I had a pain in one of my legs for a few years. I went to this Doctor who said he could fix the pain, there was nothing to worry about. He told me that 90% nothing would happen to me and the other 10% their might be some bleeding or infection. That Bastered paralized me and now I am in wheelchair.That’s the trust I had put into him. So be careful who you trust.
—Not Even Sorry you Bastered’ I hope you rot in Hell
This article appears in Mar 12-18, 2009.
I can’t disagree. I’ve seen one hell of a lot of people misdiagnosed, ignored and damaged because of the chaos that is our health care system. While some envy free health care, in my experience, it’s been a goddamn nightmare. I’m so sorry to hear about your situation – I had a specialist butcher me in a very delicate area, not once but twice. I’ve had life long problems as a result of his hacking. It’s a crime that you’ve been handed this fate by a careless so-called professional.
A lot of times, the patients are to blame.
They don’t give you all the facts, and then they “gloss” over other things
That’s what happens when you turn chance into statistics. If I were you I’d see a homeopathic doctor to heal your future problems. One person I knew had Cromes disease and after a while of small sugary pills he was good as new, it was quite a miracle. TTFN – was that hacking around due to hemorroids and now you feel like your sitting on a Timbit? I could use some advice ’cause I don’t want to wind up in that direction, if you know what I mean.
And a lot of time Matthew Luthor the patients tell the doctors wtf is wrong with us and they ignore it.
I was recently diagnosed with a condition I’ve had for 15+ years. I knew I had it and it was only until I did my own research and got lucky and found a doctor who was willing to listen when I sought out a second opinion. I brought articles I found in medical journals and even did research on medications used to treat it. My family doctor had just glossed over my symptoms and shrugged my symptoms off as me imagining things. And even if he had’ve taken me seriously he wouldn’t’ve done anything about it but send me to see a specialist because he doesn’t want to deal with fuck all. Kicker is: even with my diabetes and this new condition the endocrinology clinic won’t give me an appointment for a fucking year. Thankfully the 2nd opinion doctor agreed with my proposed treatment plan and I’ve been doing well on it since.
So, don’t blame the patients when half of you don’t even do your fucking jobs in the first place!
AND! I JUST got an appointment for my ultrasound: June. I’ve only been waiting since last September. No wonder NS has such high mortality rates for things like cancer: you could just keel over while you’re waiting! My grandmother was on waiting lists for tests and by the time she got them she was at end stage cancer and died within a month.
The BEST healthcare I ever had was in Ontario of all places. They pay for a lot more and get you in to see specialists a lot fucking faster than in NS. THey have a lot more doctors than NS, true, but they also have a MUCh larger population so it balances out.
Take it as a given that all doctors are skeptics, ram a stick up their ass if they don’t listen the first time.
are you sure the doctor is to blame? Doctors are not blessed with magical powers. they do what they can. unfortuantley sometimes treatments do not work. What were the circumstane? can you elaborate. in addition to medicine what other measures can be contributing factors? smoking? Drinking? regular exercise? Life stlye plays the absolute most important role in health, not doctors. I feel your pain, and I sympathize with you. but doctors are people too.
I know in my case my blood work results were as plain as day in regards to my diagnosis. My doctor chose to ignore them and shrug them off. He said it was what can happen when you’re diabetic, when these types of levels only ever happen as a result of being diabetic if you’re type 2 and overweight. Type one is a completely different fucking disease!
As soon as I saw the second opinion doctor and told her what was going on and the results of my blood tests she knew right off what was the issue and prescribed me medication and since I’ve been on it my symptoms are pretty much disappearing. I’m pissed because I should’ve been put on these meds 15 years ago when I came to the doctor with these symptoms and had the exact same blood work results.
Fact is, a lot of doctors take the easy way out. They’re so quick to get you in and out they don’t actually take the time to LISTEN to their patients. Fuck I’d type up a list of symptoms and bring it with me so I wouldn’t forget anything and my doctor wouldn’t even look at it.
Just because you’re fat or have a chronic disease doesn’t mean EVERYTHING is due to that. Sometimes I feel like I could break my nose and I’d be told I broke it because I’m a fucking diabetic. I’m not the only one either. Unless you’re a thin young male you tend to not get taken seriously by doctors. Fat people, women, old people….they’re all treated like a waste of time by the medical profession.
Medicare is a government run ‘service’.
