Myth Busters, Canadian Style!

KnaveTO said:
I have had to visit the hospital a number of times in my life and I have NEVER had to wait more that 40 minutes to see doctor, and I also live in Toronto. so I don't know what hospital he went to... but my experiences have been good. Now if you want to talk about bad service lets talk about the time I had to go to a hospital in the United States that wouldn't even look my way till I could prove that I had insurance and that they would get paid by the insurance company rather than me paying them first and submitting a claim from them, yeah that is great service... the dollar before somebodies life!
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I agree.

There's even been times when I've walked into a clinic without an appointment and was able to be seen by a doctor immediately. Other times, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, and in the worst case scenario, a whole 45 minutes for a non-emergency situation when it's really busy with snivelling little kids with colds. Again, that's without an appointment, and if you want, you can go shopping nextdoor to pass the time by.

Before my grandpa died, we took him around to a bunch of specialists and everyone was great. The longest wait was for an x-ray which wasn't anymore than 25 minutes without an appointment. It was really busy that day and still, people complained. When we went to the lab for blood and urine tests, there was no wait at all, except for the time the receptionist took to enter his information into the computer system.
He got skin cancer surgery (basil cell, not serious) and I think the wait was a week or two (after diagnosis) to get him in there. With that appointment they took him within five minutes and we were able to wait for him in the lounge, sipping our non-fat lattes and reading MacLean’s magazine. After that, we had to go back to his doctor, and the wait was non-existant, fortunately because we had an appointment.

When my grandpa finally fell so ill in June that he had to be hospitalized, the care we received was amazing and quite heart-warming. The nurses were second-to-none. As a veteran, he got a private room with TV and his own private duty nurse. The food they gave him looked delicious. My grandma and mom stepped out for a bit, and it just so happened that's when he passed. A nurse sat with him, hand-in-hand, lovingly, as if it was her own grandpa.

I really don't think it's as bad as some of our whiney hi-expectant fellow country folk say it is. Our media is always so willing to jump on one bad story to make it seem like it's always like that, when it actually isn't.

I have no doubt that rich Americans can afford even better private care, but that isn't an issue for me. What's an issue is that no matter how rich or poor, they get the same basic treatment any human being deserves.

That was a long thing I said. Thanks for reading.
 
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Canada is great! I live just about an hour south of the border, near Seattle. My friends and I all head up to Whistler for long weekends in winter and have a great time! Of course, your lowered drinking age was a large contribution to our celebration, but even now that I'm legal in the US, we'll still go up there to visit! So many great times!
 
Omega said:
Don't smoke weed either?

Well, I don't know what to say.

You must not like fries, or gravy, or cheese.
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I did many years of "field research" for my degree (substance abuse counseling) But I have many, many "24 hours" behind me now. Haven't touched the stuff in over 6 years. :cool2:


I like cheese, gravy and cheese, just not together... :lipssealedsmilie:
 
KnaveTO said:
Actually yes, meds are cheaper up here than they are in the United States, that is why a number of the online phamaceutical companies are located up here (and don't get me on that topic... not a fan of them). As for the condition of our health care system. I am afraid I am going to have to dissagree with your sister's boyfriend. Because we have access to a health care system that is paid for with tax dollars (and as such cannot be considered free) there are people that try to abuse the system buy going to the hospital for every scrape and bruise, that creates backlogs. Because we live next to a country that regularily comes up here and recruits graduating doctors and nurses, that creates a shortage of staff. I have had to visit the hospital a number of times in my life and I have NEVER had to wait more that 40 minutes to see doctor, and I also live in Toronto. so I don't know what hospital he went to... but my experiences have been good. Now if you want to talk about bad service lets talk about the time I had to go to a hospital in the United States that wouldn't even look my way till I could prove that I had insurance and that they would get paid by the insurance company rather than me paying them first and submitting a claim from them, yeah that is great service... the dollar before somebodies life!

I will stop my rant and bashing now and also appologise to anyone that I have offended, but I needed to correct that statement.
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Down here in NB it was getting quite bad, there were a couple times I had waited two hours or so, but then all the doctors decided theywere going to go on strike, then the hospitals made an agreement that they will not register you in ER unless it is an emergency, if you show up with a headache or a stuffy nose they turn you away and tell you to make a doctors appointment. Since this happened about 6 months ago I hear it is much much better.

Edit** The one exception to this rule is children, they never turn a sick child away, which is a good thing I think.
 
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