Hope I am not "flamed"
for posting these links.
There is no perfect healthcare system. And I realize that articles about all the problems with the US system could be posted too. (go for it!
)
There are no easy answers to this complex issue. And what works in one country may or may not work in another country.
But despite the problems with our US system, I still prefer it.
***
Patients told to go to US
November 25, 2004
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2...25/730737.html
Article excerpt:
Windsor, Ontario: Doctor Albert Schumacher believes it's
his ethical and moral responsibility to tell patients they can cross the border for faster tests. The president of the Canadian Medical Association said the country's doctors have no choice when waiting times get unhealthy for their patients....
"Right now physicians scramble to get their patients the treatment they need," Schumacher said.
"Getting it in a timely way is virtually impossible."
In a speech to the Toronto Board of Trade yesterday, Schumacher said the shortage of health professionals and the inability to access timely care for patients is undermining confidence in the system.
**
Canadian Medical Association Journal,
Waiting lists for healthcare, a necessary evil?
Richard F. Davies, MD, PhD
Link for article:
http://collection.nlc-bnc.ca/100/201...ue-10/1469.htm
Article Excerpt:
In addition to their costs to the system, one must consider the costs of waiting lists to patients.
Protracted treatment delays increase mortality and morbidity rates. In the Ontario example,171 patients died while
waiting for CABG, 121 were removed from the list permanently because they had become medically unfit for surgery, 211 were taken off the list temporarily (the usual reason for this is medical instability, in which case patients are often reinstated in a higher urgency category), 259 were removed from the list for unspecified reasons
and 44 left the province and underwent CABG elsewhere.
***
Need surgery? Here's how long you'll wait. (Calgary Herald)
Link for article:
http://www.angelfire.com/pa/sergeman...care/wait.html
Article Excerpt:
Susan Warner swallows addictive painkillers every day to ease the crippling pain she endures waiting for knee-replacement surgery.
One of her knees gave out in October and the Calgary woman has been waiting for the surgery since. However, Warner, 51, is lost in a lineup for the operation at the Rockyview General Hospital that she says could last 18 months.
"It's inhuman. The quality of my life is horrible and there's absolutely nothing I can do about it," she said Tuesday.
Waiting lists are crippling Canada's health-care system and frustrating patients and doctors alike. The Canadian Medical Association released a 10-point prescription on Tuesday that targets waiting lists for surgery and diagnostic procedures like MRIs and CT scans.....
There are about 25,000 Calgarians waiting for surgery or scans at the city's four major hospitals. And the Calgary Health Region estimates waiting times for surgery are growing at an astronomical rate of 12 to 18 per cent every year.
Alberta Health's website says waiting times in Calgary are as follows:
- 62 weeks for a hip replacement at Peter Lougheed Centre;
- 62 weeks for general surgery at Rocky- view General Hospital;
- 30 weeks for MRI scans at Foothills Medical Centre;
- 54 weeks for knee replacement surgery at Rockyview General Hospital;
- 11 weeks for cardiac surgery at Foothills Medical Centre.
For Warner, the wait has come with a heavy price. She says she has become addicted to painkillers that are a daily staple to help her hobble through her workday....
(NOTE: you can check current wait times for many procudures at the Alberta Health web site that is mentioned in this article.) The link is: http://www.health.gov.ab.ca/waitlist/WaitListData.jsp
***
Canada's Health System Dream Turns to Nightmare
Michael Arnold Glueck, M.D., and Robert J. Cihak, M.D.
June 9, 2004
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/arti...9/113918.shtml
Article excerpt:
....Comparing Canada with other industrialized countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) that provide universal access to health care, a study released by The Fraser Institute in May revealed that Canada spends more on its system than other nations while ranking among the lowest in several key indicators, such as access to physicians, quality of medical equipment, and key health outcomes.
The study identifies one of the major reasons for this discrepancy.
Unlike other countries in the study that outperformed Canada - such as Sweden, Japan, Australia, and France - Canada outlaws virtually all private health care. If the government says it provides a medical service, it's illegal for a Canadian citizen to pay for and get the service privately. In practice, this means a patient must linger in line for hospital treatment - an average of 17.7 weeks in 2003, according to an annual survey on hospital waiting list published by the Fraser Institute.
One of the reasons Canadians are slow to acknowledge the problems with their system is that general practitioners have been relatively easy to access and reasonably efficient at providing everyday services for common complaints, such as colds, sprains, aches and pains.
NOTE: For more info on private health care being illegal in most of Canada, see this article from the Canadian Medical Association Journal. It's complex...
"The illegality of private health care in Canada", link: http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/164/6/825
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