18 month old Paige Hansen is currently in a hospital in Edmonton. Her family finally decided Thursday to seek help elsewhere (doing so without “permission” from SaskHealth, and therefore at their own expense) after waiting three weeks for diagnosis of her pain in Saskatoon. The child was “screaming every waking minute”, and had stopped walking 6 days earlier. In the meantime, they were advised to give her children’s Tylenol.
According to a family member being interviewed, the care they received in Edmonton began immediately, testing was done during the first night there. This morning they have a preliminary diagnosis of leukemia.
You can listen live as the story is discussed this morning on John Gormley Live. (The show repeats in the evening for those who missed it – check the link for programming details).
Now that’s sad! The socialists can’t even find the time to check a little girl screaming day and night in pain. Pathetic….
ya, but all those feather bedded union jobs are safe from competition and even though the Unions gouge the Public Purse and gather in windfall profits from their over-the-top union dues, one little girl’s life is an “OK” price to pay for their interpretation of social justice.
Our prayers go out to this child and her family.
Does anyone have a link to send them donations?
Gee, I guess it’s a good thing we don’t allow private clinics or this poor girl, fated to rely on the supposed leftovers, wouldn’t have been able to get access to Saskatchewan’s best (or so goes the rhetoric).
At the moment, there are local fundraisers going on – (you know, the type that only happen in the US), but I expect there will be a pretty fast response from the Calvert Cronies now that the diagnosis is hitting the airwaves.
Alberta has the same kind of healthcare system. In contrast to Saskachewan, Alberta has a business-friendly attitude (at times, incestuous) and is awash in Oil and Gas revenue. While the Alberta economy is now in the growing stage even the morale and attitudes (and particularly budgets) of unionized healthcare workers are more positive. Economies in decline such as Saskachewan and rural BC reflect more of the lean and mean attitudes as described in the posting.
Sometime in the distant future even Alberta’s healthcare budgets will become unaffordable and the Canadian socialist utopia of (provincial) equal sharing of misery is realized.
Can this crippling culture of entitlement that sustains the state healthcare delivery monopoly be changed? Apparently Ralph Klein doesn’t think so!
I am have been listening to this story all morning. It is truly sad to listen to the callers, all of whom have their own, personal story of failure of the Saskatchewan health care system. It goes beyond mere politics, it is a failure of humanity on the part of the government.
I sent the following e-mail to Lorne Calvert, I would like to encourage everyone to send their own e-mail.
premier@gov.sk.ca
CC:bradw@bradwall.com
BCC:contact@davidkarwacki.ca
Lorne,
How can you possibly sleep at night knowing that you have let Saskatchewan Health Care deteriorate to level that it has? Paige Hansen is only the most recent case in a long list of failures.
Success of the health care system is not measured by how many NDP supports it employees, but rather by the level and quality of care the general public receives, try to remember that.
I hope you will choose to respond to this e-mail, but I am not going to hold my breathe.
Trent A. Lalonde
Saskatoon, SK.
I guess the calvert government{?} needs all the money they can screw us out of to feed the lazy union types {votes} and buy more money losing ideas in business to directly compete {try to} with private industry. The ndp have failed this province beyond belief and this little girl is just another example. More and more stories are coming out as to how the provincial “medicare” has failed and all we get from the ndp is excuses and promises. Combined, not worth a pinch of coon sh!t!! I was going to say, “What is it gonna take before the government takes action and FIXES the problem? Does someone have to die??!”. But, I’m sure MANY already have because of the lack of direction those communists in Regina have! Can NO ONE in that stupid frigg’n ndp party “think”???! Is it a prerequisite to have an IQ of less than 25 to be a member/supporter of the ndp?? People are suffering {or worse} and the ndp can’t come up with a plan! Just WONDERFUL!!! Who votes for these idiots?? Other idiots. To me, the ndp seem as organized as a sex maniac in a house of ill repute with a stolen credit card! God save us!
I hope all of these stories are being forwarded to Shirley Douglas.
I would be interested in what the “so called” doctor attending this case has to say his reasoning is for this kind of delay in diagnosis.
Truly a sad state, I hope she recovers and the parents see the light and move to Alberta.
I hate to be a devil’s advocate, but you sleep in the bed you make.
