KINGSTON, Ontario (CNN) -- For Shona Holmes, simple pleasures such as playing with her dog or walking in her plush garden are a gift.
After suffering from crushing headaches and vision problems, she was diagnosed with a brain tumor four years ago. She was told if it wasn't removed, she could go blind or even die.
"They said to me that you had a brain tumor and it was pressing on your optic chasm and that it needed to come out immediately," Holmes said.
Holmes is Canadian, but the "they" she refers to are doctors at the Mayo Clinic in the United States, where she turned after specialists in her own government-run health care system would not see her fast enough.
"My family doctor at that time tried to get me in to see an endocrinologist and a neurologist," Holmes recalled. "It was going to be four months for one specialist and six months for the other." 
Even with the warning from U.S. doctors in hand, Holmes said she still couldn't get in to see Canadian specialists. Because the government system is the only health care option for Canadians, she says she had no choice but to have the surgery in the U.S.
Her treatment at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona cost $100,000, and she and her husband put a second mortgage on their home and borrowed from family and friends to pay for it.
When she recounts that part of her painful story, she weeps. - CNN News Story
3 comments:
While I am not a fan of nationalized healthcare, this article is an absolute joke and the reporter did zero homework. Based on her account of a tumor on the optic chasm that is monitored by a endocrinologist and neurologist, I can tell you with 99% certainty that she has a pituitary tumor. Pit tumors are benign and most people choose not to get them removed. If this was life threatening (or threatened her quality-of-life) they would have taken care of it like the other gentleman's story.
I am a Canadian commenting on the Canadian Health System - I now live in North Dakota and actually work for Medicare.
I think if the media looks hard enough in either country they are going to find horror stories.
It is definitely a sad story to hear that someone went to the U.S. because they didn't want to wait in Canada. Would she have died in Canada if she had waited four months - no one will know.
Did she go to a Dr in the U.S. that operates like a business and must charge to make money - Yes..
There is no perfect system ... Americans love the concept of the Canadian Health System because its "free"
GET REAL PEOPLE - In the U.S. the current medical system is a business and hospitals are run like a business - they are there to not only pay the staff but make money.
In Canada, its all Government paid - HEY, where does any Government gets its money from - yup the citizens in the form of taxes.
So, yes in Canada you present a health card at the hospital and your worries are over. You will be cared for and won't see a bill.
Which one is better ? A little more tax, or being billed by the Doctor that is not only a doctor but a business man ?
Personally, I think this woman got the treatment she needed - but she probably would have also received the treatment in Canada with a bit of a wait. Who knows if she was in a life or death situation how many Dr's in her province did she speak to ? I am sure there is more than one specialist in each province...
Did she get taken, by a business man that did his job also as a Dr and then made a referral to another Dr... in the U.S. providing the services needed but not worried about the pocketbook of the customer ( patient).
Do we as the readers have all the facts ?
Sorry, I have no pity for the woman who has sold everything and is now alive but has nothing. Decisions, Decisions, we all have to make them - she apparently decided to go without "FREE" medical care and decided to pay...
The comments on Canadian Health Care are coloured by political and profit motives. Life expectancy in Canada is 80.4 years and in the US 78.06 years. We are generally healthier and live longer.
Living in Ontario I have had every major medical issue taken care of with minimal wait. The opponents of universal health care will of course seek out the exceptions to discredit the system.
Actually, the term "free health care" is a misnomer. We all pay for our health care through taxes. There is a "volume discount" when you have 11.4 million people using the same provider.
If there are any delays, they only occur when the problem is not life threatening and because anyone can get medical care, not just the ones who can afford it. Look closely at opponents of universal health care and you will find a profit motive at the root. You are the ONLY major country in the world without universal health care.
It is not socialism, it is humanism.
Post a Comment