A surgery at St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver November 9, 2011.John Lehmann/The Globe and Mail
A B.C. supreme court justice has granted health authorities an injunction to prevent service cuts next week by B.C. anesthetists.
The anesthetists, members of the B.C. Anesthesiologists Society, were prepared to stop participating in elective surgery next week to press their contract demands.
But Justice John Savage headed off the protest, which was to begin April 2, with his ruling Friday afternoon.
"In this case, the persons most harmed in this dispute are the persons waiting for surgeries," he told the court.
But he allowed for a hearing on April 18 to revisit the matter over three days.
The ruling Friday was focused on resolving the imminent dispute.
The hearing was told the protest would have affected more than 1,600 surgeries.
Ian Bailey