Retired teacher Jo Danielson is living on the edge with an abdominal aneurysm, a dangerous bulge in her aorta, the largest single artery in the body. [...] But she will have to wait until April, when the Vancouver IslandHealth Authority's next budget year begins. The health authority has placed a cost-saving, yearly cap on the stent procedure because of the extra cost.
And that's why our ailing political elites should be forced to choose between resignation or waiting anonymously for the same legislative cattle cars they've arranged for the rest of us. And why will that never happen?
Eric from Vancouver - "Our health is a political football, their health is IMPORTANT."
just the kind of thing to be swept under the rug during an election.
A post of excellent timing Kate.
The gift keeps coming from Liberals like Iggy who promises: "A national child-care program will be put in place by a future Liberal government, no matter how bare the fiscal cupboard may be, leader Michael Ignatieff has promised."
http://www.parentcentral.ca/parent/education/article/759032--daycare-tops-liberal-agenda
They can't pay for proper health care, so how can they pay for child care?
Pretty hard to argue against Eric from Vancouver`s logic. Are we sure he is from the left coast? LOL.
Don't go getting demented in Victoria either:
http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Dementia+victim+held+Vancouver+Island+hospital+hallway+five+months/2499530/story.html
Aorta aneurysm killed my wife and son she was pregnant with when the doctor at the state run hospital sent her home with painkiller prescription.
Good luck to you, Jo, at least you are diagnosed properly.
Coming home to a dead body (two actually) and figuring they could have lived if she was operated in time is perhaps the thing the politicians should experience. But I forgot, they have no heart...
Excellent point, Eric from Vancouver. Kate, it's astonishing how many bright people missed the point of your Danny Williams post, and then harangued you with claims of "politicians are people too".
Eric nails it . . .
Government health care is for us little people
Real health care is for our politicians and the unionized health care workers who get a workman's comp "jump to the front of the line" ticket.
Are we finally starting to get it? Canada IS a 2 tier health care system! Public Health Care for POOR people, and American Health Care for a plane ticket south, for everyone else!
How much more money would be in government coffers if we allowed doctors to charge directly for services here, and have them pay taxes on that income instead of all our rich spending Canadian Dollars and paying American taxes?
Holy shit Aaron. I'm sorry to hear that. That sounds more like old fashioned incompetence than a system failure.
MY taxes pay for the politicians wages, and MY taxes pay for the health care system they refuse to use, and they refuse to change
either they use it, or they change it!!!!
and it all comes out of the same pot, and while people are waiting for a stent, they are building olympic venues, working on carbon creits, building highways to nowhere, funding interpretive dances , lawyering up the Khadrs, paying CBC employees ......
TC Douglas Report: Canada's Three-Tier Health Care (4 tier iffen you include the US).
Go to prison for your free dope health care.
...-
"Prison report urges needle exchange programs
CBC.ca - 10 hours ago
(CBC) A report on drug use in prisons urges the federal government to set up needle exchange programs for inmates. Rates of HIV and hepatitis C infections"
Well, they could save on my stent because I'd blow that gasket when I was told to wait.
Nobody should have to go through what you did Aaron. Condolences.
maz2: I don't mind drugging the convicts. Hoping they will overdose on the 1st shot up. Can't wait for that. If it was up to me, I'd provided them with all those drugs confiscated daily by police and those large needles, used by veterinarians.
Retired teacher Jo Danielson is free to go to the US just as Danny Williams is. If she can't afford it, that's unfortunate, but there it is.
Gee, I wonder how often US politicians come to Canada for care? Or any Americans at all, for that matter? Can't say I've ever seen an American medical refugee in our hospitals.
Me No Dhimmi:
Jo Danielson doesn't have the money because it's been taxed to pay for other peoples' care.
from another thread.
Here in BC Gordon Campbell has the Pacific Carbon Trust a Crown Corp. that ALL Govt departments have to buy carbon credits @$25.00 per tonne! Our school distr has a budget shortfall of $1.3 Mil due to govt cutbacks yet we still have to buy $66,000 of carbon credits! I can just imagine where these multi millions from this scam end up.
stents or sense , you just cant pay for it all.
If a politician like Danny Williams who rails against any private health care option in Canada there is no way he should run to the US for care. Unless he totally renounces his former position on not allowing private care of any form into Canada.
Since we are on the topic of the hypocrisy of politicians, and Kate's post involves someone in BC...
...isn't it amazing that Gordon Campbell forces schools to buy carbon credits, while at the same time VANOC is trucking in snow from distant places for the Olympics!
http://www.news1130.com/news/local/article/22856--snow-being-trucked-in-to-cypress
Hypocrites!
Kate is absolutely right. Our politicians should be forced to lie in the beds they make.
I believe my father-in-law died due to healthcare rationing. I told the story before of how my mother-in-law was told they won't operate because of his age, the operation might kill him(and death won’t?). What makes the story more interesting is that the hospitals misdiagnosis led to the treatment that caused the old man to bleed-out. It's too bad that by the time you require the services you've already paid for, you are not worth the expenditure in resources. Am I cynical to believe that an "old man" is a low priority because he's not likely to be paying into the system anymore?
