In the US, my grandmother kept having yeast infections, stomach aches, and bladder problems. She kept going back to the doctor and they kept blowing her off as a hypochondriac. It turned out she had cancer and it was a tumor pressing against her internal organs. By the time she had it identified it was already too late. She was dead like 6 months later. Maybe stuff like that is more common in Canada, but the US seems to have its fair share. I know someone who was blinded in a laser corrective surgey in the US but it was at a university medical center. I’m not sure she had any recourse either though because she’s poor. I’m not sure what public program she went through (medicare?). Anyway, my grandmother was not poor. They were fairly well off with health insurance here in the US.
I just like that when I’m worried about something, I don’t have to gamble. When I had strange chest pain last month (but no heart attack symptoms) I ended up going to a clinic, then emegency for a huge battery of tests. It ended up being nothing serious, but in the US I likely would’ve just waited it out.
I’ve never spent more than three hours in an ER, but I was never in bad shape. My fiancee’s mother was diagnosed with cancer and her dealings with hospitals were fast and awesome. The only issue I’ve had was with wait times for elective surgery, but really, who cares?
I’ve never even had to wait more than a month to see specialists.
You left out us danes too.
In my family we’ve tried almost all; onkology, eyesurgery, vasectomy, abortion, emergency care, broken bones etc. and my only complaint is that the (free) food could be better.
Of course I’ve heard a few horror stories too, but none that Isuspect coulden’t have happened anywhere else or bern worse if cost was an issue also. As others have Said, the peace of mind you get when you just go, if you suspects a problem, without ever giving cost a second thought, is just amazing
I do not know if it happens more or less often in Canada vs. the US. However in the US, it would seem that the legal system affords the patient more options after the harm has been done.
Actually I overstated when I said “Clearly malpractice.” I don’t know the facts in my Aunt’s case and maybe the doctor acted correctly (it sure doesn’t seem like it, but that is why we have the legal process … at least in the US). In my case with PRK it was comical malpractice in that doctors I see about the butchery are aghast, there are literally no stats for what happened since it does not happen what a scum bag.
I don’t understand, I’m sure if there was malpractice a lawyer would be salivating at getting a percentage of the settlement.
You can still sue for malpractice in Canada. There’s nothing stopping you. But a misdiagnosis is not automatically malpractice. I have a friend in the US who suffered for many years, basically unable to eat without being sick. It was gallstones. They just figured he was too young.
Anyway, doctors can make mistakes – this doesn’t mean the whole system is flawed.
I guess you missed when I said:
or
Again, I guess you missed when I said:
Good luck with that. Due to the size of the settlements being limited and malpractice cases being, in general, highly technical it is very difficult to sue. While it is possible it is in practice impossible.
I don’t get it. I am in support of a system that fucked me very hard in the ass. What more do you want?
She’s from the US originally and spent a long time on the street and then in public care, can’t get around on her own due to amputations, etc and is relatively near the end of her life. It’s a pretty sad, so I’m not sure if she’s even mentally considered if there was an option.
The dumb thing about that article is this paragraph…
About one-third of Americans have living wills or a document designating a health-care proxy who would make decisions if they become incapacitated, said Barbara Coombs Lee, president of Compassion & Choices, a nonprofit group that focuses on the rights of the terminally ill. “But it’s alarming how rarely they actually get honored because often doctors haven’t familiarized themselves with the patient’s wishes,” she said.
…should have been after their description of where the fear stems from. They basically bury the portion that tells the reader the provision is nothing to worry about, rather than shoving it in at the bottom of the first page. You know press, your job is to debunk this bullshit.
The above link proves it is now impossible, in the US, to have a rational debate over diffcult topics. Maybe the US is domed? All politics is now sensation or scandal. 20 years until the US is globaly irrelevant? Jeez.
Positive Canadian experience, as I pointed out in the other thread. Lots of grandparent hip and knee surgeries, Alzheimers, and many ER stitches and broken bones and concussions for myself, plus I’m always chatting up the nurses on the Telehealth Ontario hotline. I was always baffled when I’d hear the fabled horror stories (never even second hand) and assumed they only take place in some extremely rural town, but now I also suspect they live in Quebec.
Something that Charles mentioned is important from my perspective too, where you’re more likely to visit the doctor to check out an early symptom when it’s free, which pays off in early detection. I fancy myself as a manly man who only goes the doctor as a last resort, but this already low attendance figure would drop to never if I had to pay for it. That dumb behaviour spread over a whole country ultimately drives up costs as people tackle their problems only when the severity increases.
This is why I wanted to know what John Doyle meant in the other thread when he talked about preventive medicine being non-existent in Canada, but he never replied.
I just wanted to comment on this based on a story about my friend “deadbroke”, he had to have his gallbladder removed. Took him SEVEN trips tot he hosptial to get one doctor to figure out what was wrong. They’d give him a few pills and send him home. That is par for the course in the US too.
Edit: I say seven but it may have been quite a bit more, there were seven he left HERE and went to the hospital.
Hey Shads. When did that happen to Shawn? That sucks. At least they didn’t b0rk up his vasectomy the same way :-)
Anyway… I’m still hot. I watched “Sicko” last night and that turned up my rage to 11.
http://www.pnhp.org/news/2008/february/10_myths_about_canad.php
There’s a nice link about Canadian health care. Anybody care to validate/refute the contents?
they charged you for the television?
you monsters!
I’d backup all of the author’s ten points.
Hmm, bout 2 years ago now. Catch him on im and ask him… he’ll be glad to tell you exact date… says his guts haven’t been right since.
You might feel differently if you also paid more than $80,000/year for health insurance in Canada and have had to wait 7 months for an MRI for a debilitating nerve injury.
I’d be a liar if I said I was following too closely the healthcare debate in the US, but it’s kind of hard to miss at the moment, did spot this on the Beeb Site though:
A round up of a lot of what’s being said about the NHS within the US, and I did like this bit in particular:
Why spoil a good story with facts?
Prof. Stephen Hawkings commented on the Investors Business Daily editorial:
“I wouldn’t be here today if it were not for the NHS,” he said. “I have received a large amount of high-quality treatment without which I would not have survived.”
Not only is the NHS first rate in most cases, our private healthcare is superb. Going by other healthcare threads I’ve read, I think our uninsured private healthcare costs are less than in the US too.
This was my local private hospital.
http://www.hollyhouse-hospital.co.uk/content/file/Payment_and_prices.asp
Numerous consultations, sample tests, ultrascans, a gastroscopy, colonscopy, medication and a daypatient stay with private room, food etc wasnt much over 3000 USD iirc. I’d have to dig out the invoice copies to confirm that though.
Anyone had anything on the list done in the US recently? What was the cost to you or your insurer?