Canadians Is Your HealthCare As Pathetically Terrible As This?

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Bubba S

But you must remember, it didn't cost a single dime for that service.
He was also in a wheelchair because he had previously lost his legs to frost bite. Apparently they don't do much to shelter the homeless, during the Winter in Canada either.
Canadians should really get off their high horse and spent a little time in some HONEST examination of some of the pit falls in their Country, instead of spending all their energy telling everyone who will listen how much better and smarter than Americans they are.
In the US when we have things screw up on us we recognize the problem and tackle it, for better or for worst. We don't sit around in denial and claim superiority over our Northern Cousin.

Steve

The man died because he just went into the ER waiting room and sat down. He never registered with the admissions desk to say that he needed to see a doctor. If he had, he would have been seen by a triage nurse.

They had no way of knowing that he waiting to see a doctor versus just accompanying someone else there. If he had registered with admissions he would have been seen.

It's a shame that the man died, but don't make it sound as if the reason it happened was because it took 34 hours before they could look at him. He died because he failed to register with the ER desk when he got there.

zee_prime

It's a matter of historical record that US public health services are the worst in the developed world and the least cost-effective in any country. Even countries as poor as Cuba take better care of their sick. Tragedies happen everywhere, including Canada and NZ where I live, but they're exceptions, not deliberate policy like in the US. No developed country outside America carts off sick geriatrics to skid row in ambulances from hospital when their funds run out. Last year a man was found in a street in LA dragging his colostomy bag behind him after he'd been deliberately dumped from a public hospital.

butterfly_686

our healthcare is amazing...thank you very much....the us wants to make us look bad because there pissed off that they cnt provide free health care...well if that makes you feel better...be my guest :)

when you go the emergency room you have to let them know that your there, you cnt juss walk in and expect them to know that you need to be checked....the most i've ever had to wait is 3 hours and that was because only my arm was broken, if it is something a lot more serious they will check you out first...that man would have been checked a lot sooner had he actually registered when he got there...

our health care system is amazing, well i think so anyways...

tuppenybitz

the US government wants you to believe canadian health care is not good so americans will put up with the bad health care they have

canadian health care is great,sure it has a few problems but name me a country that doesn't

ive always been treated immediately with excellent care when i have been ill,never had to wait long for a specialist or any tests needed
and haven't had to shell out a cent as our taxes cover the cost

and i am not canadian just a resident here

SteveN

The situation with this poor fellow in Manitoba is tragic, but there are two important things mentioned in the article:

1) It's not necessarily morally right to pretend that the homeless don't exist and walk right past them as if you did not see them, but people do it all the time on the street. So why would it be much different if you saw an obvious homeless person in a waiting room? I'm pretty sure people in the waiting room probably avoided eye contact with them or left him alone because he smelled, or because they were afraid he would be mentally unstable. (Not saying it's right to do this, but am saying that I see it here in Canada and in US cities all the time)

2) When you arrive at the ER in Canada, the first thing you do is register with the nurse and describe what your medical problem is. They will get someone to triage you and decide if you can wait or if you must be taken right away. This fellow never even went to the main desk to let them know he was there.

3) Since most nurses and doctors will have normal shifts that are not longer than eight hours, there is no way for someone to know how long he had been there if the previous shift did not mention it or observe him.

Canada's healthcare system can use some improvements, especially in the long wait times. The longest I have heard anyone have to wait at the hospital ER near me was 13 hours. They had a bad knee sprain from falling down their stairs.

Basically, if they determine that you are not in any immediate danger, you will wait for the one or two doctors that are available. If there are 40 people waiting to see the two doctors, you could be a while.

On the other hand, if it is something more serious, you will be taken right away. For example, my father has a history of heart trouble, so when he went to the ER complaining of chest pains and high blood pressure, they would not even let him walk from the triage area to the bed. They used a wheelchair, and he was in a bed and hooked up to the ECG monitor in minutes. (It turned out that his heart medication needed to be re-evaluated and switched - he is now on Lipidor)

But do you think that Canada's healthcare is so terrible and the US system is so much better? People die in the ER waiting rooms in US too:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/07/01/waiting.room.death/index.html

The difference between Canada's system and the US version is that in ours, people show up because they know that after waiting a long time, they will see a doctor and won't have to pay an arm and a leg for the visit or the medication that the doctor prescribes. In Canada, they ask to see your government health card , in USA they usually want to see your Mastercard.

By the way... Even the US system, if you are in a critical condition, they will take you right away and make sure you don't die on them. I'm not sure if that is because they care so much or may just be worried about being sued for NOT treating you, but you will get service in an emergency.

