Pediatrician says he's leaving P.E.I. practice because province won't accommodate his disability

For the past few years, it's been difficult for Dr. Jovan Vuksic to even imagine himself walking into a hospital, let alone working in one.  

The pediatrician began his career in maternity wards in British Columbia, but December 2021 changed everything for him. 

After experiencing three adverse outcomes in one week while practising there, Vuksic went on stress leave. 

He was eventually diagnosed with both post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

More than three years later, neither Vuksic nor his mental health team are sure he'll be able to practise in a hospital setting again. 

"Even thinking about it now is very uncomfortable," he told CBC News of that time in 2021. 

"When you have panic attacks at work during the most critical emergency situations, that's not safe for your patients no matter how badly you want to keep helping." 

In search of a more relaxed pace, Vuksic and his partner moved to Prince Edward Island in March 2023. 

He eventually reached out to Health P.E.I. about working as a pediatrician on the Island. 

That process proved to be anything but relaxing. 

Vuksic said he was told by Health P.E.I. that all pediatricians in the province must do on-call work in a hospital setting. 

When he told the agency he couldn't do that because of his disability, he said Health P.E.I. seemed to lose interest in hiring him.  

"They said everybody has to do [on-call], and I said, 'I have PTSD.' They said, 'Well that's too bad but everybody has to do [on-call].' So even at that point I had an inkling that there was a problem," Vuksic said.  

"I can not do the work, and the fact that a health authority for an entire island doesn't understand that a diagnosis of PTSD means can't not won't is very concerning to me."