Sometimes Canadian health care is less than groovy, eh?
- Thread starter TreeFrogTrader
- Start date
Let's be sure that we publish the entire text of the article so people will gain some insight into the Canadian healthcare so upheld by Nine_Ender as being great....
Man told: 'I have had enough of you asking for help' during emergency room wait
http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local...ou-asking-for-help-during-emergency-room-wait
The man who was told to lie on the floor of the Civic hospital’s emergency room after pleading for help says that was just the beginning of an excruciating night in which he was spoken to harshly and threatened for repeatedly asking for assistance while delirious from pain.
The 19-year-old Ottawa man, who asked that he remain anonymous, was finally given a stretcher while he waited to be treated in the Civic campus’s crowded emergency room last Monday, but only after Martina Campbell, a retired nurse sitting nearby, intervened on his behalf after an orderly pointed to the floor when he asked for a place to lay down because he was going to pass out.
“The guy said, ‘If you want to lay down, you can lay down on the floor right there.’ ”
Campbell said people sitting nearby gasped when they heard that.
But the young man, who had re-injured his back, said that wasn’t the end of his ER ordeal.
At one point, the friend who drove him to the hospital was harshly rebuffed when she told the triage nurse he was in excruciating pain and needed help.
“The (nurse) said, ‘If you come back one more time, I am not helping either of you. I have had enough of you asking for help.’ ”
He had been there for more than four hours at that point and had not yet been seen by anyone.
His experience — something he said he wouldn’t “wish on my worst enemy” — comes at a time when hospitals across the province are overcapacity and resources are frequently stretched thin. Emergency departments are ground zero for the overcrowding crisis in the province’s hospitals.
The Ottawa Hospital has apologized for what was an hours-long ordeal for the pain-wracked man.
When his name was eventually called to go from the waiting room into an emergency department cubicle, he was told to get off the stretcher and walk in. When his friend pointed out that he couldn’t walk and said she wasn’t big enough to support him, the nurse became exasperated, the man said.
“She said ‘Are you kidding me?’ and, ‘You are going to have to get him off the stretcher and in here because I don’t have time for this’.”
The man said it took another hour before someone helped him into a room where his vital signs were taken and he was given some anti-nausea and pain medication. He was given anti-inflammatory medicine intravenously once he saw a doctor, more than six hours after arriving at the hospital.
While waiting for an X-ray, he was again told to get off the stretcher and sit down. When his friend explained he couldn’t sit because it caused him so much pain, a male staff member became aggressive, according to the young man.
“He said: ‘You are going to be quiet. You are going to go in there. You are going to sit down, and you are going to wait.’ I was stunned.”
The man said he was treated with compassion by some health workers, although others showed little compassion. The hospital later apologized to him in person.
“It has been rough. I wouldn’t wish what happened to me on my worst enemy. When you are in that much pain, you really feel helpless and it gives you an appreciation for people who can’t help themselves.”
The man’s case got attention after the nurse contacted this newspaper about what she had seen. She said she believes the lack of compassion and overcrowding are symptoms of a bigger problem in health care and said she understands how tough it is for staff to deal with overcrowding as well as staff and bed cuts.
“I have been on the other side and I understand the frustrations of the staff attempting to give quality care with limited resources after staff and bed cuts. I know how deflated they feel when they’re unable to do so,” she said.
A spokesperson said the hospital regrets “the moment in which this incident took place. Our staff, including the staff member in question, take great care to manage the impacts of high occupancy and other pressures on patients. This moment is an opportunity to learn and improve for all.”
I looked for a reply from Rear-Ender but his last several posts indicate that he is busy trying to fix problems in Alabama. I guess he must have fixed all the problems in Canada.
.
Google people dying while in the waiting room in the US and it far exceeds anything you find elsewhere.
Republicans hate socialized medicine because the blacks will have access to it.
Republicans hate socialized medicine because the blacks will have access to it.
"Elsewhere?"
I see. Even Gambia and Somalia have better care than we do.
You might want to google "people who are still struggling with butt-hurt from the election" and see if you can get some health tips there.
Last edited:
Your right, its pretty bad....in Canada...
Wait times for health care in Canada have lengthened considerably over the past two decades. Across 12 major medical specialties, the estimated typical wait time has risen from 9.3 weeks in 1993 to 18.2 weeks in 2013. These inordinately long waits, among the longest in the developed world, have become a defining feature of the Canadian healthcare experience.
For comparison, these are the most recent numbers for the US.
Patients are waiting an average of 24 days to schedule an appointment with a doctor,according to a study of commonly used specialty physicians in 15 major U.S. cities.
Sure but those are just wait times in Canada if you are going for a routine or non-emergency visit. I am sure that if it is something serious you can always just go right into the emergency room. Might want to take you sleeping bag with you though so that you can sleep on the floor overnight while waiting for them to see you.
Meanwhile, the Canadian population lives longer then the US population and has a much lower degree of obesity. But you pay more for medical care. Way more. Canadian health care is a much better system then US health care by a wide margin right now. I never said it was "great", maybe what I said is it works "great" for me ( it does ) and its "great" that I pay such reasonable costs to get insured against adverse events. I also know of someone who needed extensive medical care off and on the last 5 years, at no cost to them or their family, that would have cost a small fortune in the US, or at least a large dent in finances if they had expensive but good US style insurance.
My last doctor's appointment, I got a new highly regarded doctor and an appointment 2 days later. No wait time, tests also easily done across the street, follow up no wait time. I'm healthier then the vast majority on here. Somehow this happened in Canada. My cost is $0 beyond the very reasonable amount we pay to the province every year to help pay for the medical system. Families with limited resources pay nothing.
But you do continue to whine about our system, and your own system, or both as is your habit. Who really cares. You got the bs system you asked for, and your narcissism compels you to try to poke holes in our system. Maybe get that disorder checked out though, if your insurance covers it.
Sure but those are just wait times in Canada if you are going for a routine or non-emergency visit. I am sure that if it is something serious you can always just go right into the emergency room. Might want to take you sleeping bag with you though so that you can sleep on the floor overnight while waiting for them to see you.
ERs can be boring and testing but the price is right and the triage is usually effective in keeping everyone alive and off the floor. Much better them being some poor soul in the US that has to ask themselves can they afford to go to the ER and how will they pay for it if they need an extended stay in the hospital. Almost every Canadian agrees with my sentiment on this.
My observation is there are plenty of Americans on here complaining about their medical system and some Americans who complain about the Canadian system. There are also a couple of knobs trying to suggest that Canadians hate their system. But no Canadians are on here are really doing so ( you have the odd troll but it's not genuine in nature ). You won't see a widespread campaign in Canada to bring US style medical care to Canada. Most who do so are in the business of selling medical services for profit.
Like most Canada-centric threads on here, it's a poorly researched attempt to sooth your American egos as your social systems visibly decline. Of course, your one of the biggest trolls on here doing so. Which only highlights that not everyone in the US gets a decent education and a full awareness of the world beyond their immediate surroundings.