Canadian Health Care....Free!!!.....if you can find it

It's kind of like winning one of those great vacations or lottery except when they get you there you're actually on a desert island not the Caribbean.Sounds great but at what price!
Well ladies I gotta tell you this one. I came very close to losing my life last week. I had my surgery on 28/11 and on 4/12 came down with very bad flu/cold. Shakes,fever,coughing all with my stitches(although the smaller lap).On Wed night (6/12) couldn't catch my breath(have been known to be ashmatic).Hubby rushed me to Emerg where low and behold they actually took me right away and gave me 3 ventalin masks and oxygen.SEnt me home.Next day same thing(although not as severe)but still having chest pains and can't take full breaths.THis time they take me in(I can't speak because breathing is to hard)take my vitals and tell me to go wait in the waiting room with like 100 other people.I say(through batted breath)"I need help,I can't breathe".AT this point dr turns to nurse who has just told me to sit down and wait and says 'is she ok?" NUrse says to dr "oh don't listen to her,she THINKS SHE CANT BREATHE but all her vitals are ok she's just anxious!!!!!Can you believe it after being in the eR until 1am and having 3masks the night before this ***** said that! So best part is dr says 'oh ok' and leaves me in waiting room. End result after no sleep for 3 days,pain fronm surgery and breathing got a little better just left!!!!!!!!I am thinking about writing to the federal government because I am so mad but I'm still sick so I'll sit on it till i'm a bit better...-there is no health care in Canada

[montie]

Mary,
I'm sorry you have had to go through this.  Have you got your pathology reports back yet?

[SimplyStar]

damn them anyway!!!!  Just reading your post made me so mad.  I worked in ER for many years as a Triage Nurse. You people in Canada need to make a real big effort to make the government see what is happening to people in dire medical needs. Over and over again I am reading about long waits and inadequate care. I would suggest  letters to the newspapers, nothing makes  politicians  more nervous than complaints  from voters. Was this {so called} Nurse the triage person?  We may have to pay for our medical needs, insurance and so forth, but we get our service when we need it.  If the hospital where you went has a Medical Board, call or write them. Even if it was an anxiety attack, you were there for help, and it needed to be offered in a timely fashion. No Nurse is allowed to make a diagnosis. I wish there was a way to help you myself. Hang in there kiddo and get well.  Marty

[urbangal]

Just got a call this a.m from office that Pathology reports are back.However,(Here we go again!) doctor told me in advance she does not give pathology reports over the phone.Good news is they gave me an appt for tommorrow,bad news is I think I might not be well enough to get there.We'll see how it goes tonight.I'll keep you posted..
Mary

[urbangal]

The(so called nurse)was not the triage nurse.The triage nurse was also very rude(i had to interupt her because I Couldn't breathe,in fact was just pointing to my chest and throat) and she said to my husaband 'get her to sit down i'm with a patient'who in all honesty was not anywhere near the condition I was in. The nurse that said that was when she took me inside to the actual 'treatment' area and they had a place where a nurse checks your vitals.She then decides how urgent you are. Now, I'm no nurse but if i saw me on the street that day I would be damn sure the person was in serious distress. I was so mad but it was like a comedy show because I couldn't talk to express myself and just started bawling in frustration which of course probably made her think all the more I was just anxious..Oh god will it ever end?
Mary

[urbangal]

iwant to add that I am not some pushy over the top person who insists I get care before others. I really needed help immediatley as they quickly saw the previous night.Apparently my heart rate(probably because I was struggling to breathe) was way out of line and the triage nurse practically ran out to get help.I actually sat in er 3 yrs ago(In the waiting room with everyone else) and had a complete miscarriage and I thought that was outrageous but when someone presents unable to breathe well,by golly I would think that is most serious of all.
Mary

[bs1114]

I have to say, this kind of thing isn't unique to Canada. I've had the same experience in US ERs--I've been to the ER a few times and have always waited hours and hours to be seen. Once time, after about five hours I was brought to have a CT scan (I was doubled over with abdominal pain), then just left alone in a hallway outside the CT room, in a wheelchair unable to walk or move. I had my cell phone and called my mother, basically screaming and crying, and she said, Just start yelling as loud as you can that you need help!

A few years ago, my stepmother's nephew went to the ER with stomach pains, waited for hours, then just left. He was found dead at home the next day, from a hemorrage of a stomach ulcer (I'm sure he wasn't seen because he was only 28 and how serious can an upset stomach be in a 28-year-old, right?)

