Comparing U.S. and other medical systems

[phesina]

sparks' dad had a really bad time when he was in hosp - he was sent home way too soon because so many other people with H1N1 were filling up the beds.

I sure hope her dad is doing ok now.

Oh, my God, that's awful. I hope he is doing all right now too.

Anywhere there are baby boomers topping up the population - too few staff, too few resources.

You nailed that one, all right. The source of many problems here and everywhere else.

[sparks19]

I just saw this thread

Well many call it a FREE system but it is anything BUT. in Ontario you are taxed out the ying yang. It was 15% then harper put it down to 14%... is it down to 13% now? plus the ridiculous amount they take from your paycheck. and the taxes are super high but the system keeps facing more and more cutbacks. Doctors are leaving because they are overworked and aren't making the money. In london Ontario you cannot find a family physician. they aren't taking any new patients because as it is they are overloaded. The last I heard there was only one doctor taking patients in London and there is a reason she is the only one. she was my doctor for a while. She refused to give me a pregnancy test and told me it was impossible that I was pregnant because I was on birth control. I was extremely sick and lost that child. She has never ONCE correctly diagnosed me. and I know a few other people who had her as a doctor and they had the same issue. One woman was in her 50's and had severe hip pain and that doctor told her it was all in her head. After a spill down the steps directly related to her hip problem it was determined by another doctor that she needed surgery but she couldn't get it right away

My grandmother has been waiting for a hip replacement for quite a few years now... basically they are just trying to wait her out now.

like Catty said my step father recently had a HORRIBLE experience. After a year long sickness and his second surgery he had to go to a hospital an hour away for this surgery. after his surgery he sat in recovery for almost 8 hours because they didn't have a room for him. When recovery started filling up he literally had to stay in a bed in the HALLWAY because there was not a room for him. after a full day he finally got into a room only to be told the next morning that he had to leave because they needed the bed and he wasn't about to die basically. He was doing well for a while but had a relapse a few weeks ago. He called his doctor right away and got on some heavy duty antibiotics and seems to be doing better but he is still not cleared to go back to work.

a friend of mine was pregnant and was a week overdue. the doctor wanted to induce her told her to go home and wait for their call... after a day no call so she called the hospital. "sorry no room you will have to wait" another day goes by still no room and they checked surrounding hospitals and no room in any of those either. She finally asked what would happen if she did go into labor and they told her she would have to go to a town over a half an hour away and hope they had a bed for her. I am DEAD serious. After two more days a bed opened up and she finally got in luckily she didn't go into labor before that.

I have waited in ER over 12 hours before.

They don't have beds, nurses, doctors and they are just losing more and more because of cut backs.

Now every system has it's issues of course. but I just CANNOT in anyway see this working in the US. The US has single STATES with a higher population than all of Canada and Canada can't keep up with the demand. Now imagine 300+ million people all going in for every sniffle and cough or cut or bruise... and it will happen. People WILL start going for everything. I've seen it everytime I've had to set foot into a walk in clinic. There is just NOT enough supply for the demand that is surely going to follow

I mean the government here can't even reliably budget for snowplows to run... and I'm supposed to trust them to budget for our healthcare.

I don't know what the answer is. this system is seriously broken but so is the canadian system. I honestly feel that because it's "free" we (canadians) are more willing to sacrifice quality of care for quantity. We are willing to forgive less than stellar care because it's "prepaid".

but that is just my personal experiences

[phesina]

Oh ... my .... God...

Thank you very much, sparks. I hope your stepfather will recover and be well enough to work again before long.