Anecdotes are interesting, but should never be taken as evidence. The evidence comes from the columns posted on the subject. The anecdote reinforces on a human level the failure of socilized medicine in Canada and the UK.
Of course you can find people in the US who hate the system, angry at the system, or who suffered some in jury as a result. What we do not have is a legitimate claim to having a poor health care system in this country - which is what this letter and many others lay a foundation for, in Canada.
The story that started the letters is the last post below.
Canadian health care on trial
National Post Published: Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Thank you, Measha Brueggergosman, for speaking out about our health care system. I have been struggling for five years now with medical problems and have had to resort to paying for two MRIs myself as well as a trip to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, N. Y., where I experienced how a service-oriented medical facility operates.
I have been a small animal veterinary practitioner for more than 30 years and ask:Why is it possible for a sick dog to have a complete physical exam with blood work, X-rays and surgery if indicated, and even a referral to a specialist, all within seven days, but not possible for a human being to receive that same level of service? Dogs and cats get better treatment and service than humans in Canada.
Corry van der Ende, Surrey, B. C.
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Unhealthy care
National Post Published: Friday, July 10, 2009
Re: Canadian Health Care On Trial, letters to the editor, July 8.
Anyone unfamiliar with health care in Canada could be forgiven for thinking that the writers of Wednesday's Letters of the Day were talking about two different health-care systems.
In fact, Canada has four. There is a rural system and the system found in major cities. Had Measha Brueggergosman had her aneurism in Easter, B. C., or in Labrador, she would almost certainly have died.
There is also the distinction between our elective system and the emergent (dealing with unexpected health problems) system. A patient who is hit by a bus, or who has a possible heart attack, will receive immediate care. A person needing a shoulder replacement, conversely, may wait years for a procedure.
It is easy to defend the care Canadians receive for emergent issues, in large hospitals in major cities. It isn't possible to defend our elective health-care system. Yet we continue to pay lip service to the concept of providing "portability" --i. e., equivalent care to all residents, irrespective of their place of residence.
Richard Baker, Timely Medical Alternatives, Vancouver.
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There are criticisms which may be raised concerning this persons's attacks on the Canadian system. However, the issue is not the broad strokes in this case, but the specific details that would have ended her life. In the US, I am very nearly certain beyond any doubt - if I went in to my doctor with her sysmptoms, he would have run 10-20 tests and depedning upon the time of day I went in, anywhere from 1-2 hours to 24 hours i would have been scheduled for scans and further testing and within 48 hours - surgery (depedning upon my schedule and my choice). Might they conduct too many tests? Possibly. What is your life worth. That is the real issue - not the finer details critics will sling at her (this patient) for her story.
Not singing her praises
Ben Kaplan, National Post
Friday, July 03, 2009
The delay in getting surgery that ultimately saved her life has transformed outspoken Canadian opera singer Measha Brueggergosman into an outspoken critic of the failings of Canadian health care.
"As patients, we're made to feel like we should be thankful for whatever we get, but that's a lie which keeps our health-care system from improving," she says, holding court, and delivering strong judgment, as a cavalcade of well-wishers, hairdressers and PR men saunter through her home.
"Restaurants are more technologically savvy than our health-care service providers and, while I believe in paying taxes, when a hospital doesn't listen or is patronizing or misses something they should see, our system is definitely wrong.
"We've been lazy in keeping our health-care system accountable because it's free, but you get what you pay for," she says. "I felt like I was doomed from the start."
Not the kind of talk that usually comes from a darling of the Canadian arts scene, but the 32-year-old three-time Grammy winner is emboldened by her recent experiences.
She was taken to Toronto's St. Joseph's Hospital on June 8, complaining of throat pains and released the next day. After a visit the following afternoon with her longtime GP, she was rushed to Toronto General Hospital where surgeons performed open-heart surgery on her dissected aorta, a fatal disorder with a mortality rate which increases 1% every hour.
"You'd be long dead before the aorta completely tears because blood pools around your major arteries," she says. "You die from internal bleeding, but because my blood pressure was so high and the walls of my heart are so thick, it wouldn't have taken much to have killed me."
