My better half has been suffering from an ailment for the past 22 months. We have done everything under the sun to try and get this fucking thing diagnosed. No luck, nada, sweet fuck all. The pain she suffers at times is unimaginable, dibilitating no less. Well today was the straw that broke my back. Had to rush her to the Emerg cause the pain was making her puke. Got there @ 7 AM. By 10 AM the hag @ the desk tells everybody that ” we are backed up real bad “. Well that cleared the room real quick. She finally sees a Doc @ 11 AM, tells her that she’s in no mortal danger, dopes her up and sends her on her way. What the fuck is wrong with this picture. I am totally fed up with this backward, cheap, resultless fucking Health Care System. They had her history, knew of the routes we have followed up to this point, but no, no new ideas, no new tests, just more dope and a shove out the door. To get an MRI around here, you might have to give a BJ to the fucker or fuckers that schedule this shit.Well fuck that, I’m buying our way to the front of the queue for one of those tests. Didn’t want to but hey, shit’s gotta go forward. Now let’s all watch the defenders of this shitty Health Care System flood this thread with excuses, finger pointing, and more sad stories of over work, under pay. You get the idea. I wonder if that twit Joan Jessome has got the nerve to join in. Anyhoo, had to get that one off my chest. Let the insults, stories, excuses fly people
—Got The Cash To Buy Me An MRI
This article appears in Feb 26 – Mar 4, 2009.
I’d like to piss in Joan Jessome’s pertly teased beehive. I completely understand where you are coming from. My spouse cannot walk without assistance and after three years of waiting for appointments and MRIs we still have no diagnosis. All I know is that he’s in extreme pain, depressed and his legs could give way unexpectedly at any time. Our doctor has done the best he could – these fucking, goddamn, cocksucking specialists will not arrange an appointment, they will call my doctor’s office when an appointment is available. We are both so frustrating with this inadequate, unresponsive health care syetem, we’re ready to move to another province. Unless you are on the verge of dying, you will be lost in the shuffle. I really wish I didn’t have to say that but that’s been my experience.
Oh I hear you on this one, OP and TTFN. My dad was just diagnosed with a weakening of the walls of his heart (and it only took 8 months from when he first went to the doc about his chest pains!). He has less than 50% capacity and “may have a blockage” but his cardiologist will do nothing about it. He can barely function anymore: all he can do is sleep. And when he does get the energy to actually go out he’s flat on his back in bed for two days recovering. He keeps asking “why didn’t they do a dye test to see if I have a blockage?” and I keep asking: “why won’t they operate?”…they say it’s not “severe enough” to operate on YET. Well by the time it IS he’ll be too sick to go through surgery IF he gets a surgery date before he dies. We had a close family member die on the table during open heart surgery because they waited too long to do her surgery and she was too weak by the time they got her in. The whole thing is sickening.
My mom went into the ER before xmas because she had a case of amnesia (no joke, actual amnesia), and it took almost 5 hours to get her test results back from her MRI and CT scan. When she was having grand mal seizures a few xmases ago she got an initial MRI but had to wait 6 months for another one. Same deal with a friend of mine’s dad who had a stroke and had to wait 8 months to get a second MRI, and the man had a STROKE.
Myself? Well I’ve been waiting for an ultrasound referral since November. I haven’t even been called regarding an appointment!
Halifax has the WORST wait times for the most part in the entire province. Last ultrasound I had was in Kentville and I got in within 3 weeks.
Perhaps if you’re able, OP, request tests or specialist appointments with specialists/hospitals outside HRM if it’s possible.
Oh, and a lot depends on your family doctor. I had no problem getting in to see specialists in a reasonable amount of time when i had my doc in the valley because, quite frankly, she was pushier than my current family doc. My suggestion would be to keep calling and bugging your GP’s office about referrals. that might get the wheels moving a bit because the doc’ll probably want to get you off their backs!
I hope everything works out with your SO soon!
OP Here, thanks ladies for the support. Going out of the HRM for an MRI sounds ok with the shortened wait times, but I’m not going let her suffer anymore, the sooner we can get to that gizmo, the sooner she can be treated for what ails her. Hopefully the device can tell us what’s what, cause the fucking doctors haven’t got a clue.
Is it possible financially for you to go to the private MRI clinic in Clayton Park?
I’m sure there’s no long waiting list there.