Why do you expect so much ?
And Bruce Wark wants government run car insurance; go figure.
To Rafiki, I was very healthy.I never smoked in my life.I due have a social drink,due to all the medications I am on I can hardly have one.If the Doctors would have told me that it was a 50/50 chance I could be paralized. I surely wouldn’t have had the operation neither. Yes you are right not all Doctors are bad.
Thanks for your comments.
To Mattew, about your comment, I had all the facts. I put all my trust in this Doctor.It was to be a simple operation and he told me not to worry about a thing and I believed in him. I had x-rays,mri’s,dye test, the works.
Thanks for your comment
Ok, I am tired of the healthcare system getting beat to shit on this board – YES, it could certainly be better, but here’s a new concept for you: accountability. Patients have to accept SOME responsibility for their own healthcare. It never ceases to amaze me when people come into the hosptial and they don’t even know what they’re there for – they hand you a slip and say “my doctor just told me to come”. They can’t even PRONOUNCE ultrasound. The hosptial is not a magical place where you show up and everyone has ESP and can tell why you’re there.
ASK questions. BE proactive. UNDERSTAND your condition, and also how the health system works! (i.e. you need a fucking referral to see a specialist!) ALWAYS seek a second opinion.
And for fucksakes stop missing appointments. When I hear people complain about wait times I just want to shake them, because they have no idea that it is OTHER PATIENTS who blow off appointments (after they have recieved letters and phone calls remindidng them of said appointment), which contribute just as much to the wait times as short staffing. When I worked in MRI guaranteed atleast 1 pt didn’t show up per day – that is 20+ appointment times a month which result not only in longer waits, but idle staff.
Sorry this is so long, but try to understand how the system works before you set out to crucify it.
Some of us ARE proactive, make our appointments and know what we’re going in to be tested for yet we still get shitty care, hellakitty. I had to spend hours doing research in medical journals to come up with my own fucking diagnosis when my family doctor should’ve been responsible for making a diagnosis (it wasn’t a difficult one either, it was right in front of his fucking face). Maybe it’s not the norm for patients to be as informed as some of us are, but I really don’t know how anyone can justify the wait lines for specialists and tests, especially for those of us who attempt to be proactive and actually take care of themselves.
PK – can’t you accept that there could be two sides to this argument? I started my post by reiterating that our healthcare system needs work – I believe it does. My comment was obviously not directed at people who are proactive and responsible patients – my own uncle was misdiagnosed and suffered a great deal despite being very knowledgable and involved in his own care, and I think that is terrible. That being said, it was ONE doctor who made a mistake not the system. It seems like you had a similar situation, but again it was just one doctor, and they do make mistakes.I am not “justifying” anything, simply pointing out there are infact a number of reasons why people have to wait so long for treatment. I have seen so many wasted resources as a result of missed appointments it is unbelievable, and if people were more responsible in general, the system would function better – it wouldn’t be perfect, but it would be better.
Hellakitty: what would you tell my fiancee who had stage 2 breast cancer at 24, and after having a double mastectomy, and having reconstructive surgeries done at the hands of an idiot for a plastic surgeon (a hand specialist), and after 4 different surgeries to repair the damage at the hands of this HAND surgeon, an oncologist that put her on a drug that she didn’t need, which basically put her through menopause at age 25, do you really think after all of that she had the mind and the capacity, to ask questions and be “proactive”? After chemotherapy she was more concerned about keeping down the only thing she could eat: Popsicles. Some doctors will shut you down and talk down to you when you ask questions. In my fiancee’s case, she was made to to feel that she couldn’t. So take your “proactive attitude” and shove it up your ass. You’re not given the opportunity to be proactive or understand your condition.
Hellakitty, have YOU ever had to use the healthcare system for anything major on an ongoing basis yourself? Working in the HC industry and being a patient who needs to utilize it on a regular basis for some serious shit gives you a MUCH different opinion than someone who gets their yearly pap tests and a couple throat cultures here and there or a broken bone/sprain. Yes of course there are two sides of the argument here, but in the end it’s the patient that’s suffering, not those working in the industry (who get to go home to their families and not have to live with some of the health issues their patients have to live with 24-7).
Dr F’s fiancee is an awful story, but unfortunately I think there are more stories like this one than the opposite when it comes to our healthcare in this province.
