Problems in Health Care paradise

Okay, so here is the deal. I also posted this in the Canada forum, but thought it might do well here too.

Some of you may remember the story thus far: My mom has breast cancer. She has had a lumpectomy, and had some lymph nodes taken. The got the lump and the lymph nodes came back clean. Sounds good, right?

Except that she is back in Canada and we have hit a HUGE snag.

2-4 weeks is considered the best amount of time after surgury to begin chemo and radiation. It has already been 5 weeks for my mother. She is not set to even see a doctor to have a consultation until the 25th of September. Obviously, this is well past the 2-4 week optimum.

She has called the Cancer Centre and asked about the wait. Why the wait? Lack of resources.... basically, they don't have enough doctors and staff to handle to number of patients being sent their way.

So, in talking at length to the people at the Cancer Centre, I have come to realize that all the whining and bitching and calling I do is not going to move my Mother's consultation up. However, it might have an impact on what happens in the future.

Each call to the Quality of Care Coordinator is logged and reported. It serves as data for those people trying to make a case for improvements in the system. When I call and express my distress at the lengthy wait times for breast cancer, that is logged as such. When I call tomorrow to do the same thing, it is logged again. Annonymity is guaranteed.

So, my brain wave is to ask as many people to call as are willing. When you call, it asks if you are a patient or calling on behalf of a patient and then you leave your message. You could make it as simple or as detailed as you like.

Bottom line, the wait times for breast cancer patients from surgery to the first consultation are unacceptable and are negatively impacting the chances of these patients for long term survival.

The number is 1-866-577-6489

Thanks in advance, if any of you call. Just think... anyone can get breast cancer. It could be your mother next time, your sister, your brother even.

 

I am so sorry your mama has to wait for her treatment. I always thought that was not true in Canada (I used to belong to a womyn's online group who though Canada was the Promised Land.)

Can you take her for private treatment and later have the Guvment pay you back? It doesn't seem fair that she has to wait, when her life is on the line.

Prayers

 

yeah, i had a friend from BC whose family moved down here to seek treatment for their mother's cancer because they just couldnt' get the service or care necessary. and then i knew a couple who went to mexico from here to get the care they needed for HIS small cell cancer. what a crazy world.

 

my aunt died because they put her on a waiting list to get the proper diagnosis (MRI i think), and by the time they saw what she had it was too late to do anything to save her....

fucking Saskatchewan healthcare

 

Yeah, basically, it's a complete shit show.

Mom can't even get anyone to look at her oncology (sp) report. She got it released to her, thinking she might be able to figure it out herself, but she can't. She says that it says "Elevated" but she can't get an answer as to if "elevated" is good or bad.

I don't know if she has thought about going out of country for treatment. I asked her to fax her oncolgy report to me, as my Mother-in-law's sister (my Aunt-in-law??) works for an US health insurance company, and she might have a way of getting it read.

Saskatchewan health care is wonderful if you have a virus and needs some antibotics or something... or if you break your leg, burn your arm or have pink-eye. It just totally SUCKS ASS if you actually have something seriously wrong, like cancer.

If she experiances re-growth of the tumor because of this wait and has to go back under the knife... well... I don't know what I'll do. Probably leave my husband in Ohio, and journey home to start handing out verbal asskickings at the Parliment building in Regina (the provincal capital).

thanks for listening!

-regan

 

RE: Can you take her for private treatment and later have the Guvment pay you back? It doesn't seem fair that she has to wait, when her life is on the line.

It is ILLEGAL in Canada to have private health care (except in certain provinces, where the politicans want to jump the queue)

They certainly will NOT pay her back if she goes out of country. She goes out and racks up $100,000 to save her life, that's HER problem.

There was a guy in BC who got in a car crash. All the hospitals were full so they medevac'd him to Seattle. He woke up to a SEVEN FIGURE HOSPITAL BILL which Canada is refusing to pay (even though he was UNCONSCIOUS and it was CANADA that shunted him off to Seattle)

Health care gets trotted out when they want to raise taxes or when people grumble about how high they are "oh, well but the health care is free!" BULLSHIT it's falling apart, like it is EVERYWHERE, because the demand and cost is expanding greatly beyond everyone's capacity to pay.

 

in the meantime, my brother in law fell at work and was in icu for nearly three months, requiring brain surgery and extensive around the clock care, as well as facilities for his family to stay in. all fully paid, surprisingly, by the us government, because he had no money or insurance. why do people keep saying that the american health care system turns away the broke? i've never seen that happen. i have, in fact, been treated without insurance and without significant cost to myself.

 

i'm not extremely familiar with canada's health care situation, so go easy on me folks...

is the cancer centre saying that the hospitals in your province aren't capable of helping, or that all of the hospitals in canada are full? if an opening pops up in another province, would they let your mom know and schedule an appointment for her?

would she be able to get chemo in the states up until sept 25, and then could she continue her treatment back in canada once her cancer centre appointment comes around?

be strong! i wish your mom the best of health. good luck to you both.