Aaron, I'm terribly sorry to hear stories like yours. I wish the best for you and your family.
carbon credits for schools
snow trucked and helicoptered for the olympics
no stents for you
maybe the criminal code does need adjusting.
Breadline medicine.
Socialism is for the people, not the socialist.
Suddenly private health care isn't looking so bad, now is it.
Campbell can`t afford Jo Danielson`s operation cause the Olympics is running way over budget. Now he might have to RENT Blackcomb for $90 Mil from the new owners to be able to use the slopes for a couple of weeks! Love it!
So folks get this straight, the scam Co2 problem and the Olympics are much more important to the Campbell Govt than the health of us peons! Suck it up!
The people of BC's healthcare services are placed on the back burner to pay for the Olympics, gotta love the left's priorities.
Aanon my sincere condolences.
Aaron, I am sorry about your tragedy.
I would like to know why our lives are cheap in the eyes of the idiots we foolishly elect.
It's never about health care, it's always about control of the plebes. End of story. Obama's plebes are less cooperate ... to their credit.
"The health authority has placed a cost-saving, yearly cap on the stent procedure because of the extra cost"
That wouldn't be a DEATH PANEL, would it, that made that decision?
My aunt died due to a delay in treatment for this type of aneurysm.
Tell me, how do medical waiting lists save money?
Derek
Jo Danielson doesn't have the money because it's been taxed to pay for other peoples' care.
Posted by: sf at February 2, 2010 4:23 PM
Maybe so, but I'm guessing this retired teacher was extremely supportive of this system. I'm guessing that she would have ardently advocated against user fees (deductibles) of any kind. I'm guessing that she is now a victim of a system she was peachy keen on, until of course she was directly damaged by the inevitable, inescapable rationing. A lefty retired prof of my acquaitance once told me, after a spell in the hospital, sans irony, "MND, ya know, WHEN you GET IN the hospital, the care's quite good".
Kate is absolutely right. Our politicians should be forced to lie in the beds they make.
Kate is absolutely wrong. Our politicians didn't create this rationed health care mess. The something-for-nothing Canadian public did. It's the kiss of death for any politician in Canada to advocate abolition of state health care or a parallel private market.
Related: This US Tea Party movement. Where did it start? Seniors, right? Are those seniors advocating for limited government? Or is the movement energized by the FEAR of cuts to Medicare which is bankrupt due to the same something-for-nothing mentality.
MND says "Our politicians didn't create this rationed health care mess."
Wrong. At best you might be able to argue that we are all in this together, voters and politicians.
But to suggest that politicians had nothing to do with the mess ignores history.
Sorry about your loss, Aaron. My condolences.
Aaron, my condolences. I can not imagine.
Hey, we can't have the gargantuan sinkhole called the Olympics and pay for healthcare too. I mean, get real.
And speaking of the Olympics they are the "greenest evah!!
Like using semitrailers and helicopters to bring in snow to Cypress Mountain.
Like John Furlong flying from Vancouver to Prince George in a PRIVATE JET to take part in the torch run.(Maybe he bought carbon credits from Kooki Suzuki)
Like having hundreds of generators running 24 hours a day (as we speak) spewing out all the
pollutants they do.
Or if you'd like to get to a more personal level how about the businesses (and small airlines) that had to CLOSE for 2 months to satisfy the security requirements. Those people who are off work are sure happy.
And today I read that the line ups for the venues will be AT LEAST 3 hours.Like going thru an airport security. Not to mention the 1 or 2 hours line ups for buses and skytrain.
So if anyone is contemplating going to the games DON'T OR BE PREPARED.
And some(read Arthur Griffiths) are surprised that the closer it gets the less Vancouverites are excited.
If the reason for the delay is the budget, that's one issue.
Otherwise, it's an non-issue. Canada is full of people with aneurysms and each one requires a critical decision based on individual facts.
In her case, as the story goes:
"..because Danielson, 73, also has heart disease and diabetes, doctors have told her she wouldn't withstand the major abdominal surgery needed to expose the aorta and fix it."
That is closer to the truth than postponing the operation until April due to the budget. Doctors know how to measure aneurysms and calculate risks whether they're working in a private or public health system. Otherwise they shouldn't be doctors.
late breaking health news.
Iggy misunderstands Harpers concern for children
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20100202/ignatieff_abortion_100201/20100202?hub=TopStoriesV2
'Maybe so, but I'm guessing... " Out of your own mouth Me No Dhimmi. Not all school teachers are leftoid eco-greenies. Her problem is that the only "medical insurance" she legally has and is counting on has left her high and dry. I just hope you have more than CPP to keep you in your retirement days.
If the Van. Olyp "are the "greenest evah!!' shouldn't they paint the snow black?
Isn't it interesting that whenever a pol talks about fixing medicare the first people on a rant are "Freinds of Medoicare" or some other NDP/union front. There is nothing wrong with Canadian medicare funding, there is LOTS wrong with mediccare management. The unions are terrified of a two tier system because their jobs will be very different.
