Alice Little retired from teaching more than twenty years ago. Since that time she has learned some important lessons about the Canadian health care system. Her patient experiences run the gamut from serving time on waiting lists for surgeries to surviving terminal cancer. Like many senior citizens in Canada, she worries about the state of [...]
A retired business systems analyst, Ed Mendoza recalls tackling his share of complex problems throughout his working career. Little did he know that one day he would be forced to question the logic of one of the largest systems in our country – Canadian health care. The untimely death of his wife Madeleine in March 2003 [...]
“I’d like to tell you about Madeleine and who she was as a person. Can I do that?” asked widower Ed Mendoza. “Yes, tell me about her. I’d like to hear more about her,” I said. And so begins the story of Madeleine Mendoza’s untimely death. She enjoyed talking to everyone she met and was [...]
Leslie Worthington continues the search for accountability in Canadian health care. The family members of other patients experiencing medical errors begin contacting her for help in navigating a closed-door system. On one occasion Leslie and another woman offer each other support by picketing near Concordia Hospital in an effort to gain access to information and [...]
John Klassen died at Concordia Hospital in Winnipeg, Manitoba on January 26, 2004, at the age of 80 from complications following a heart attack. If not for the efforts of his daughter Leslie Worthington, these would be the only known facts of this patient case. For when a patient dies as a result of medical error [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Bill Murray waited in pain for more than a year to see a specialist for his arthritic hip. The specialist recommended a “Birmingham” hip resurfacing surgery as the best medical option. But — the government decided that Mr. Murray, who was 57, was “too old” and said no to the surgery. He was informed that [...]