OMG, I try not engage in these types of disagreements because it’s useless, but you are BOTH missing my point! My point is that if people (IN GENERAL) did not miss so many appointments, wait times could be cut down. And people who are more aware of their health conditions will be better equipped to deal with them … I think this is fairly basic logic. Obviously some people are upset by this because they’ve had bad experiences, and I understand that their trust is quite low and I don’t blame them, but what I am saying is in fact quite rational.
There are waiting lists not because people are missing appointments. There are waiting lists because we have a lack of specialists. Until about 5 years ago, there were only 2 oncologists for the entire fucking province. 2. Tell me that’s about missing appointments. Cancer is probably the number #2 killer in Canada (cardiovascular diseases is #1) and we have 2 oncologists to serve the entire province?! Despite how rational your argument may be, it doesn’t mean it’s right.
I’m not aware of any perfect health care system. But let me tell ya, the Canadian system is thousands of times better than the US non-system, unless you happen to be very wealthy. Even comfortably middle class people down there get screwed through their HMOs.
So it scares me when I hear people bitching about the Canadian system. Yes, there are going to be problems, and yes we should work to make the system better, but let’s not throw the baby out with the bath water.
I could make 10x what I do here if I went to the states, but given their attitudes towards SSM, I will never go.
It’s been a long weekend, I’m two beers in… what’s SSM?
Sure, it’s not the US; but when you compare ours to the systems in France, England, or any other European nation, we’re way behind. There have been way too many years of mismanagement and cuts for this system to function properly. We should make the system better; but it’s not gonna happen anytime soon, especially with Nova Scotia having an election every two years, and we haven’t had an effective, solid leader in over 25 years. And none of the current leaders could lead their way out of a wet paper bag, so given that, we’re up shit creek.
Same Sex Marriage
Ah. They’re getting there, tho. Most of the US will have same sex marriage in, oh, five years or so. And we can thank Canada for paving the way, demonstrating that it’s really no big deal at all.
Dr. Fever– glad you mentioned the funding side of it. That’s the crux of it, obviously.
Tim– I think it goes further than funding though. There has been a serious lack of strong, consistent focus on the fundamentals in this bloody province and it really shows especially in the healthcare sector. I only wish money was the issue.
I don’t disagree with you, Dr. F. Like all things political, it takes active involvement by the citizenry to budge the system into a better direction.
The trick is to do that while not undermining the system.
We need to look long-term, and recognize that working to improve total health is actually a cost effective way of reducing medical expenses. For starters.
I’m heading off, but i just wanted to underscore that while I think criticism of the reality of the system is warranted, and may produce better results, I’d really hate to see the system undermined completely.
Fuck this crusty old cripple.
You work your ass off for years to get through med-school. You become a doctor, one of the most demanding, stressful, and draining jobs there is. You try to help people. You usually do help them, then one day you royally fuck up, putting some poor bastard in a wheelchair for the rest of their life. You have to live with the knowledge that you fucked someone’s life up.
Sure there’s sickos in every profession but the chances of this guys doctor intentionally trying to cripple him by betraying his trust are nil. People make mistakes all the time and sometimes those mistakes are big mistakes. That’s life. I get that you’re pissed that you cant walk anymore but Jesus, have the class to admit that Doc was genuinely trying to help you.
Now get over it, and go try to do some good in the world like your doctor has been doing for years.
Dr. Fever, this is a little dated, but you might want to read it. http://communications.medicine.dal.ca/news…
Nova Scotia has a lot more than 2 oncologists, and has had them for more than 5 years or so.
A lack of specialists does contribute to longer wait times, but Hellakitty is right in that missed appointments also significantly extend wait times. Each missed appointment extends the lines ups by one more person and you can’t get that time back.
Another contributing factor is surgical suite use and availability. If the same surgery room is being used, for example, for a thoracic surgery, followed by an orthopedic surgery, that OR will need to be reconfigured between surgeries with specialized equipment and will need a changeover of scrub nurses and other personnel. This generates a lag time that can also not be regained.
Ontario has recently set up several new publically-funded health centers that specialize in a particular type of medicine (e.g. Diabetes, orthopedics) so that in one visit, a patient can%
Ontario has recently set up several new publically-funded health centers that specialize in a particular type of medicine (e.g. Diabetes, orthopedics) so that in one visit, a patient can see all the relevant specialists and get all the special tests they will need. With surgery suites that only perform one type of surgery, they can move people through more efficiently. Basically, they are starting to shift away from the “general hospital” model of medicine in favour of several specialized hospitals and clinics.
