Asking Canadians if they are getting value for their money when it comes to spending on health care is like asking a blind person if they can see better when the room light is turned on or off. We are forcibly made oblivious to the specific costs of medical services we receive in Canada. This [...]

Many questions are being raised about Danny Williams’ choice to have heart surgery performed in the United States. If he were not the Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador his choice would amount to nothing more than another number added to the growing list of Canadians leaving the country for medical care. The truth is that this [...]

Are you curious about what happens to survivors of adverse events in the Canadian health care system? Some focus on the future trying to leave what happened to them in the past so that they can adjust to their new sense of normalcy and once again begin enjoying their life. Others become determined to drive [...]

When you think about our universal health care system do you ever wonder about the fairness of waiting lists, otherwise known as queues? Our politicians claim queues provide Canadians with equal access to health care. Do they really?
Remember the recent outcry when hockey players and their families jumped the queue for the H1N1 flu vaccine? [...]

In the eleventh hour on Sunday, November 29th, 2009 Lyall’s waiting comes to an end. Less than three weeks after his appointment with the Oncologists he succumbs to esophageal cancer. No more pain and suffering, no more medications, nebulizer or oxygen. No more waiting on any lists for health care.
Only a few days before, my husband [...]

Lyall’s condition continues to deteriorate and he remains in hospital. He wants to see his granddaughter one more time. After a brief return to work my husband comes home and we prepare to travel with our toddler for one last visit with Grandpa. We arrive in British Columbia and commute the 43 kilometres between home [...]

Lyall is not eating or drinking very much. My husband expresses concerns about his father, who is also a type II diabetic, being dehydrated and the doctor agrees to admit him to the hospital over the weekend for a few hours of hydration. My husband and his mother Sandra take Lyall to the hospital on Saturday. The ER doctor [...]

In June 2009, we visit my in-laws on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. They are avid golfers who enjoy playing the game daily. So my husband and I don’t think much about it when his father Lyall is experiencing indigestion and has trouble swallowing his food. He tells us that his doctor is treating him [...]

You don’t have to be a brain surgeon to know that a man who has undergone brain surgery needs to remain in hospital for more than two days. Especially if he is already considered to be a high-risk patient due to pre-existing conditions including blindness and heart problems.
The Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba tried to [...]

You don’t have to travel far to see signs illustrating some of the problems within our current Canadian health care system. Here are two signs in my community. It has been said that “a picture is worth a thousand words”. These may be worth more…