If I recall, Sask voted in this present government, by fair and reasonable standards called elections.
I also recall some spots voting in a Liberal guy who was indicated in spending public monies.
I also recall some ideas thrown up about joining Alberta as a province, but die hard Sask types living in clusters called towns refuse this notion.
So, really, why all the wailing?
Oh, and stay in Sask, tired of seeing all the Sask Plates in Calgary – I say this in jest of course, Calgary is Saskatchwan’s biggest city, if not equal to the whole populace.
If this is the type of “caring and compassion” that Canada has devolved to, then you can count me out.
Truly disgraceful, when the respect for life has descended to depths such as these. If these are the ‘values’ that we can expect going forward, I would be worried indeed.
My heart goes out to this poor little suffering girl and her courageous family.
The real blame belongs to all Canadians who stand idly by criticizing everyone but themselves. When a government fails to deliver it is time to organize and take matters legally into your own hands.
When it comes to armchair criticism there’s no difference between socialists, liberals and conservatives.
As Ayn Rand coaxes in her many novels, get off your butt and do something.
John Chittick,
“Can this crippling culture of entitlement that sustains the state healthcare delivery monopoly be changed? Apparently Ralph Klein doesn’t think so!”
what do you mean by this statement? can you explain please.
On a related note, I saw an huge billboard along Scenic Drive in Lethbridge yesterday with these words:
We CAN stop private health care!
It was an ad for the NDP candidate somewhere in Alberta. Can’t remeber the name, some ugly bald marxist bootlick type. Of course Rick Casson is the MP in Lethbridge so WTF is this loser doing spending money on a billboard to get across his Marxist propaganda in Alberta of all places?
blogwell fray
You are right. People don’t pay attention to their health care or their governments until they need something. Then we want all these institutions to spring to life and operate the way we had imagined they would.
Steve D..
People don’t pay attention to their health care or their governments until they need something.
Huh???
What would you have people do? All we can do is register our discontent and make plans for what we would do if we became ill (buying critical injury insurance, say). It is not like we can exercise our disgust by taking our insurance premiums elsewhere. We are forced, under penalty of law, to use only public health care on Canadian soil. *You * might not pay attention, but I suspect you don’t talk for “people”. Without exception, the people that I talk to (I won’t speak for all), worry about this disgracefull situation. I would do more (like enrolling in a private health clinic), but that option is being fought in Ontario.
Steve d,
You’re an idiot, shut up.
We here in Saskatchewan are suffering under this Government, our children are sick and not receiving proper care, and we are taxed so bad, particularly in the rural areas, that we can’t afford to leave and get proper care. We’re upset!
Go be a Nazi somewhere else.
We need a website or blog to document all of the cases of improper or nonexistent medical care in Saskatchewan. Anyone interesting in helping with this, e-mail me direct.
Trent
Someone please give me one good reason (i.e. whose benefits outweigh the negatives) to stop private health care initiatives.
I, for one, would rather not pay 1/2 of my income tax and buy private insurance. There’s no way that these situations would arise in a private system – they would get their butts sued off and they don’t have a public purse to help pay off lawsuits. Lefties complain that not everyone can afford private healthcare but I beg to differ – what community would allow one of their own to suffer in the way this little girl has? They would raise the money to get her the care she needs. We need to take health care back from the unions and the government – period.
Where are the Friends of Medicare when you need them? Unfortunately, many commentors and callers to Gormley seem to think Alberta has the answers. Guess what? The system in ALL of Canada needs an overhaul. some provinces are just worse than others.
As I’ve said before(many times), look into alternatives besides Cuba and North Korea as healthcare models. You don’t even have to mention the evil empire to the south. Hell, I’ve even heard that Alberta’s third option has been watered down due to those paranoid Auntie American whining.
It goes without saying that my heart and prayers go out to baby Paige and her parents. This is a parent’s worst nightmare. Sad truth is that three weeks can be a lifetime in the cancer world. I hope I’m wrong on that.
But Tommy Douglas was The Greatest Canadian. George Strombobodypierceopolous told me so. On the CBC.
Let me be the first to say about private health care:
We’re damned if we do and damned if we don’t.
