VANCOUVER -- A B.C. doctor has fired the latest salvo in a battle over what the provincial government calls extra billing, but what he calls unacceptable delays for health care.

Dr. Brian Day, founder of the Cambie Surgical Centre in Vancouver, says four patients have joined his constitutional challenge of the province's health care laws.

Day says his amended lawsuit against the commission, the minister of health services, and the attorney general, will be filed today in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver.

The suit was launched in mid-July after the medical services commission announced an audit revealed 205 incidents where the Cambie Surgery Centre violated the Medical Protection Act by billing for services covered by medicare.

Commission Chair Tom Vincent ordered an immediate halt to the practice, promising to seek a court injunction if it did not stop within 30 days.

Day insists patients have the right to receive and pay for health services as they wish, rather than endure wait lists, and he has vowed to fight the matter all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada.

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