I'm also a big fan of the Surgery Center of Oklahoma, although to be fair, they don't have an emergency room and therefore aren't subject to EMTALA.
At least we are trending in the right direction. I like how it is cheaper and easier for Canadians to fly into the USA heartland than do their surgery in their own country.
Is this anecdotal or do you have numbers? That would be interesting to see. I know a lot of U.S. citizens fly to other countries for cosmetic or other costly procedures, but I don't know the exact amount.
"Atlas Shrugged"? OUCH. I actually have read that book, and seeing it on a DPC-related list magnifies my concerns that DPC focused practices may be prone to ignore the most disadvantaged members of society... I'll go on working at my County Hospital taking care of (among other people) poor folks, thankyouverymuch.
A professor made us read Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich this Summer as part of a vulnerable populations class. It is the antithesis of Atlas Shrugged. Every chapter, the author pleads with low wage employees to ban together and form a union in order to fight the demoniac managers who represent their corporate overlord, aka Satan himself. The bottom line is this: what helps the patients? The DPC system has the potential to be corrupted into a get-rich-quick medical scheme, or it can be used as a tool to help those who are falling through the ACA's cracks (low premiums, super-high deductible). On the other hand, the single payer system provides care to all members of society, but it's not complete. Waiting lists for procedures are extremely long, despite the Canadian Supreme Court's decision in 2009 that waiting lists are not health care. The problem is a scarcity of resources compared to the need. I got onto the British Columbian government website to look up waiting times for surgeries, and what I found instead were testimonies from Canadian citizens about the waiting times for their province. I'm posting them here, along with the sources.
THE FORMATTING SUCKS. I COULDN'T FIGURE IT OUT. SORRY. Read it starting from the third source link at page 25 (page 29 on the PDF) if you can't take it.
An introduction to waiting lists in BC:
http://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/h.../surgical-wait-times/understanding-wait-times
Online search tool for surgery waiting times:
https://swt.hlth.gov.bc.ca/
And here is a publication containing some frustrating testimonies by Canadian citizens:
http://www.health.gov.bc.ca/library...on_health/PartII/PartII_WaitListsandTimes.pdf
Long wait-lists lead to further health
issues, chronic problems and result in a
poorer quality of life. He
re are some concerns from
British Columbians on this
issue:
a.
I had to wait on a four month wait-l
ist for my eye surg
ery which would have
helped or slowed down early
onset macular degeneration.
b.
I was on
a three year wait-list for a
20 minute operation. This led to losing
my job, a lack of mobility and extra costs to the system.
c.
A long wait-list to see a
psychiatrist was very stressful
for th
e entire family.
d.
By the time people find out what really
is wron
g, they ha
ve had cancer for
five to six years without knowing it;
e.
Patients wh
o are waiting for care be
come progressively sicker and care
becomes more difficult, long
er and more expensive.
Part II: Summary of Input on the Conversation on Health
Page 25
f.
Extended wait-times (over six months) for diagnosis and treatment
increases the complexity of
the health problem an
d reduces the possibility
for resolution.
g.
There is a lack of organs availab
le, which causes very long wait-times an
d
high medical costs as a patient’s ac
uity escalates, some even dying.
h.
Peripheral c
osts to being on a wait-li
st include waiting in pain, poor mental
health, stress on work and family li
fe, and damage to other body parts.
i.
Delays to surgery cause patients to
make
more visits to their doctor to ask
for more prescriptions. Wait-lists en
courage doctors to prescribe more.
j.
Waiting in the emergency department
for long periods of time for simple
procedures takes a toll on patients an
d can so
metimes cause shortened life
spans.
k.
I had to pay privately for Magnetic
Resonance I
maging (MRI) because I was
not willing to wait another four mont
hs for one to determine whether or
not I had a brain tumour.
I found out that I have M
ultiple Sclerosis and now
I face long wait-lists for contin
uing care by my neurologist.
l.
It is cruel to make people wait many
months an
d in many cases years, when
they are in pain. Whatever the pers
on is suffering from may well be
incurable or inoperable by the time th
ey are seen by a specialist and/or
operated on.
m.
One should not have to wait th
ree month
s for day surgery. The long wait is
causing deterioration in my husband's health.
n.
My 58 year old sister's k
nee replacement is
nowhere in sight, neither is her
knee cap, as it is somewhere on the s
ide of her leg. Waiting for her knee
replacement is becoming extremely diffi
cult as she sometimes falls due to
her swollen damaged knee. Do you
recommend welfare and pain killers
when she can no longer work.
o.