Or another old saying is “we’re in a catch-22”. Without unions, big business would run roughshod over the small guy – witness some things happening here in Alberta – oh like minimum wages, or having a once-in-a-lifetime day off to celebrate Alberta’s 100 years.
Having benefited from Alberta public health care, with a gangrenous gall bladder (doctor later gave me two days to live if it burst), I am one not to oppose public health care.
Having had to wait at first 6 hours to see someone for the spasms in my side and then given two Tylenols and told to go home afterwards only to then come back that same night and get cut in half…I for one couldn’t have afforded two visits to the hospital or the surgury if I had to pay for them.
On the other hand, would I have received faster and better treatment from a private clinic, as in diagnosed properly the first time?
FedUp- “We need to take health care back from the unions and the government – period.”
Right, and how do you propose to do that? Short of a major public revolution and a hackjob leadership like Klein’s, forget it.
Besides, without government regulations you’d end up with more deaths and misdiagnosis no?
Ahhh, but people will say private ones will work harder and smarter. Oh really?
Remember, private health care is in the business to…wait for it…”make money”.
Gosh, golly, gee wiz. My Mom gets bounced between two doctors because they screwed up fixing her eyes. Neither wants to handle it because of, well you guessed it, law suits and non paying time as a result of it.
So while Healthcare and Unions are the holy grail of socialism, cash, money and presige are the holy grail of capitalism.
And if you all need reminding, this is Canada, a socialist country, so no, don’t get rid of public health care and unions, but find a balancing act between providing service and making money.
And that my friends, is a pipe dream.
Oh, it can be done, we can put a rover on Mars, we can build a sports car to sustain crashes, self-diagnose, go from 0-60 in
Send your stories to Michael Moore. His next “documentary” (I use the term loosely) is on the poor state of healthcare in the USA. He says ours is perfect.
I’ll give the government credit – I don’t have to worry that I’ll die because I can’t afford $200,000 for chemotherapy. Instead, I have to worry about wait times. Wait… what’s this? Stephen Harper is planning to do whatever it takes to reduce wait times, even if it means paying to send me to the States for treatment? Imagine that…
There is an eye clinic in Alberta(the name escapes me at the moment) that is private and does eye surgeries from all over the world–AND healthcare patients also. They are known far and wide for their excellent care. The Sholdice Clinic that Layton used is also renowned, private and takes all patients, private and public. If our entire ‘public’ system was designed like these two clinics I think it would be a step in the right direction. If these people can make money while looking after public patients that is a major indicator that there is colossal waste in the system we have now in ‘universal’ healthcare.
The system is top heavy and has lost sight of the fact that the patient is the most important part of the system. We have too many areas that are more interested in their own fiefdom than patient care–and that includes doctors and nurses. We have lost focus–that is the main problem–
Sask. has run off it’s finest people by voting into power a Dipper government. The Dippers have support in the cities and on reserves; the south Sask. and rural people never vote Dipper unless they are Dipper subsidized. The situation that Culvert and his ilk want is to ‘collectivize’ the rural areas of the province (like the USSR did ). I don’t think the government dependant people in the cities and reserves will change their voting patterns so the southern end of the province should consider getting out. I was born in Sask. and if it had not been for the CCF I would likely still live there. The CCF ran us off our land with their exorbant taxes and punitive agriculture ‘equalizing’ measures. They are Commies and the Commies care about power not people. People of Sask. should count their blessings that Alta. is right next door to help. Every person in my family (those who still live there that is) who has ever had a health crisis has gone to Medicine Hat for help. Regina? Saskatoon? not an option to them as people die in those hospitals. This little girl and her treatment warrant outrage. I am glad to see it here.
So next time you need a surgeon, why don’t you go to the bank?
Did the investment broker fix your gall bladder?
Are you that ignorant about skills only a medical doctor can provide?
Obviously.
xena
When the State looks after your craddle to grave needs one’s motivations for rational choices of human existence are destroyed. One need only look to the crippling dependency of life on the Indian Reserve to see the sociocological damage to the “thoroughly cared for”.
Socialized medicine entices and reinforces the mentality that thinks that they can get something for nothing by shifting responsibility from the individual to the collective. Insurance is the same thing but disciplined by actuarial reality and a system that attempts to equate and award cost with risk.
