Canada Health care killed Richardson

[billcoe]

http://www.nypost.com/seven/03262009/postopinion/opedcolumnists/canadacare_may_have_killed_natasha_161372.htm

 

Perhaps. Got to love the government control of healthcare they "enjoy" eh?

 

My only experience with the Canadian Healthcare system was sitting with my climbing partner in the emergency room for 8 solid hours so he could get a cast for his broken arm after he banana peeled while walking on the wet rocks of the trail at Squamish. That sucked. and x-ray and a cast is generally about a 20 min affair, if that, in the US.

[Hugh Conway]

You are pegging the Dolt meter today Bill. Good work!

[olyclimber]

[KaskadskyjKozak]

 

That stamp would have come in handy for Kboner's birth certificate.

[olyclimber]

and one of these

 

[video:youtube]4CZgaCbjDXo

[DirtyHarry]

 

My only experience with the Canadian Healthcare system was sitting with my climbing partner in the emergency room for 8 solid hours so he could get a cast for his broken arm after he banana peeled while walking on the wet rocks of the trail at Squamish. That sucked. and x-ray and a cast is generally about a 20 min affair, if that, in the US.

 

As if. I'd like to see someone get in and out of Harborview treated for broken arm in 20 minutes, and with a bill any less than $5,000.

[Hugh Conway]

 

My only experience with the Canadian Healthcare system was sitting with my climbing partner in the emergency room for 8 solid hours so he could get a cast for his broken arm after he banana peeled while walking on the wet rocks of the trail at Squamish. That sucked. and x-ray and a cast is generally about a 20 min affair, if that, in the US.

 

As if. I'd like to see someone get in and out of Harborview treated for broken arm in 20 minutes, and with a bill any less than $5,000.

 

dude, this is yet another senile obama hater thread

[Bug]

Been to Canada lately?

[Hugh Conway]

Been to Canada lately?

 

 

when's the last time you've been to a US emergency room?

[Bug]

You need to be more explicit.

It almost seems like you are trying to have a conversation.

[JayB]

In fairness to Canada, I have to say that there's a reasonable chance that Richardson would have died had her accident occurred in the US, and that as someone that's married to an ER doc that just finished residency in a major metro area - anyone with a simple fracture of their arm is bound to wait an awfully long time to be seen. One car accident with multiple traumas pretty much pushes everything else to the back of the line for as long as it takes to get the patients stabilized and sent off to surgery, the ICU, or wherever else they need to go. Triage - pure and simple.

 

In fairness to bill, my wife has just recently finished her 6-month stint as an ER doc here in New Zealand, and from speaking with her and other doctors who have practiced in the US - the consensus is that odds of surviving an accident that requires fast care by highly trained specialists and the use of modern diagnostic equipment is higher in the US. Ditto for malignancies, and/or other conditions that are difficult to diagnose and/or treat. Also - if you are beyond a certain age and you have a potentially fatal condition that's costly to treat, or if you are younger and are simply too far gone to have a reasonable chance of living, the odds are pretty high that you'll be limited to palliative care sooner than you would be in the US. I suspect that things fairly similar to the way they are in Canada.

 

Better or worse in general? Depends on the circumstances.

 

 

[bstach]

Who can forget the footage of that woman in Los Angleses writhing in pain on the hospital floor, ignored by medical staff, until she died hours later... still on the floor.

 

[JayB]

Who can forget the footage of that woman in Los Angleses writhing in pain on the hospital floor, ignored by medical staff, until she died hours later... still on the floor.

 

That was certainly an outrage, and deserved the international attention that it got.

 

If you have a moment, plug the terms "King Drew Hospital" and any combination of negative adjectives into Google and do some more reading. The saga of that hospital is an indictment of many things, and I'd be curious to hear what conclusions you come to if you take the time to learn some of the background information concerning the problems at that hospital and how they came to pass, and persist.

[JayB]

This should help get you started:

 

1. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-kingdrewpulitzer-sg,1,4721261.storygallery

 

2. http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-op-dustup29jun29,1,7591993.story

[jmace]

http://www.nypost.com/seven/03262009/postopinion/opedcolumnists/canadacare_may_have_killed_natasha_161372.htm

 

Perhaps. Got to love the government control of healthcare they "enjoy" eh?

 

My only experience with the Canadian Healthcare system was sitting with my climbing partner in the emergency room for 8 solid hours so he could get a cast for his broken arm after he banana peeled while walking on the wet rocks of the trail at Squamish. That sucked. and x-ray and a cast is generally about a 20 min affair, if that, in the US.