The concept of universal health care is a good one, but it is a big commitment. As our population continues to grow and age our health care system needs to expand and adapt accordingly. There have been several independent and government sponsored studies into how to fix the medicare system (e.g the Romanow report) but the government has been painfully slow to move foward on any of the reccomendations provided in these documents. This, in my opinion, is the frustratingly weak link. I sometimes wonder if the our governments are purposely starving the health care system so that we will start begging for privatization so they can finally be rid of their financial obligation to protecting the health of their citizens.
If people are missing appointments, that shouldn’t move anything forward. If they miss it, they miss it. They move forward to the next appointment. There should be no lag. I call my next clients and see if they can come in earlier, if they can, all the better. That’s what I do in my job. It’s what everyone else does.
You’re completely right about the lack of leadership and the fact they want to be rid of the financial obligation; that’s why John Hamm commissioned private MRI clinics after all. Problem is; Nova Scotia isn’t Alberta and we don’t have the income to support it. Well, lately Alberta doesn’t either.
One of the things I’ve been following is the amount of highly skilled and educated immigrants that are lured to Canada under the impression that they will be able to practice in their field because they met all the criteria (points, etc..) in their applications. Then when they arrive in Canada, they’re told that their medical qualifications do not meet the Canadian standards. This has been an on going issue for over 10 years since I first started following it when I was living in Toronto.
With the lack of a population base, and let’s face it, not much going on in Nova Scotia, there has been an acknowledged fact that it’s hard to retain rural doctors. More pressure should be put on the medical and dental societies to be less protectionist and allow these immigrants to practice. I’m sure a lot of them would gladly practice in any part of Canada, if only they were given the opportunity to do so. Given that it’s such a multicultural society, it’d help to have doctors that could speak more than just English and/or French. That would help any communication barriers between patient and doctor. The medical schools limit the amount of students, why is that? If our society needs more doctors, let more into the programs so that we can get more specialists and such. Btw, how many poor doctors or dentists do you know? I’m not talking about the ones that are just out of school either. They may have large student debts, but their incomes quickly erase that.
Given the problems that some of you mention in your dealings with the medical system here, I would take the Canadian system over the American one any day. Having lived in the US, I can tell you that if you don’t have insurance, you would be bankrupt if anything ever happened to you. Even if you have insurance, you still pay a boat load. Imagine paying $25 just to see the doctor. Your wait time is still the same or even longer than you going to a walk in clinic in Halifax. Now let’s say you decide to go to the ER instead. You can expect to pay $75 for that. If you need anything else done, well, depending on your insurance plan, you can look at up to $1500 out of pocket. Have any of you ever seen a medical bill that the doctors, and hospitals charge? Here’s an example I’ll use, and I’ll break down every fee so you can have an idea of how much it would cost to fix a broken nose:
Initial doctor visit: $221
ENT (Ear, Nose, Throat) consultation: $250
ENT surgery (20 minutes to reset broken nose): $750
Hospital fee (for surgery room & equip): $5115
Anesthesiologist: $855
ENT post op check up: $250
Grand total: $7441
The amount I paid, because I had insurance was: $433.2
Given the above information, would any of you be able to afford that kind of medical if you didn’t have insurance? So many people in the US don’t have insurance because it is expensive. A coworker of mine, his parents were paying $1000/mnth for their medical insurance. I was lucky that at the time, I had insurance through my workplace. As of 2006, 47 million Americans (~16% of the population) were uninsured. That’s more than the entire population of Canada + 50%!
Listen Quake I am not an old crusty cripple, you should have more respect for people who have had things happen to them. I know people go to medical school and study hard. I told this specialist if the operation was complicated please do not due it. If you open me up just sew me back up if it was to complicated. I have had other operations that were sucessful but nothing could compare to this. Putting things up your behind so you can go to the bathroom, wearing a leg bag and trying to cop with pain everyday. I DO WORK AND IT’S HARD HAVING A NURSE EVERYDAY TO SHOWER YOU AND GET YOU DRESSED. All I have to say to you, put you ass in a wheelchair for a while and let’s see how you get over it. You want to hear anger how about this. Go FUCK YOURSELF YOU IDIOT.