[Best59]

I had a same experience here in the US/ER. I was waiting 5 hours and I left. The only good think, I did, I complained to the City Hall, and to the Hospital Director...
I had answers and the next time I find a sign on the Hospital wall with apology if pations need to wait long hours...

[AnotherKatie]

I am in Alberta, the health care system is a nightmare right now, and it is not the fault of the nurses and doctors, and other people in the field, they are working their tails off.  There are just so many shortages in the field.
When I had a hysterectomy in February, I was stuck in the recovery area on the surgical bed (hard as a rock), the only patient left there, until midnight, with one poor little nurse who wanted to go home.  They finally found me a bed on the women

[Tybear]

That's a tough one. I know how lucky I am, how much medical care I have recieved and how I haven't had to fork out a dime. There's a downside to everything though - I had to wait seven hours in the ER last week to be told they want me in for an ultrasound the next day. I go and it takes 5 hrs to get the results - the results were, I had to go see my urologist! BIG SURPRISE! However last week, I went in, in total distress with my kidney pain and was seen by a nurse, registered, evaluated by a DR and hooked up to a morphine pump within 40min - not too bad. Honestly, I think the fact that I had no hair the second time (making it obvious I had cancer) had much to do with my prompt service. The wait times suck and not all my expierences at the hospital have been good. I think everyone, whether your from Canada, the U.S. or elsewhere, has something bad to say about their healthcare. I'm so sorry you had such a horrible expierence Mary. I know if the waiting area is full at my local hospital, the first question they ask is "is anyone having chest pain?" and those people always go in first. Maybe you should see if they have a patient advocate - I know mine was quite helpful to me in the past. I hope your feeling better soon...
Becky

[RavenLady]

Oh Mary that just sucks canal water!  Keep your outrage as it is justified, you may need it later.  Just now work ever so hard on healing, despite your health system, as we need you!  Kathy in Hawaii has been asking about you.  MV

[chelan2]

Hi Urbangal, I'm from Canada too and agree that the system is in dire need of a fix.  I'm sorry for what you went thru.  It's crazy though, every time an election comes around the issue of health care is always a hot topic but that's all it is - talk.  Nothing ever gets changed.  
Have several similar stories here.  Including a dr's wife who spent three days on a hospital bed in the hospital hallway because there were no beds.  If a dr can't even pull strings (which I wouldn't be impressed with if it did happen) to get his wife (who was in severe pain) in a hospital room you know the system is bad!
A co-worker, who's second child  - at one week old seemed to be something wrong with her son.  She went to the hospital and the nurse told her there was nothing wrong with her child and she wasn't calling the dr in (drs are on call on the weekend and have to be called in) and that she was suffering from post-partum depression and needed to contact mental health.  She tried twice on the weekend (unfortunately got the same nurse both times).  She brought her son to her family dr right away when his clinic opened on Monday morning.  Her son was rushed to the city with heart problems and ended up having a stroke during his heart surgery.  She made aformal complaint to hospital and to the nurse on duty - family dr even followed up with complaint.
In our province hospitals in small towns are being closed (some temporary) because of lack of drs.  Our community of 5,000 just got 4 new drs and we're still 2 short. We are short nurses as well, many have to work overtime hours.  It's crazy.

You shouldn't have got me started....lol...

[oona]

Hi:

I'm thinking about a letter to the government, as well. I suppose you don't ever know until you're thrust into it. I have suffered horrible treatment while trying to deal w/ my condition in Ontario. I won't go into too much detail, but my experience has been similar to yours. At emergency w/ blood coming out of every lower orifice, I was told that my condition was "functional" (i.e. it was all in my head). It's been since October and I'm still looking for answer, through much pain, weight loss, etc. I've waited at emergency department(s) for 12 hrs. +, only to have them tell me to go to my family doctor, who thinks that the vaginal discharge of over a month "is a fluke". I've also spent over $1000 trying to get answer, support my system w/ vitamin supplements and do whatever I can to keep illness at length while I wait for the doctors to catch up.

I can't believe how awful this has been. What can we do for ourselves, family, neighbors and others? This is astonishing!

I'm sure we're not the first to make this discovery, but there has to be something we can do>

I'm there with you! If you come to any decisions, please let me know.

I work in the arts and this experience has made me think I should go back to school for medicine. Likely this won't make a huge difference. Some real lobbying needs to happen now! Hopefully I'll be around to see this happen and be a part of it.

Thoughts are w/ you,
Oona