Sprawled out on the couch of her funky home in the Parkdale section of Toronto, she rates her current condition as six on a recovery scale of 10. Charismatic, outspoken and confident enough to tread over opera's well-entrenched colour lines, the soprano from Fredericton, N.B., has a personality as outsized as her trademark hair once was.
It is not every diva who can wear a butterfly nose ring, marry their high school sweetheart and keep a working toilet in the middle of their bedroom.
"Measha communicates with people musically and personally," says Aaron Davis, pianist for the Holly Cole Trio and Ms. Brueggergosman's close friend. "It's not just that she's a great singer, audiences feel a connection and want to come along with her for a ride."
That ride, however, was nearly curtailed and today, as ever, Ms. Brueggergosman isn't pulling any punches. Surrounded by bouquets and books such as Each Day With Jesus, she complains of being short of breath and reveals a scar that runs the length of her chest, from her collarbone to beneath her bellybutton, where surgeons eventually opened her up at Toronto General Hospital. She describes her ordeal as frustrating and frightening, and now believes that the Canadian mindset about health care is wrong.
Ms. Brueggergosman is familiar with health concerns. She spent years battling obesity and, in January 2006, underwent gastric bypass surgery. Eventually, through a combination of Bikram yoga and healthy eating, she shed a remarkable 150 pounds, but she'd become lax about monitoring her genetically high blood pressure. Despite being a professional athlete, her father had three blocked arteries and quadruple bypass surgery.
But her most dramatic health experience began a few weeks ago, when she was waiting for her husband at a restaurant and began to feel tightness in her throat. She returned home as the pressure spread to her shoulders, jaw and arms.
"I was leaning on my kitchen counter, looking for my health card, when my legs buckled and I collapsed," she says, and describes how EMTs rushed her to the hospital on a gurney after her blood pressure reached 270 over 180.
Upon entering St. Joseph's Hospital, Ms. Brueggergosman was calm. This quickly changed. She remembers being hooked up to an IV, given drugs, and recalls telling them about her medical history.
All the while, Ms. Brueggergosman is convinced, the tear in her aorta was widening.
One of the major problems with our health-care system, Ms. Brueggergosman now says, is that doctors often don't know, or trust, their patients. Her own doctor was familiar with her medical history and knew right away that she was in a race against time. During her first trip to the hospital, however, she was given an X-ray of her chest and had an ultrasound scheduled to examine her kidneys later that week. She was treated for hypertension and high blood pressure, then sent home.
A day after she was sent home, Ms. Brueggergosman still felt pressure on her throat, which was making her exceedingly nervous: She was scheduled to sing Strauss with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra the next day.
"Anywhere else, I wouldn't have taken much notice, but this was affecting my livelihood," she says. "Also, by this time, the pain was seeping into my chest."
An ultrasound at Toronto General Hospital revealed a dissected aorta and internal bleeding - her heart was essentially choking itself. A surgeon at the hospital performed open-heart surgery on Ms. Brueggergosman at 1:30 a.m. on Thursday morning, June 11.
"Our aim is to provide the best health care experience for all of our patients," says Michelle Tadique, communication associate of public affairs at St. Joseph's Health Care Foundation. While Ms. Tadique couldn't comment on Ms. Brueggergosman's case specifically, she stands by her hospital's reputation.
"We're a community teaching hospital affiliated with the University of Toronto and offer a full-range of services from our emergency department through to end-of-life care."
Faith has always played a large role in Ms. Brueggergosman's life. The daughter and sister of Baptist priests, she has an honorary doctorate from Acadia University, attends Bible studies in the park on Tuesday evenings and begins every morning with her husband reading scripture. She says that even when the pain became overwhelming, her belief in God kept her calm throughout. "I know the next life is better," she says.
Formerly career-driven and not at all interested in having children, the singer now thinks seriously about selling the funky downtown home in Toronto, moving back to the Maritimes and reconsidering her stance on family life.
"God knows me and knows I'll only stop if I'm completely derailed, but he's merciful - I'm still here," she says.
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