Guest K2Optimist Posted February 7, 2003 Report Share Posted February 7, 2003 This COMPLETELY amazed me and I want to see what you think. What do you think the time course of treatment in Canada would be? A friend of mine living in the US found what he thought might be a tumour on his testicle on Thursday. He went to see his primary care physician Friday. He went to see the specialist Monday. He had surgery to have the tumour removed Tuesday !!! Then he had a CT scan on Wednesday. My suspicion is that this whole ordeal would take longer in Canada. What do you think? Would it take a week? A month? A couple months? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest cheech10 Posted February 7, 2003 Report Share Posted February 7, 2003 The waiting times for *urgent* surgery are often no longer here in Canada. I know testicular cancer patients that had surgery in similar time frames and CABG patients that had surgery within a week of deciding on it. A few things to keep in mind though: Testicular cancer is curable >90% of the time, and a longer wait would not have carried a significantly worse prognosis; CABG wait times in Toronto are usually longer since ORs are more heavily booked, but if there is a sense of urgency, you can be moved further up in the queue; Having a CT the day after orchidectomy is probably less important than having a CT after a few months to detect regrowth of the tumour. Your friend will need the follow-up CT anyways, and if some cancer had been left behind, it likely wouldn't have been noticed until then (even on CT), and would still be very susceptible to radiation or chemotherapy. The over-availability of medical resources results in waste (eg. ORs remaining empty), and overuse/misuse, and this is one major factor in why the US spends twice as much of its GDP on health care as the UK does (and still doesn't achieve better outcomes). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Sil Posted February 7, 2003 Report Share Posted February 7, 2003 agree with cheech10. If you have a real emergency you would likely not have to wait. It is the same of emergency rooms. We always hear of the waits and waits and waits. This is usually becuase people with the flu or a cold need to wait 6 hours to see a doctor, that is not an emergency. I think the problems are overblown by some members of our media that would like it very much if we decided to go the private route:b Also think of the states where if you were poor and without insurance some hospitals will send you away and you may very likely die on the way to another hospital. Perhaps does not happen every day but it happens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Biochem10 Posted February 7, 2003 Report Share Posted February 7, 2003 I totally agree with the media blowing things out of proportion regarding wait times. Canadians automatically think that if they have to wait a month for a MRI it's because of a healthcare crisis and NOT because the reason for their MRI is not an emergency. For instance, my uncle was scheduled for an MRI, the appointment was a month away. It was not a serious concern, just something the doctor wanted to check out. Anyway, my uncle went and paid to get the MRI the next day, not because it was an emergency, but because he couldn't bear the anxiety of waiting. Anyway, everything turn out to be fine, but in his opinion, he went and paid because of those "terribly long wait times". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mimicat65 Posted February 9, 2003 Report Share Posted February 9, 2003 On the flip side of this issue... I was vacationing in the US while I was 5.5 mos pregnant, and had a severe gallbladder attack (first ever, so wasn't sure what it was). Went to a large urban hospital during the night, and was made to wait over an hour (in doubled over pain, and throwing up) while the NASTY reception clerk made 3000 phone calls to check whether my insurance was good enough for them to even check me out!! :eek BTW, I had Blue Cross (100% coverage while in the US) - not exactly an unrecognisable insurance name.... The care I received was ok - but very very unfriendly (like they were suspicious that I was somehow trying to take advantage of them ). The bill was over $2000 US for about 4 hours in the ER with a shot of demol, and an ultrasound. Oh yes, I might have soiled a couple of bedpans when I vomited...:rolleyes Anyway, point is, it is not all roses on that side of the border either. My feeling is that if I had gone to a Canadian ER, I would have been cared for first, with other questions coming later. Just my 2 cents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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