in my right hip, in an experimental approach. He put a similar device in my left hip, and I had to leave Canada to get this done. I have had 3 major hip surgeries and am expected to need more. This is a nightmare because I now have nearly no bone left where my hip sockets should be. This complex problem was caused by a birth defect, it physically disabled me, and it caused me to lose my job. But I had over 20 years in the Nova Scotia public service pension plan when Manulife demanded I "opt" out of that, triggering a horrible, 6-year-long, unfair legal battle against me by government.

Deformed bone and an old bone graft forced my surgeon to tip the metal cup up at a very awkward angle in my left hip, leaving me at exceptionally high risk to suffer serious complications in both hips. I had surgery shortly before CBC finished the Land & Sea show, which Manulife seized on as its excuse to demand that I "waive" my right to disability benefits and my retirement pension. I believe I was singled out for this abuse mainly because of my high medical risk, but that the government was also happy to find a way to punish me for seemingly "threatening fisheries," and for opposing the seal hunt. I have been treated far more harshly than other disabled ex-nurses under this government-sponsored LTD Plan.

A disabled ex-nurse needing repeated surgeries due to a painful bone disease, CBC aired on Land & Sea how I cannot enter a politically sensitive scientific debate without science credentials. Because of this, the Nova Scotia government destroyed my financial security, and unfairly refuses to pay disability benefits and retirement pension I earned through my former employment as a nurse.

Manulife terminated my benefits saying I was job ready as a "scientist" or whatever*, citing a bogus "transferable skills analysis" and the CBC show as if that was my "formal education and work history".

And Manulife went further; it tried to use its termination decision, false allegations against me including a false insinuation that I was dishonest, and my vulnerable position as a disabled single mother, as leverage to demand I naively "opt" to waive my rights, to give advantage to the Nova Scotia Public Service LTD Fund.

When I didn't opt as demanded, I was barred from appealing, and Manulife threatened to sue if I accused it of trying to "avoid having to pay out full claimant benefit entitlements by intentionally manipulating claimant situations like (mine) to the advantage of the Plan".

My lawyer asked the LTD Plan Board of Trustees for an appeal hearing, but the Board refused and demanded a blanket legal waiver from me, threatening to stop my benefits just before Christmas if I "failed" to meet this "requirement". When I refused to sign a waiver, they retaliated by stopping my benefits. My lawyer told me I was being screwed by a giant corporation and I needed to find a different law firm, one able to handle a case like this.

A Board agent, and NSGEU employee, then tried to control my actions by faking a power of attorney over me. She suddenly "deemed" herself entitled to control my legal representation, by switching contracts and claiming "trade union" authority over me when I was not a union member. Under this false pretence, which fooled me for a while, I was subjected to years of prying interrogation into my personal life and "my involvement in fisheries", threats that they would use a court order against me, and harsh criticism of "my conduct" by NSGEU staff. The "lay" person who switched contracts induced me to meet with her by claiming to "represent me", and advising me I'd otherwise be thrown out of court under the Trade Union Act. The NSGEU's lawyers and current government employees followed her lead and perpetuated the hoax.

Because I refused to be bullied to stupidly "sign a waiver" for its benefit and to my own serious detriment, government demands I stupidly allow it to dictate what I will "settle" my valid benefits claim for. But collecting full benefits is my right, and I already proved my right to those benefits under contract. I worked for many years as a registered nurse, caring for vulnerable Nova Scotians. But when I became the vulnerable one, government authority was abused to deprive me of income I already earned.

My incurable disease has caused such bone loss that my skeleton is now literally screwed together and I am at extreme risk, and it has prevented me from working since 1995. As a result, I am shunned by both insurers and potential employers, and I am considered unsuitable for retraining to do my former job or any other job. In my situation, it was reprehensible for claims handlers to demand that I "waive" my rights. Did Nova Scotia screw me financially in part to kill my amateur challenge to fisheries and seal management, perhaps to punish me for contributing to the politically unpopular Grey Seal Conservation Society, as well as for speaking to CBC? Lawyers tell me I'm screwed because the LTD Board switched contracts on me, and because Nova Scotia courts will defer to the Board and the NSGEU despite any dirty tricks or abuse they might inflict on me. Is this meant to be a joke?

