Canadian resident without medicare gives birth in hotel

A Scottish woman married to a Canadian wound up having their baby in a hotel room - across the street from a Vancouver hospital - after she couldn't get provincial health-care coverage.

Giving birth can be a pretty traumatic experience. Giving birth in a hotel bathtub, well, that’s nearly impossible to imagine these days.

However, for Brennan Armstrong, originally from Ontario, and his Scottish wife, Lynee Aitchison, such was their reality.

The couple, who met in Whistler, B.C., opted to give birth across the street from a Vancouver hospital because Aitchison couldn’t get provincial health-care coverage due to a backlog at the immigration processing centre.

They chose their hotel strategically close to a hospital, just in case anything went seriously wrong.

When questioned on the situation, Armstrong said: “I didn’t think this could ever happen in this country.”