Medical System

Part 1 of 2

The outgoing president of the Canadian Medical Association, Dr. Jeffrey Turnbull, voiced his concern this week over the Canadian health system.

A few items from the article from the Vancouver Sun, Tuesday August 23, stood out to me...

Turnbull, 60, said that, in his hospital alone, 580 operations were cancelled last year and that patients wait in emergency rooms for days for a bed, "or even just a chance to receive care in a hallway."

Turnbull said the system is failing to put the needs of patients first, especially the most vulnerable, including the young, the elderly, the homeless, the addicted, aboriginal peoples . . . "and, most fundamentally, the poor."

Earlier doctors spoke of front-line frustrations, of long delays for care and referrals, of having to chase down paper and charts and being blamed for problems that are systemwide.

It was reassuring to me to read this from a top doctor, as these have been my observations in dealing with the health care system over the past 2 1/2 years.

Take for example, our dealings with the hospital in November 2009. On a cold, wet Sunday afternoon (November 15), I had driven up to the front door of dad's apartment building to drop him off. For some asinine reason, there is no handicap accessibilty at the front door of the apartment building (built in 2004), just a high curb. There was little space for dad to manouver between the car door and the curb. He got twisted up in his feet and over he went. One minute he was there, the next he disappeared. I panicked... but at least my brain was still working! I remembered to turn off the car, and pull on the e-brake. As the car was parked on an incline, the last thing I wanted was a dad-pancake. A man overboard was bad enough.

Rushing around to the other side of the car, I found dad on his side in the gutter. He had landed on his elbow, and scratched it up. I did the number one no-no of first aid, and moved him up to his apartment. In my defence, it was November and he was lying in a dirty gutter. I did check to see if he could move his limbs.

I called the ambulance to take him to the hospital. The paramedics came to check him out, and didn't think anything was broken. Recommended he sit tight for a couple of days, and go to the doctor if he was still in pain. At that point in time, the H1N1 virus was of great concern. They didn't want him to risk coming into contact with it at the hospital if he didn't need to.

A couple of days later, dad was still in pain. I wasn't able to take him to the doctor at the walk in clinic until Thursday. Dad was prescribed pain medication, and ibuprophen. I told the doctor he reacts to some medications, so she gave us a 4 pill sample of the pain medication to see how it would go. We then went to the hospital in order for his lower back and hip to be x-rayed, as that is where he was having the pain.

Dad was meant to take the pain medication 1 every 24 hours. I saw him on the Friday following the fall and he seemed ok. I talked to him on the Saturday and he seemed confused about when he was meant to be taking the pills. I stopped in to see him at 5 pm, and realized he hadn't taken his 4pm Parkinson’s medication. It’s so important that he take it right on time. Dad told me that it didn't make sense, he couldn't figure it out. He seemed confused, so I knew something was really wrong with him.

I called the nurse phone line then and they told me to take him to emergency to have him checked out. We waited for an hour (Fortunately it was only that long, the sign did say there was a 2-4 hour wait.), and then went in to a bed, where he was checked out. I told the doctor about finding the pain medication, and that a pill was missing. He should have taken 2 and there should be 2 left. There was only one pill left. Dad had taken another pain pill within the 24 hours, but I couldn’t confirm when. The doctor took a look at the bottle... Tramadol. He told us he hates Tramadol. It’s a narcotic. That he's seen the confusion etc. before in patients with underlying neurological issues.

The doctor also had a chance there to review the x-rays from Thursday night. He confirmed that dad had cracked his L1 vertebrae when he fell. There’s nothing they can do for it, other than to let it heal. His was compressed it by about ¼ of an inch. (Apparently in the US, they can inject a sort of cement into the area to aid in the healing and compression... but it’s not available in Canada.) He gave us a prescription for a nasal spray for the pain. I asked about dad staying in overnight for observation. He said that with conditions like dad’s, they don’t get much sleep in hospital, and it can be detrimental to their getting well. As well as it being an unfamiliar location.

I took dad home... by then it was 8pm. I gave him some food, water, pills and sent him to bed.

Cont'd...