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* Manulife sent me 40 pages listing hundreds of sedentary job titles besides "Fisheries Analyst", jobs with nothing to do with me and for which I was not qualified or experienced. (see entire list) But since I dared to discuss science with CBC while lacking science credentials, after a decade out of the workforce, did Manulife imagine I could instantly obtain paid employment doing science or any other type of work with no credentials? Did Manulife think CBC paid me? It didn't. Manulife insisted my appearance on CBC was both my "formal education" and "recent work history," when in fact I have no formal science education and no recent work history. Manulife wrongly insinuated (and the Nova Scotia Public Service blindly accepted) that I had been dishonest. Trying to fight this became a horrendous ordeal, as I seemingly have absolutely no avenue of legal recourse due to the overblown claimed "powers" and the gross abuse of power by the Nova Scotia Public Service Long Term Disability Trust Fund Board of Trustees.

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Background information and Contacts

Debbie MacKenzie: Codmother@bellaliant.net

The following other individuals also have personal knowledge of this story:

Dr. Michael Dunbar, Orthopedic surgeon, Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Center - (902) 473-7337

Mr. Charles Bruce, CEO Nova Scotia Public Service LTD Trust Fund, who personally involved himself in handling me and my case, including demanding that I "opt" to waive my rights (902) 461-0421 charles.bruce@nsps-ltd.com

Manulife Financial, Halifax - Victoria Martin, who signed the bogus "transferable skills analysis" and demanded I "opt" to abandon my rights - (902) 453-4300 victoria_martin@manulife.com

Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union (NSGEU) - Executive Director Kieren Tompkins and employee relations officer Tina Webber, who still insist they are entitled to "represent me" and to subject me to "union discipline" for "insubordination," although I have no job and I am not a union member - (902) 424-4063

The NSGEU acts in conflict of interest, betrays disabled healthcare workers.

Legal counsel for the NSGEU - Raymond Larkin, demanded my "willing suspension of disbelief", questioned me at great length, threatened to use a court order to force me to accept "NSGEU legal representation" although I had no job and I was not a union member - (902) 423-7777

Carol MacKinnon, currently "Project Executive, Public Health System Integration Health Promotion and Protection", and formerly Director of Public Health Services for the South West Nova District Health Authority. In that role Ms. MacKinnon demanded I treat my insurance dispute arising years after I lost my job as if it was instead a current "workplace dispute" based in Yarmouth (200 miles from my home). In this, Ms. MacKinnon demanded I accept "NSGEU legal representation" although I had no job, and although Ms. MacKinnon herself admitted she knew this was "inappropriate in the circumstances". MacKinnon also held herself out as entitled to "discipline" me for "insubordination." Carol.MacKinnon@gov.ns.ca

Maureen MacDonald, Nova Scotia Minister of Health and my current MLA, who commented that I must "feel betrayed" - health.minister@gov.ns.ca (902) 424-3377 (Department of Health) or (902) 455-2926 (constituency office)

Bill Estabrooks, Nova Scotia Minister of Energy and my former MLA, still looking for answers for me... - energyminister@gov.ns.ca or billestabrooks@navnet.net , (902) 876-2472 (constituency office) or (902) 424-7793 (Department of Energy)

Peter McLaughlin, Communications Nova Scotia, who erroneously reported in the Halifax Daily News in 2005 that I was "in full health" and who misquoted me. McLaughlin also reported that Manulife's attack on me might have been "a sick joke" but that anonymous "disability officials" were defending it nevertheless - MCLAUGPX@gov.ns.ca

Krista Daley, CEO of the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission, which promptly told me in Halifax that the abuse I was being subjected to was not a human rights violation. But then, a human rights officer in Sydney suddenly supported the "deeming" hoax, urged me to accept "NSGEU legal representation" although I had no job, and conducted an 18-month "human rights investigation" which resulted in my receiving an unsigned "investigation report" from the HRC urging me to accept NSGEU legal representation although I had no job. But the Commission itself ultimately dropped the matter rather than give me any hearing, because it saw no evidence of a human rights violation. - (902) 424-4111

Mary-Lou Stewart, CEO of the Nova Scotia Labour Relations Board, which initially supported the "deeming" hoax, encouraged me to file a complaint, but then backed off, refused me a hearing, saying my abuse by the LTD Board and the NSGEU was beyond its jurisdiction. - (902) 424-6950 stewartml@gov.ns.ca

Anne Gauthier, Project Manager for the "Vocational Rehabilitation Association of Canada" http://vracanada.com - Ms. Gauthier has recently spent weeks refusing to respond to my request for information on the connection between VRA Canada and an undated and unsigned document it sent to me after I complained about an ethical breach by one of its "professional" members, who was employed by Manulife, and after I refused to sign a permission for Manulife's involvement in that complaint handling process. (613) 507-5530

