Will Dr Day Americanize Canada's Health Care?

[TenPenny]

Well, yes, every system has waste and faults.

 

[pgs]

Well, yes, every system has waste and faults.

But do you think people like Dixiecup should have to wait so long for treatment ?

 

[TenPenny]

It's a consequence of our government restricting the number of practicing doctors.


As long as we get good care for life threatening things, the others can wait.

 

[davesmom]

In my experience, if you have a life-threatening condition, you get looked after as fast as possible.

In my experience you don't!
My husband became paralyzed and almost died because 1) he was misdiagnosed several times. 2) By the time he finally got a diagnosis (spinal infection) he was paralyzed but there was only two hospitals in the Province with the facilities to perform the necessary operation. He waited 6 weeks, finally got admitted and the neurosurgeon, after one look performed emergency surgery. He would have been dead in another few days!
He then spent 8 weeks in rehab learning to walk again and several more weeks in rehab as an out patient.


The point here is that the whole process cost the system hundreds of thousands of dollar. If he had been properly diagnosed originally and treated, the cost would have been a fraction of that.


I know that health care procedures vary from Province to Province (another dumb problem) but this happened in Ontario and it is only one horror story among many.

I am so tired of listening to this conversation again and again. Why we refuse to look into the systems that operate better than ours so that we can improve it simply baffles me. When I needed a hip replacement, the wait time was excruciating - so I was willing to cash in my RRSP's to go elsewhere to get it done just so that I could relieve myself of the pain. I figured that if I went down south, that I could at least claim a portion of the medical expense on my taxes. Checked with CRA - nope - no can do. Why? because the procedure was available here. "But", I said, I can't access it and I don't know when I can and I'm in pain". Too bad. You'll simply have to wait your turn. How is this a good system? How is it when people are suffering and there's no relief, how can anyone in good conscience
allow the suffering to continue until there's an "opening?" I called Dr. Day's clinic 'cuz I would have gone there but they don't do hips! Figures.


Anyway, to make a long story short, I did eventually get it done but the wait was incredibly long. I'm told that eventually I'll have to get my other hip done but it doesn't bother me at all and I'm hoping I die before I have to go through that again.


In the European model, I would have been able to get it done right away (or fairly quickly) and it would not have cost me a dime because both the public and private are covered. What's wrong with that? My sister-in-law's mother in Germany had hers done shortly after I did and her wait was a couple of weeks, not months. It didn't cost her anything either.


So we may have "universal health care" but I'm sure there are people dying just waiting for treatment - I have no doubt! How can we be proud about that?


JMHO

I don't know what Province you live in but in Ontario it is 'first come, first served' regardless. The only way to get immediate care is to present to an Emergency Room almost dead!


I am a retired nurse. One of my last patients was an 80 year old woman with advanced AD who had a hip replacement. There were younger people with no other serious health problems waiting in line while this 80 year old who was soon to become immobile anyway got her hip replacement.


I'm glad I was able to retire. The system had already gotten so inefficient then it was almost impossible to give the patients the care they needed. and it is a heck of a lot worse now!

 

[DaSleeper]

I am so tired of listening to this conversation again and again. Why we refuse to look into the systems that operate better than ours so that we can improve it simply baffles me. When I needed a hip replacement, the wait time was excruciating - so I was willing to cash in my RRSP's to go elsewhere to get it done just so that I could relieve myself of the pain. I figured that if I went down south, that I could at least claim a portion of the medical expense on my taxes. Checked with CRA - nope - no can do. Why? because the procedure was available here. "But", I said, I can't access it and I don't know when I can and I'm in pain". Too bad. You'll simply have to wait your turn. How is this a good system? How is it when people are suffering and there's no relief, how can anyone in good conscience
allow the suffering to continue until there's an "opening?" I called Dr. Day's clinic 'cuz I would have gone there but they don't do hips! Figures.


Anyway, to make a long story short, I did eventually get it done but the wait was incredibly long. I'm told that eventually I'll have to get my other hip done but it doesn't bother me at all and I'm hoping I die before I have to go through that again.


In the European model, I would have been able to get it done right away (or fairly quickly) and it would not have cost me a dime because both the public and private are covered. What's wrong with that? My sister-in-law's mother in Germany had hers done shortly after I did and her wait was a couple of weeks, not months. It didn't cost her anything either.


So we may have "universal health care" but I'm sure there are people dying just waiting for treatment - I have no doubt! How can we be proud about that?


JMHO

Strange....I was just talking to a guy last night who had it done as an out patient...
A new procedure they have that a few surgeons are using...
Here is a link that might explain it...
Hip surgery: getting the patient out on Day Zero | Montreal Gazette

In my experience you don't!
My husband became paralyzed and almost died because 1) he was misdiagnosed several times. 2) By the time he finally got a diagnosis (spinal infection) he was paralyzed but there was only two hospitals in the Province with the facilities to perform the necessary operation. He waited 6 weeks, finally got admitted and the neurosurgeon, after one look performed emergency surgery. He would have been dead in another few days!
He then spent 8 weeks in rehab learning to walk again and several more weeks in rehab as an out patient.