And most people use the ER as walk-in clinics, trying to handle a cut, a sprain, a tummy ache. If people would use the ER properly, wait times would probably be much lower.

curicta85

oh i'm sorry but in the states that homeless guy couldn't step foot on hospital grounds,as a matter of fact everyone who doesn't have money can stay at home and die,don't even bother going to the hospital.
I'm not saying the system is perfect but it sure is much better and Canadians like it so what do you care about our health system,you're not using it(something tells me you're south of the border).
BTW emergency rooms work be the urgency of the case so yeah,if someone was having a heart attack or was in a car accident the person with headache would have to wait.
Geez,you guys believe everything they say on the telly? A bunch of brainwashing garbage?
On the other side...I'm glad to see that Americans started to have interest in other countries,you're really advancing! But try to make that experience positive,true and not just look how to insult other people and try to bring them down. Your ego must be really low these days as the states are crushing,but trying to prove that others are worse than you is just not the way my dear!

K B

This was such a rare occurrence it made the newspapers.

Do you have nothing better to do with your time? Surely there are homeless who could use your help in your own country? But I bet you have never once gotten off your duff and done anything for them - too busy going to foreign countries looking to muck rake.

Or maybe you think you are too good to dirty your hands with a homeless person and posting on YA is such a clean, anonymous way to muck rake, eh? Why don't you get off your computer, go to an area where there are homeless in your own neighbourhood and do something good hearted and useful for them. You might even get to like yourself a bit.

One does have to wonder about the IQ of someone who reads an isolated item in a foreign paper and makes broad, all encompassing statements about life in that foreign country based on that tiny amount of information. BTW What is your IQ - reads like about a 70. That being the case, I am happy for you that you can read and write.

freeside49

So you dont think I could find examples in the american media about homeless people dying in the steets due to lack of medical care??? What a hoot, not only the hjomless lack medical care there so do families with young kids, unemployed and self-employed.

I wouldnt trade Canadian healthcare for American healthcare for all the tea in China and I know both systems very well.

If your an american you probably have heard of:
- "pre-existing conditions"
- loss of healthcare coverage due to unemployment
- bankruptcy due to catastrophic illness
- 43 million without any health coverage at all.

I can tell you straight up those things don't exist in Canada.
We would tar and feather any politican who tries to take our healthcare down the selfish greedy american medicine for profit route your on. We have had universal coverage since 1965 and dont think american multinationals arent drooling to get in here so they can fleece us the way they fleece US citizens.

alecia audrey

Bubba:

Homeless count on ONE day in USA : 444,000 people
Homeless count on ONE day Canada: 14,145

Ya, WE really need to take care of our homeless.

itssoeasy

now you go worry about your own health care and its flaws, thank you.

Constant_Traveler

Yeah it would be way better if we had no medical care, like our southern neighbours (sarcasm here). If you read the article you would see that the man didn't register and that they were used to seeing him there. It is a tragidy and the staff were negligent but that has nothing to do with our health care.

I feel so sorry for that poor, third world dictatorship south of us, who are forced to pay to get treatment for their sick children and have to depend on money grubbing insurance companies to help them if they become seriously ill, that is if you can afford it.

I have heard about you "free" hospitals where people are turned away because they are under staffed and overworked.

Canadian

Uh, yeah, bear in mind that some people in the United States die because they can't even afford to get into the ER room. The only difference is that they die somewhere else because they can't afford anything.

"...regional health officials say he was never registered or seen by triage nurses over the weekend until it was too late."

You can't just go into the hospital and expect something if you don't go to the front desk and register.

Elizabeth

I'm a Canadian and I go to the hospital a fair amount as I am a diabetic, and I have NEVER heard of anything like that, the longest I've waited in outpatients was probably 3-4 hours for something low-priority.. Our healthcare system is amazing compared to YOURS.

Michael T

Yes. Absolutely. It is terrible and should not have happened. The emergency room staff needs to have enough situational awareness to see that someone has been sitting there for a long time and needs help even if he hasn't registered. If they are so busy that they can't have that situational awareness, we need to hire more of them.

Yes, the Canadian health care system gives the US health care system a sound thrashing about the head and face, but being satisfied with that is setting the bar pretty low. Canada should look at countries that do health care better (e.g. France) and start to adopt some of their practices, instead of constantly looking to the south for gratification.

slipstreamer

Oh for goodness sake people - this is such a troll question, trying to get your backs up. Is that really a reputable paper ..or a tabloid?

"All the stories in the US media" - what, that ONE story? Which isn't even in the US media? Usually the Canadian system is held up by the US media as an example of how the US system needs to be reformed. I have never seen a negative story about Canadian healthcare in the US.

By the way, the US health-care system is not as bad as it is portrayed in the Canadian media. Not all hospitals turn away those who cannot pay, refuse to do procedures, etc...etc...If you are in an emergency room in the US and it is urgent, you will receive care. The US system needs work - right now the Insurance companies are gouging everyone and that needs to be addressed....but the actual care can be stellar. People still do come to the US for ground breaking procedures for a reason.

Once you get past the hurdles (that shouldn't be there in the first place) the actual care is pretty much the same. It's the billing and the interference by the insurance people that is the problem.

Look, I liked the Michael Moore film too - but you do know that he exaggerates a bit, right? It wouldn't be much of a film otherwise. His overall point is good/correct - but don't take a movie as gospel okay? Health services the world over have similar issues - and one horror story does not mean ALL hospitals in the US are bad etc...

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