The right to private insurance to cover increased costs to avoid queue delays should be one of the first innovations. Maybe Daniel Smith can get something like this going.
Texas Canuck:
I was speculating, and made that clear, with my "guessing". I have a high degree of familiarity with teachers over a period of nearly 30 years. I can only go by my own experience.
For example, over all that time I've encountered maybe 2-3 political donations that weren't NDP.
I'm a radical libertarian, self-employed since age 30; before that, I was a school teacher for some 8 years. I know this group very, very well.
I share your contempt for the illegalization of private medical insurance.
I also believe I should have been free to opt out of CPP, and no, I certainly don't depend on CPP, and in fact, I don't even count it -- or OAS -- in my personal financial planning.
Frankly, while I defer to no man in my deep contempt for the political class, I have an even deeper contempt for my eonomically illiterate fellow Canadians and believe they have the politicians and the rationed health care they deserve.
The fact is that the Canada Health Act needs to be revisited so that Canadians, if they chose, could pay a doctor, here in Canada for their treatment.
Can you even begin to imagine the uproar if this had been PM Harper doing self same thing??
It would probably be Williams leading the uproar.
If Iggy gets elected PM there will be less money for these procedures, as he's advocating sending Canadian tax money to other countries to perform abortions. "Kill them before they get out of the womb so they won't die waiting for care on a government waiting list". Not a slogan I'd vote for but that is the depth of liberal thinking these days I guess.
It is long past time for Canada to quit providing subsidized health entitlements to anyone who makes it to our shores. Or for any immigrant until they have been here for 10 years working and paying taxes. It is also time to end it for all sponsored relatives of immigrants. At the rate of 250,000 immigrants per year we cannot afford this very rich entitlement to the world.
Jo Danielson is the victim of rationing and misguided spending priorities by the hospital health region and the BC gov't. The MD stating that she has diabetes and heart disease is an excuse.
I recommend her family sue everyone from the hospital, doctors, nurses, MP, etc.
Your status, who you know, and your potential to create adverse publicity is what allows you to jump to the front of the line in Canada.
My ex mother-in-law, who has several serious health issues, had an abdominal aneurysm. She was flown by air ambulance from Saskatoon to Vancouver and on the operating table within 24 of diagnosis. Not only was her aneurysm repaired, she had several other major arteries replaced. No expense was spared.
But, then, her son is a highly placed specialist in Sask.
The Gordon Campbell "Liberals" are the most right wing government in Canada. Why are you idiots surprised that health care suffers when corporations are subsidized by the taxpayer to put on a circus?
When was the last time anybody have seen or heard from Leona Aglukkaq ?
Everyone truly interested in the health care debate should read the following piece from the New Yorker:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/06/01/090601fa_fact_gawande
Gawande lucidly points out the problem of poorly aligned incentives in the US health care system, and how some places, driven by the need for profits and big paycheques, bill twice as much to Medicare per patient as other locations with similar demographics.
In one sense, it's a variant of what economists call "the agency problem". Theoretically, your stock broker should be interested in finding the best investments for you, and insuring your financial health. In reality, he's paid to generate commissions, which leads to churning of accounts, and pushing mutual funds with the highest trailer fees instead of low cost ETF's. Fee for service medicine has some of the same problems; theoretically, the doctor should be interested in your overall health, not generating as much revenue as he can by ordering multiple tests and procedures. I'm not saying doctors are callous, or that they don't care about their patient's health, but the financial incentives are so strong that they override judgement, and Gawande presents a number of examples to illustrate this. One of the most egregious examples is doctors demanding fees, or what we might have referred to in earlier times as "kickbacks", to steer patients to a particular hospital. One doctor allegedly demanded half a million a year to do so - that's a lotta loose change.
Gawande uses an amusing analogy to describe the problems with fee for service. Imagine building a house, he writes, without using a general contractor, but instead hiring your own electrician (paid by the outlet) and your own plumber (paid by fixture). Would you be surprised if you ended up with a house with a 100 outlets, and 37 faucets?
And Gawande is no prejudiced advocate of anything. He thinks all of the solutions being bandied about - single payer like Canada, government insurance as an option, health saving accounts - don't address the agency problem. He focuses instead on institutions such as the Mayo Clinic, which provide a high level of care, but charge some of the lowest fees per patient to Medicare.
It's an eight page article, so it's a long read (kinda like this post), but well worth it. Hint: go to the bottom of the first page, and click on "View as single page"; saves a lot of loading time.
Aaron, sorry to hear of your loss. I lost my mom to a system in the UH in Saskatoon whereby they rotated to a new heart doctor on the floor every week. None of them stuck around long enough to diagnose the ailment until it was too late. One local heart doctor, after it too late to fix it, realized some other issue was involved. Six months of mis-diagnosis on a weekly basis.
Speaking of Danny Boy. Under socialism, some are more equal than others. Think Chretien and Taliban Jack also going to the US.
KevinB,
You want to know what the problem of not having fee for service is? A system where doctors are complacent to see a small number of patients a day.
Don't believe me? I practice medicine and see it all the time.