Alberta Doctor Performs CPR on Stranger, Receives $250 Invoice for the Privilege
An off-duty Alberta doctor who resuscitated a stranger with CPR has been rewarded with the traditional Canadian honour: a $250 ambulance bill.
The physician, who was not on the clock, not in a hospital, and not legally obligated to do anything beyond dial 911 and look concerned, instead chose to kneel on pavement and manually pump a stranger's heart until paramedics arrived. For this, Alberta Health Services issued him a user fee, presumably because he availed himself of the ambulance's proximity.
The billing logic, insofar as anyone can locate it, appears to be that the doctor was a bystander who benefited from emergency services being nearby. This is roughly like charging a lifeguard for using the pool deck.
Asked for comment, the province noted that universal healthcare covers many things, but ambulance rides remain a boutique product, priced somewhere between a hotel minibar and a Taylor Swift resale ticket. Officials stressed that the fee is standard, non-negotiable, and applies equally whether the patient is your spouse, a stranger, or the person whose sternum you just cracked in service of the social contract.
The doctor is reportedly considering an appeal, though colleagues have advised him that the appeals process typically costs more than $250 in billable hours. In the meantime, Albertans are being quietly reminded that if they witness a cardiac arrest, the fiscally prudent response is to keep walking and wish the deceased well.
A GoFundMe is, inevitably, being organized.