Professor Martin Willison, Dalhousie University, who also appeared on the CBC show where he said he "really liked my theory". Prof. Willison was later questioned about me by the LTD Board/NSGEU. http://sres.management.dal.ca/People/Faculty/Willison.php

Farley Mowat, who also appeared on the CBC show where he compared my futile environmental consciousness raising efforts to his own, and who nominally supported the Grey Seal Conservation Society. It seems Mr. Mowat might be suspected by "disability officials" of supporting me financially, but he never has, and we have not communicated since my legal ordeal began. But I will notify Mr. Mowat about this story now, since I've added his name to this media backgrounder.

Several of my family and friends who have witnessed the impact of this ordeal on me and my son are also willing to give statements to the media about this.

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Below is information CBC put online about its "Starving Ocean" program, and that Manulife put in my disability claim file as evidence against me. The show aired on Sunday, June 13, 2004 and Manulife attacked me two days later. This was CBC's 2004 web abstract of what I was doing. Recently, in 2010, CBC posted the show itself in its online archives at http://www.cbc.ca/landandsea/2004/04/starving-oceans.html

When I told her I was being threatened with losing my benefits because I had been seen on CBC, Land and Sea producer, Joan MacKinnon, promptly wrote a letter to Charles Bruce, the Executive Director of the Nova Scotia Public Service LTD Plan. I have never been given any indication that Mr. Bruce responded to the letter from CBC. But here is a copy of Joan MacKinnon's letter:

Manulife sent me 40 pages listing 700 job titles in the order shown below. Manulife said it was up to me to actually find a new job and new employer, if I so desired. Manulife and the LTD Board absolutely refused to entertain any argument from me that I was still entitled to disability benefits under the terms of the contract because there was no reason to think I was actually prepared by my "education, training and experience" to immediately "engage for remuneration or profit" in any of these occupations to replace "80% of the current salary of my pre-disability job" (i.e. to earn a professional wage).

(Repetition of job titles below as in Manulife's original documents.)

fisheries analyst

fisheries program officer

researcher, natural and applied sciences

scientific consultant

social survey researcher

social program officer

public health inspector

health care consultant

health care planner

health services program consultant

liaison officer, health and social services

health policy researcher

community based trainer

correspondence school instructor

correspondence school tutor

nursing instructor

agricultural association analyst

agricultural issues lobbyist

analyst, agricultural association

certified ergonomist

certified industrial hygienist

co-ordinator, municipal recycling program

co-ordinator, waste management program

communications policy researcher

consultant, natural and applied sciences

energy policy analyst

energy program officer

environmental advisor (except engineer)

environmental consultant (except engineer)

environmental education consultant

environmental impact analyst

environmental issues lobbyist

environmental lobbyist

environmental program co-ordinator

environmental program development supervisor

environmental program manager

ergonomics consultant

ergonomics specialist

ergonomist

fisheries analyst

fisheries program officer

human factors engineer

human factors specialist (except engineer)

industrial hygienist

industrial waste reduction program co-ordinator

interface ergonomist

lobbyist, agricultural issues

lobbyist, environmental issues

multimedia ergonomist

municipal recycling program co-ordinator

natural and applied sciences consultant

natural and applied sciences policy analyst

natural and applied sciences program officer

natural and applied sciences researcher

natural resources planner

natural resources policy analyst

occupational hygiene officer

occupational hygienist

patent agent

patent agent, registered

patent searcher

policy analyst, natural and applied sciences

program co-ordinator - environmental organization

program co-ordinator, solid waste

program officer, energy

program officer, fisheries

program officer, natural and applied sciences

recycling co-ordinator - residuals management

recycling program co-ordinator

regional recycling and waste reduction program co-ordinator

registered occupational hygienist

registered patent agent

researcher, natural and applied sciences

scientific consultant

solid waste program co-ordinator

solid waste program manager

supervisor, environmental program development

transportation program analyst

transportation safety analyst

waste diversion consultant

waste diversion program co-ordinator

waste diversion program manager

waste management program co-ordinator

waste reduction and recycling officer

waste reduction education program officer

waste reduction program co-ordinator

work site analyst

work site auditor

...Manulife's job list went on considerably beyond this - and I'll reproduce the entire list here when I have more time - DM