Long waitin
g lists for high profile proc
edures such as cataract surgery and
hip and knee replacements have caught
the attention of the media, public
and governments. People can wait ma
ny months, in some cases more than
a year, for surgery that could have an
enormous affect on their quality of
life. Replacement of a painful knee
can improve or reinst
ate basic mobility,
reduce or even eliminate constant pain
, and can allow patients to return to
long abandoned activities. Removal
of a cataract can have similarly
dramatic effects, allowing people to
retain (or regain) their independence.
Part II: Summary of Input on the Conversation on Health
Page 26
p.
It will take me four months to see a gy
necologist. Although my condition is
not life threatening I am suffering
from symptoms and cannot understand
why there would be a four month waiting list.
q.
I have recently been diagno
sed with Arterial Fi
brillation and my cardiologist
suggested a procedure called Pulmonary
Vein Ablation. The cardiologist
placed my name on the list in Au
gust 2006 and I may get a consultation
with him in the fall 2007. The proc
edure itself will be approximately one
year after that. By that time I will be
67 years old. The bonus is that the
longer I wait, the less likely the procedure will be successful and so I may be
disqualified as a candida
te for this procedure.
r.
My father has been waiting for a
heart operation sinc
e the fall 2006.
Although th
e surgeon is ready to operate he cannot due to hospital
cutbacks.
s.
It took me from February to October
to finally b
e scheduled for a much
needed surgery to drain a cyst that
was attached to my pancreas from
another ailment. This operation should
have been done in three or four
months, but I waited nine months.
t.
I had the un
fortunate experience of
witnessing my 94-year old patient's
frustration of having to wait for hip
surgery. The patient could not eat for
two days (protocol for undergoing sur
gery) and was tran
sferred to and
from his bed to a stretcher for endl
ess hip x-rays, making him scream in
pain. It is simply ridiculous.
u.
I am currently waiting fo
r total knee
replacements and have been waiting
for over two years.
v.
Afte
r waiting four years for an orthopae
dic surgery, I am going to Ottawa to
have it done.
w.
I know an active health
y senior who re
quires knee surgery. He has been
waiting for two years and his surgeon sa
id he should not expect the surgery
anytime soon because there is such limi
ted operating time available and he
has to prioritise patients.
x.
It took almost two years fo
r me to see a surgeon. The two year waiting list
that the British Columbia Government th
inks is okay has destroyed my life.
y.
I have just waited five month
s for a mammogram appointment even
though I have in fact had breast canc
er and h
ave been advised to have a
mammogram every year.
z.
I must wait one year before I can
see an
ear, nose and throat specialist. This
delay may result in the loss of my othe
r ear drum and I will become deaf.
Part II: Summary of Input on the Conversation on Health
Page 27
aa.
It took 18 months to get to an appointm
ent in a chronic pain management
centre in Kelowna. It also took 12
months to get an appointment with a
sleep disorder specialist where sleep
apnea was suspected, which is life
threatening.
bb.
I was in
excellent physical health but ha
d an injury. I was disabled for nine
months due to long wait-lists in th
e medical treatment system. Thank
goodness I had the option to pay for the
procedure privately even though I
had to pay for it on my credit card.
cc.
My mother was diagno
sed with canc
er, but by the time she sees an
oncologist it will have been six weeks
since diagnosis without any action
taken to arrest or treat her condition.
dd.
Our son had a bad shoulder injury,
but because we did not have knowledge
and the doc
tor did not give it due attent
ion and he is now disabled (after
three operations). The fact that he ha
d to wait nine months for surgery was
wrong.
ee.
My husband had an electrocardiog
ram, blood test and
stress test this
summer, all of which indicated an urgent
cardiac disease. He was then put
on a five and one half month wait
-list for a diagnostic angiogram in
Kelowna. We ended up going to Se
attle for the angiogram, which only had
a one week wait. Good th
ing we did as he had to
undergo emergency life
saving open heart surgery the next
day. Now our wonderful British
Columbia medical system will not pay any
part of it, as they say that
acceptable and appropriate care was
available in British Columbia. He
would have died if we had not gone outside the Province.
ff.
My wife and
I just paid over $2,000 fo
r her to have her knee operated on
because she could not wait another
year for the medical
system to get
around to her; and
gg.
My surgeon has an elective waiting time of over five years. Patients with tumours and so on are fast-tracked for surgery, but patients with benign diseases have long waits to access the public system, even though these diseases greatly affect their quality of life.
hh.
I suffered much stress waiting for tests,
treatment and cancer surgery formost of 2005.
Part II: Summary of Input on the Conversation on Health
Page 28
Ideas and Suggestions
•Provide care to patients before their health affliction or concern becomes disabling or causes other damage.
•Pay for in-home care for patients on wait-lists for surgery.
•Reinstate family and support services for patients on wait-