Free (to the user) healthcare means infinite demand and with limited budgets the result has to be rationing of the supply. If you want more than this system provides for, horror of horrors, you have to pay, or in Canada go somewhere else.
My earlier quip was to question the moral fabric of Canadians to face this reality and bring in competitive systems and market-based alternatives as has happened in virtually every other country in the world or give up as Klein appears to have done again.
They will make money??? OMG! that is so evil.. can you imagine someone making a great living by providing health care, I shudder at the thought.
sarcasm/ Thank goodness the government owns the manufacture and sale of computer equipment, otherwise the profiteers would drive the prices through the roof. /sarcasm
There is nothing evil about the profits of healthcare going to the stakeholders who are risking their capital as opposed to that money and more getting gobbled up by the self-appointed soldiers of the status quo.
Everyone who gets up in the morning and goes to work does it for the money. If unionized public-sector workers (nurses and teachers specifically) are the altruists they would have us believe, they would be demanding pay-cuts so their gov’t. employers could hire more of them. Instead, they don’t hesitate to hold out patients and students as shields/hostages demanding more money and better working conditions, just like everyone else.
Canada is a small nation, made-up of truly small people.
Gussie
Publicly funded health insurance, private and or public delivery. Best of both worlds.
Private ensures innovation, best service, bets cost control. Public chooses where to go for service. Public or private. Let the best health care provider prosper.
I repeat my earlier offer – The United States will trade the New England states, Kennedys included, for everything West of Manitoba.
As for health care, it has always been rationed. With private care, you decide whether it is worth spending your own money, with public, someone else decides. When the customer sees a commodity as free he will insist on his share.
As a Canadian living in Ireland, where private healthcare is available ( and indeed the only acceptable level of care), I can tell you that the issue of wait times is not going to be solved by privatization. Despite my private healthcare that costs $5000 a year (and that’s just for my wife and first child), wait times to be treated for anything serious are longer than they are in Canada.
Nor would privatization lower the costs of healthcare. The total cost of healthcare in Canada, despite what you might think, is the same per capita as it is in the US. It’s just that in the US, most of the costs go to the HMOs, the insurance companes and the admin plans that are forever trying to screw each other and the government out of money. (Example is Sen. Bill Frist’s family’s company HCA Healthcare, which paid the then largest fine ever imposed on US corporation for screwing hospitals, patients and the government out of billions by refusing to cover medical costs.)
A universal healthcare plan has been accepted as a standard of a developed and civilized nation. That the Canadian government starves it of investment is not sufficient reason to hand over your health to an organization that will put its profit before your health.
Andrew,
Just goes to prove the old saying that Ireland is a Third World country, but noone has yet told the Irish. It’s not the system, it’s the mentality.
As a resident of Alberta originally from Sask., I want nothing to do with Saskatchewan politically or with BC for that matter.
The thought patterns are radically different.
I’ve said this before and believe that it bears repeating; To see the contrasts between Sask & Alberta go to Lloydminster and drive 10 miles east from the border and return and do likewise westerly.
Look at the development on the Alberta side and the lack of same on the other side.
The difference is incredible. Attitude! Don’t wait for government, get busy and do it yourself.
And you get to reap the benefits. (The benefits that are left over after equalization.)
CRB
Doug,
Ireland is a wealthier nation than Canada, it’s just that they don’t act like they are rich because they care about things other than money.
To call Ireland a Third World country is ignorant, but then again it’s no bother, because once outside Canada you quickly learn that no one cares what Canadians think.
Doug,
Some might also argue that it appears no one told Saskatchewan the Depression was over and that the Communist system Saskatchewan tried to/is trying to emulate was a titanic failure for the Soviets
CRB,
I agree with your points. I think Saskatchewan should have billions in transfer payments withheld for the fact they have refused to develop their own resourses.
Are they the epitome of welfare tit suckers, firmly affixed to that nutrient rich taxpayer funded nozzle or what? The oil/natural gas doesn’t end on the Alberta side of ‘Lloyd.
How do you sum up this attitude while oil is at $75 per barrel and natural gas will continue to rise? Lazy is the word I’d give it.
