Is the movie 'John Q.' based on a true story?

The good news is that most of us will never find ourselves in quite the medical crisis the John Q. family does. In the movie, which was written in 1993, during the Clinton health-care-reform battle, the parents are told that a heart transplant costs $250,000, that their insurance doesn't cover it and that they're required to post a $75,000 deposit or their sick son will be sent packing. While it's true that hospitals expect to be reimbursed for services provided to even the neediest and most grievously ill patients, it's not true that they handle things in so mercenary a manner. "That's Hollywood," says Anne Paschke, spokeswoman for the United Network for Organ Sharing. "The fact is, there are a lot of things that would prevent that from happening in the real world."

On New Year’s Eve, 26-year-old Henry Masuka rushed his infant son to the emergency room of St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto. He was apparently told that there were no pediatricians on duty and he would have to wait approximately 45 minutes before a doctor could see his son.

At that point, witnesses say Masuka pulled out a gun wrapped in a towel and held it to a doctor’s head, demanding his son be seen immediately. The police were called and upon their arrival, they shot and killed Masuka. Later, it was discovered that Masuka’s weapon had in fact been an unloaded pellet gun. Masuka’s son was uninjured and was able to leave the hospital in his family’s custody.