 

I quite enjoy my health care..I pay 0$ a month for full benefits how much do you pay?

[KaskadskyjKozak]

 

I quite enjoy my health care..I pay 0$ a month for full benefits how much do you pay?

 

TANSTAAFL

[bstach]

An international ski destination should have better trauma facilities and immediate access to air ambulance. I don't think you can pass any conclusions on Canadian healthcare in general from the article. Doing so is just sensationalizing and inflammatory.

[Hugh Conway]

An international ski destination should have better trauma facilities and immediate access to air ambulance. I don't think you can pass any conclusions on Canadian healthcare in general from the article.

 

uh... what the fuck?

 

people shouldn't be surprised if something gets fucked up when they refuse care

[KaskadskyjKozak]

 

this thread is almost as idiotic as the "blame America first for Mexico's woes" thread

[Hugh Conway]

this thread is almost as idiotic as the "blame America first for Mexico's woes" thread

 

it's more thanks to your contributions

 

where's bug? we need anoher dolt

[KaskadskyjKozak]

this thread is almost as idiotic as the "blame America first for Mexico's woes" thread

 

it's more thanks to your contributions

 

where's bug? we need anoher dolt

 

Just for you, Hot Carl

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[Hugh Conway]

AM I GOING TO HAVE TO LIVE IN FEAR OF YOU SHITTING ON ME?

[KaskadskyjKozak]

AM I GOING TO HAVE TO LIVE IN FEAR OF YOU SHITTING ON ME?

 

PAR FOR THE COURSE IN SPRAY

[Hugh Conway]

AM I GOING TO HAVE TO LIVE IN FEAR OF YOU SHITTING ON ME?

 

PAR FOR THE COURSE IN SPRAY

 

DONT MAKE ME CALL THE POOPER SCOOPER! IM SERIOUS

[JosephH]

At the end of October I had what seemed to be a heart attack while at a conference in LA. I went to Good Sams ER on the insistence of my sister who is an ER doc down there. I was treated promptly, but still spent eight hours in the ER before being admitted for an echocardio stress test in the morning. The upshot of it all was I apparently had a gastro-reflux episode, not a heart attack (could have fooled me). So in the end it cost about $18k for the following of which very good (and expensive non-group) insurance picked up about $13k. God forbid anything had actually been wrong.

 

- 1 hour of ER work (the rest was waiting for things)

- ER doc

- 2 nurses

- 1 stress tester

- Review by cardiologist

- Review by pulmonologist

- 3 ecg

- 1 xray

- 1 blood workup

- 1 baby's aspirin

- 1 nitro spray under tongue

- 1 nitro patch

- 1 intravenous nexium

- 1 bed

- 1 echocardio stress test

 

Is that reasonable? Could be, but when it costs $18k to handle someone who is basically fine it gives you some idea of how fast you'd be racking up costs if something were actually wrong. All in all I have good insurance, but even with that we're still basically one bad incidence away from being wiped out. Add to that I'm self-employed and the risk goes higher (totally on me and by my choice).

 

Our healthcare system? Go to SE Oregon where the last nurse practicioner is closing their doors leaving the SE part of the state with no medical coverage of any kind like much of rural America. Add to that the fact that employee and retiree health benefits are just killing U.S. competitiveness in world markets, and then add the wholly unecessary administrative overhead of a myriad of insurance companies, and I come solidly down on the side of our system being a complete trainwreck. We don't run any other part of our infrastructure for profit, and it's completely stupid to run our healthcare system that way from an international competitiveness perspective.

 

And the rightwing mantra of "leave medicine to the doctors, not the gov't" - what utter bullshit - these are the same clowns who took over, raped, and all but destroyed our medical system in the '80s and '90s with 'managed care'. The republicans explicitly didn't want doctors making medical decisions - they manufactured a system which explicitly took decision-making out of doctor's hands and gave it to insurance companies.

 

And poor Natasha? She doomed herself on the slopes when she weighed appropriate medical care against the potential media circus which would ensue and chose wrong. She'd have likely been just as dead skiing anywhere in the US. And with regard to helivac services in CA - get real. All of CA has a massive remote northern territories to provide coverage to - much of it inaccessible in the winter - their helivac coverage is prioritized to service those remote northern areas that have no medical coverage of any kind (SE Oregon should be so lucky).