Typical ant and grasshopper scenario vis a vis Alberta/Saskatchewan.
The notion that private healthcare providers are treating the sick merely to make money, yet public healthcare providers are only in place to serve the sick without any motive of profit is beginning to make me sick.
What precisely do healthcare workers call their, sometimes enormous, salaries? Donations?
Either way, the exchange of money takes place. The only questions remaining are who pays and how much? With no competition for services, the answers are obvious.
Trent
That is a good idea, start a Health(?)care in Saskatchewan blog. Encourage all the victims to tell their stories. I am sure the local media would love to carry the story of your blog and even interview the victims. I would be willing to bet that alone would improve Health care.
The fundamental difference between private and public health care:
Private = For Profit
Public = Guaranteed Profit
By George, I think you’ve got it! 🙂
Nice synthesis, Kate.
“Remember, private health care is in the business to…wait for it…”make money”.”
AS usual, the economic understanding of the left wing thinker is seriously skewed from reality. The objective of every business person is to provide a better, more efficient or innovative product or service than their competitor. The result of doing so is increased revenue, otherwise known as ‘profit’. The ‘regulation’ of business takes place by having people make choices about where they spend their money. If I’m not satisfied, I take my business and thus, their ‘profit’ to their competitors.
Too bad we can’t take our health business to whomever serves us best.
“That the Canadian government starves it of investment”
Oh,please. How much of the budget is enough? It’s already 1 in 3 tax dollars. Shall we raise it to 50%? And would you be happy if health outcomes improved while schools, roads, seniors benefits and all other gov’t programs were then ‘starved’?
Something that should also be mentioned–why were blood and related tests not done? Did the doctor ignore a frequent symptom of leukaemia in this case? The differential diagnosis of leukemia is not rocket science–immature white blood cells is a strong indicator–a test that is done on almost every blood sample done, as a matter of course.
The mistakes and uncaring treatment this child received are unforgiveable–and can not be fixed wilth more money or anything else other than caring professionals–of them there seems to be fewer and fewer in the caring department! This is a prime example of protecting ones turf to the detriment of a patient–an all to common occurance in Canada.
What we need is to organize a “Friends of Patients” instead of a “Friends of Medicare”. The system is broken and broke. Any constructive move to make changes is political suicide as it is a “Canadian value”. Shame on us as you can see by poor Paige.
As someone mentioned, the private system wants to make money. Well, the public system wants to SAVE money… and we are finding out at whose expense this is. How many victims must there be before they realize this system isn’t working????? The only reason that we have survived so far is the hard work of our medical professionals and they are so downtrodden and overworked, we are seeing the effects.
Do you know that I heard if you want to sue, the doctor cannot use the “system” and its lack of resources or access as a defense?
While the story is tragic your subject line is disgusting and in the worst possible taste. I’d expect this of the left-wing bloggers but not a conservative who presumably has some sense of respect for human life. The left portray those who want to reform our health care system as insensitive thugs and you play right into their hands.
Your poor taste totally obliterates your point.
I wish the doctors here in Alberta could fix my sleep apnea as fast.
If I lived in the US I suspect access would be quicker, and they would be more likely to set me up with a treatment that works, I currently have a fixed pressure CPAP machine that makes me wake up with a blood oxygen saturation of 69%.
Tommy Douglas did so much damage to this province, he should be used in provincial schools to teach the destructive influence of socialism. Instead, he has achieved mythological status.
That is why he can never be “dead enough”, and why I have been using that subject line for nearly two years when discussing the topic of the socialist farce of “universal health care”. Until we kill the cancerous ideology that Tommy Douglas infected this province with, Saskatchewan will continue to simmer in Alberta-envy while another generation of our youth vote with their feet.
I’ve never understood why so many people in Canada are against a mixed public-private model of health care. My rellies in Normandy use such a system (almost everyday now — many of the oldest living generation are in their seventies or skirting their eighties already), and it works a treat. Fast, inexpensive (particularly when you consider the alternatives), responsive, and competent. It is possible, folks.
My cousin in particular is shocked that our system is so lousy. He used to live in Canada and has fond memories. When I tell him about what’s changed, he just shakes his head sadly and then offers me another Calvados, pommeau or pastis to help me drown my sorrows.