I wanted to point out that British Columbia has a system whereby there are private clinics galore, yet the tests are covered by the public provincial health insurance. Why not in Nova Scotia? There must be some kind of a fee schedule in operation, that I don’t know. Here, as compared to the situation in my former province of Nova Scotia, there is a business making a living doing standard tests including radiological ones at a standard fee rate, and a demand for them so that it is a viable business to be in — resulting in not so much of a backlog of unmet need. The province should set up a structure so that there are enough diagnostic services so that at least people would know whether they have a serious and/or treatable illness or not.
The health care system sucks! I’ve had knee troubles for years and have been told there is nothing wrong with me. Whatever.
Say what you like about the health care system in the United States, but I would take it any day over ours. I worked in the US and had to use the health care system there and let me tell you, you get what you pay for!
Canadians love to show off that we have “free” health care. (Almost %50 of the Nova Scotia budget goes to health care). But, it sucks.
Guess I will just have to stay doped up!
I would like to see a mix of public and private health care here. That way, if you’re not satisfied with what the public doctor has told you, you can go to a private clinic and get a second opinion. I had my teeth put clean through my lower lip in a sparring session gone wrong about 7 years ago and I waited 6 hours (bleeding profusely the whole time) to get 4 stitches in my lip. Last fall I almost cut my finger off on a table saw and I waited 6 hours to get it sewed back together. And both of those were “quick” wait times. I’ve never had an experience as horrible as the OP, TTFN or PK, but I know that the system could certainly use some major overhauling.
Forgot to mention one thing with the whole ER fiasco.When we arrived I observed and listened to the Triage Nurse yakking with a fellow employee and shooting the bullshit about another co worker. Well didn’t that help me with my boiling blood pressure or what.It lasted like 3 minutes until I started sneering through the window @ her. She finally got the hint, that slag.
As far as right now, Capital Health is supposed to be on a slow down for the OR’s. As they are supposed to be fixing the budget, they want the doctors to do less surgeries for the next few weeks, and as such each floors is supposed to close beds, and lessen the staff. For the most part this isn’t working because there are too many patients, and the doctors aren’t bothering to slow things down, so it’s straining the system even more because nurses have already been booked off work.
Another thing, is that when the wait times are long, you really have to complain to the Docs, rather than the nurses and other staff. Generally it’s the doctors that are holding things up. I work in clinics and on the floors, and I’ve seen doctors show up to clinics hours late, consistently. Then people bitch about how long they have to wait, to me, but are just super happy when the doc shows up and don’t bitch to him. Make sure the docs know you’re unhappy, bitch at them.
Who really pisses me off are the specialists who refuse to book appointments with the GP’s office. My doc has to wait for them to call him back. I have been waiting three years for a particular specialist. My doc keeps trying but they don’t call him back. I hate this fucking province’s inadequate health care system – it’s administration heavy, not enough health care professionals. How many people must die unnecessarily because of this goddamn horseshit??
My fiancee had breast cancer in 2004 when she was 24, and had it treated and dealt with within 6 months and it was in completely in remission. The issue however, was that because she needed a double mastectomy (it was estrogen positive, and it was extremely aggressive due to her age) where the issue became was the after effects of the surgery. She requested reconstructive surgery, and was assigned a plastic surgeon. The issue with the plastic surgeon was that he was a hand specialist, not a breast specialist (this seems like a non-issue, right?). The hand specialist botched 3 different surgeries. She had infections, he damaged muscle, damaged skin, requiring grafts, the last surgery was so bad there was a quarter-sized hole torn in her chest after only a month. 2 and a half years later, she finally got a breast reconstructive specialist. In fact, the specialist that she should have been assigned in the first place. The reason why she wasn’t assigned this doctor in the first place? He was on vacation for the week that the first appointment was to be made. Instead of waiting one simple week, they created a 2 year shit show. Not to mention, her GP is the one who does all of the follow up with her now, not the oncologist who was assigned to her following the surgery, the oncologist that was assigned prescribed Tamoxifen, which is normal, however, where she had a double mastectomy her survival rate was extremely high (90+%) anyways and she dealt with that drug for 3 years and all of the associated side effects of it (significant weight gain, constant hot flashes, it basically puts you in a perpetual state of menopause) all for a 1% boost in her survival rate. She didn’t know any different until she consulted with a friend who is a resident ER doc in the south shore area that she shouldn’t even be taking the drug, because of the double mastectomy. The health care in this province is indeed, fucked.