The point here is that the whole process cost the system hundreds of thousands of dollar. If he had been properly diagnosed originally and treated, the cost would have been a fraction of that.


I know that health care procedures vary from Province to Province (another dumb problem) but this happened in Ontario and it is only one horror story among many.




I don't know what Province you live in but in Ontario it is 'first come, first served' regardless. The only way to get immediate care is to present to an Emergency Room almost dead!


I am a retired nurse. One of my last patients was an 80 year old woman with advanced AD who had a hip replacement. There were younger people with no other serious health problems waiting in line while this 80 year old who was soon to become immobile anyway got her hip replacement.


I'm glad I was able to retire. The system had already gotten so inefficient then it was almost impossible to give the patients the care they needed. and it is a heck of a lot worse now!

Would you like a system where some are considered more worthy than others?
And who would judge their worthiness for something that is not immediately life threatening....?

 

[davesmom]

Strange....I was just talking to a guy last night who had it done as an out patient...
A new procedure they have that a few surgeons are using...
Here is a link that might explain it...
Hip surgery: getting the patient out on Day Zero | Montreal Gazette


Would you like a system where some are considered more worthy than others?
And who would judge their worthiness for something that is not immediately life threatening....?

It's not a matter of who's worthy - it's a matter of tending to the life-threatening cases first. Doctors, if they took the time to diagnose properly would be well able to distinguish what is a priority.
In order to make a decent living, the doctors have to overbook and they only spend a few minutes with a patient. The quicker they can get them out the more patients they can see.


I need to correct my previous post. There are not just 2 hospitals in Ontario that do major spinal surgery, there are 3. But it's not enough if they have 2 month long waiting lists.
Spinal surgery is done in Toronto, London and Hamilton. The people in places like Sudbury, North Bay or Thunder Bay would really be SOL!

 

[pgs]

Strange....I was just talking to a guy last night who had it done as an out patient...
A new procedure they have that a few surgeons are using...
Here is a link that might explain it...
Hip surgery: getting the patient out on Day Zero | Montreal Gazette


Would you like a system where some are considered more worthy than others?
And who would judge their worthiness for something that is not immediately life threatening....?

We have that already , police , firefighters , wcb patients heck even the incarcerated get pushed to the front of the line.Yikes even your local pro hockey player gets special treatment .
Nope no preferential treatment here .

 

[davesmom]

We have that already , police , firefighters , wcb patients heck even the incarcerated get pushed to the front of the line.Yikes even your local pro hockey player gets special treatment .
Nope no preferential treatment here .

Don't forget the politicians!

 

[Bar Sinister]

Liberty is a terrible thing.

Geez, Walter, we thought you'd died. But just in case you are interested, the thread has nothing to do with liberty. It has to do with a doctor who collects government cash fro each patient and then asks his patients for more. This is a clear violation of Canada's medicare guidelines. If this greedy ashhole wants to make more money he should move to the USA where massive overbilling for medical services is pretty much the norm.

 

[Dixie Cup]

DaSleeper - it isn't the amount of time spent in the hospital; it's getting the procedure done in a timely fashion. I didn't spend long in the hospital at all so that wasn't the issue. I had mine 3-1/2 years ago so I'm sure things have improved since then. The recovery time and discharge are faster simply because you don't go under a general anesthetic. When the procedure was done, and the meds wore off, I was amazed that I wasn't in any pain any more - it was friggin' fantastic!! I was back at work in 3 months.


If the procedure is being done even quicker with no negative results, then that's great because maybe it'll move the line along a bit faster. But (I can't remember who posted it) if the medical association wouldn't limit the number of doctors who are trained and who practice maybe the wait times wouldn't be an issue.


JMHO

 

[pgs]

DaSleeper - it isn't the amount of time spent in the hospital; it's getting the procedure done in a timely fashion. I didn't spend long in the hospital at all so that wasn't the issue. I had mine 3-1/2 years ago so I'm sure things have improved since then. The recovery time and discharge are faster simply because you don't go under a general anesthetic. When the procedure was done, and the meds wore off, I was amazed that I wasn't in any pain any more - it was friggin' fantastic!! I was back at work in 3 months.


If the procedure is being done even quicker with no negative results, then that's great because maybe it'll move the line along a bit faster. But (I can't remember who posted it) if the medical association wouldn't limit the number of doctors who are trained and who practice maybe the wait times wouldn't be an issue.


JMHO

And just possibly if they didn't limit the operating times surgeon's would be able to do more operations . But as they don't get enough operating time they spend their free time operating at Dr. Day's clinic .
It is more about time available in operating theaters than about Drs. , at least that's what I understand here in B.C.

 

[petros]

We have them in SK. They do day surgeries. It frees up support staff for hospitals but surgeons and anesthesiologists aren't dedicated to the clinic.