Canada sends patients with cancer to United States.

Faced with long waiting lists for cancer treatment, the government of Quebec province, Canada, plans to send patients to the United States at a cost of $US15000 (9375 [pounds sterling]) each. About 1200 patients are waiting for radiotherapy, 500 in Montreal alone, some for as long as five months.

Dr Carolyn Freeman, director of the division of radiation oncology at the McGill University health centre, estimates that about 280 patients could seek treatment in nearby Burlington, Vermont, and Portland, Maine.

As head of a government advisory committee composed of cancer researchers in Montreal, Dr Freeman approves of sending some patients to the United States …