I think that’s probably one of the worst health care stories I’ve ever heard, Dr. F. I’m glad your fiancee is going well now because damn. Deplorable.
I really do think a lot of your care depends on your GP. I’m sick. I know I’m sick. My blood tests came back showing I’m sick, but my GP has a “wait and see” approach to things. Meanwhile, while I’m not going to die I feel like crap on a daily basis (he even ignores the symptoms bothering me the most and refuses to even recognize them). I know my what diagnosis should be and I’ve even read enough medical journals on the matter that I know what my treatment should be, but my doctor just won’t diagnose me and when I bring it up he pulls the “I’ll have to send you to a specialist and that’ll take a long time” card.
So what’d I do? I went to another doctor (one of the doctors on campus). In ONE appointment he listened to me and all but agreed with my suspicions as to what’s wrong with me and said my suggested treatment was a good option. He also addressed an unrelated issue I hadn’t even gone in for because I felt it was too minor to mention and TOLD me I was going to see a specialist about it. He sent me for more blood work and his office actually called to make a follow up appointment when the results came in. My family doc never does that. My A1c levels were awful after a 6 month period of slacking off and I never heard anything until I made an appointment two months later for another issue.
My doctor in the valley was like this too. The day I was diagnosed with diabetes she called the hospital over and over until they sent me directly to the lab for immediate test results and someone in the diabetes management centre saw me THAT day (usually it’s a two month wait). They know her at the hospital (she works there as well) and they all roll their eyes when you mention her because she’s SO pushy. But pushy GPs can get results. She also sent me to an endocrinologist and told me how she sent the referrals to different clinics and keeps following up and that usually gets her patients in relatively quickly. I got in within 2 weeks. Last time I saw an endo I waited 2 months (referral came from the DEC in Hfx).
At first I felt like I was “cheating” in my family doc, but in the end I realized: I’m not going to feel like physical shit just so my GP doesn’t get offended. Sure he’s a nice guy, but he’s just not producing the results I want. So don’t be afraid to get a second opinion if you can. There are still some doc in HRM that are taking on new patients.
BM, DF, TTFN & PK: I gotta say, you guys are all much more patient (no pun intended) and forgiving than I would be in any of your situations. I’ve been in and out of hospitals (mostly due to my own stupidity) since I was 6 years old but I’ve never experienced anything like what you all have. Kudos to all of you for staying strong and not “going postal” on Capital Health.
Never Wrong: I think it may be the fact that Canadians tend to be nice to a fault. I have a friend who’s American (she lives in Canada) and said she’s always had to be pushy with her doctors in Canada to get results and that the doctors never expect it because she finds Canadians are too “nice” and willing to accept the status quo (and be respectful to a fault). She calls it her “pushy american side”….might be pushy, but she DOES get results, I have to say.
My fiancee’s situation was a result of her having cancer and just wanting to be dealt and over with. Imagine losing all of your hair and both of your breasts when you’re 24. She lost her fight the first time she had chemotherapy. It was a sad situation, especially considering she couldn’t sue for malpractice, because her oncologist circled up some other docs and they would have defended it to the death.
I have been watching my poor spouse deteriotate physically and emotionally over the last 3 years. While our doctor is a pretty good guy and has tried to help, he’s been stonewalled by the very so-called professionals who are supposed to be helping his patients. Appointment times are totally unreasonable – why are people in 24/7 pain for fucking years made to suffer like this???? The first MRI took two years to schedule, the second 18 months. The results for that one got lost and my spouse was in limbo until the third MRI last summer. Still no diagnosis. Half the time I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. I’ve even instructed my own doctor for them to put my spouse on a waiting list in case someone cancels. So far, no luck. Actually, I’m quite surprised I haven’t gone postal yet. But I am tempted to go to the press.
And malpractice suits in Canada are A LOT harder to file, and pay A LOT less than in the States.
It’s sad, because there’s really no recourse against shitty doctors in Canada, and NS in particular (and there are LOTS of shitty doctors out there. Trust me I’ve been to enough of them. ugh)
My best childhood friend is a doctor, and let me tell you, those mother fuckers stick the fuck together (which is why it’s often hard to get a second opinion. It’s especially hard in rural areas where they all know each other and resources are slim. Then they just try to make you feel selfish for wanting a second opinion).
Oh Cripes I don’t know what I’m going to do when my doctor retires. I just hope to god he gets to pick his own replacement.