 

the cancer center isn't saying much. What Mom has been able to get out of them is that the reason her appointment isn't until the end of September is "lack of resources", which we take to mean a lack of everything from beds to doctors.

I doubt an opening would open in another province, but if it did, I don't know if they would tell my Mom or give it to the next cancer victim in that province. Plus, Manitoba (Winnipeg) is 7 hours from home, and Alberta (Calgary) is 10 hours from home... so it would be a long commute.

Having treatment in the States is not a possibity, as it would be very expensive, and as others have said, the Canadian Govnmt would not cover the costs and without US-style insurance, well... she would be paying it off for ever.

 

I wasn't aware that private care was illegal in Canada. I know in England you can get private care if you can afford it.

This really sucks.

 

RE: is the cancer centre saying that the hospitals in your province aren't capable of helping,

Yes

RE: or that all of the hospitals in canada are full?

Yes

RE: if an opening pops up in another province, would they let your mom know and schedule an appointment for her?

No. You get treated where you are. It's a provincial matter and therefore your insurance in province A doesn't necessarily transfer (hit in an accident on holiday yes, shopping for a valid bed no)

RE: would she be able to get chemo in the states up until sept 25,

Sure! If she could afford it. It's 100% out of pocket.

RE: and then could she continue her treatment back in canada once her cancer centre appointment comes around?

Nightmare scenario. You can't change doctors mid-stream like that.

Mags: England is the best - private for people who can afford it, public for the great unwashed. It works. Thing is though, only Canada and Cuba have a you-can-only-be-seen-by-public-doctors system. Even China has medicine for profit.

Of course, tell the government this and they start bleating on about how people in the US bleed to death in the streets cause of private medicine and We Don't Want That Here.

 

RE: I wasn't aware that private care was illegal in Canada. I know in England you can get private care if you can afford it.

And to add salt to the wound:

When Jean "Screwface" Chretien required lung surgery he didn't wait around to die on the public ticket, he gassed up Canada's equivalent of Air Force One and took off to the States and sent the bill to the people (they doctored the records but someone figured it out)

Likewise Joe "Joke" Clark attended a private clinic in Ontario, a strange "exception" to the rule of "no private medicine" which applies only to pro hockey players and ex-prime ministers.

It's a bleeding joke. Every time one of them requires major urgent care they strangely fly somewhere a little more Southern to get the job done.

 

Good News! I sent my third angry email today to the Saskatchewan Health Minister. Mom sent her Third too, as did my Mom's bestfriend. We finally got some results!

The Health Minister called my Mom at work (yes, she is still the full time Principal of an Elementary School) to let her know that he is calling the Head of Oncology at the Cancer Center personally, and that the Head of Onc. will call my Mom tonight to personally go over her Oncology report with her.

It's going to be done over the phone, as he lives in Regina, and Mom lived an hour away, but she has a copy of the report, so she can follow along with him.

She is no closer to having her treatments started, but at least she will have some of her questions answered!

The moral of the story? Being relentless does pay off! Send enough angry emails to enough people, and place enough angry phone calls, and eventually someone will listen!

 

RE: (yes, she is still the full time Principal of an Elementary School)

Ah, she''s politically connected.

 

You are joking right? My mom has zero political connections. Oh wait, she once did some door-to-door campaigning for the NDP party, but that was mostly because this evil Reform party bitch was going to win in our RM. The bitch ended up winning, so yep... back to zero political connections.

I was remarking upon the fact that she is still teaching/adminstating full time because she just got a lump of cancer taken from her tit, is undergoing all this excess stress from this wait, and still has 6 months of chemo/radiation ahead of her.... ergo, I think its crazy that she is running a school of 200 kids and a full teaching staff! She should be taking it easy, IMO

 

RE: You are joking right? My mom has zero political connections. Oh wait, she once did some door-to-door campaigning for the NDP party, but that was mostly because this evil Reform party bitch was going to win in our RM. The bitch ended up winning, so yep... back to zero political connections.

You don't become principal of a school without some connections, my dear.

 

That is absolutely wonderful news!!! I'm so impressed, princess, you are a good daughter to your mother.

 

editted for flippancy. nevermind.

 

while i think it's good that your mom is getting the care she needs, don't you worry that some other equally deserving soul has been shuffled behind your mom in an overly burdened line? i guess it's a lose lose situation, but still, i can't help but think of it.

 

I'm glad your mom finally got some results, icedtea...yay!!!

I've heard so many folks say (folks that live in the US, that is) that health care in Canada is so much better than the US as far as it being provided by the govt. and all...

This conversation has been very enlightening...it seems there are major problems no matter where one lives...the problems may be very different, but there are problems nonetheless...glad for this insight!