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[SJC <indexer AT localnet.com>]

bob ford wrote:
>  
> Excerpt:
>  
> "The answer — incredibly — is that Canada's bureaucratic health care system transformed me from a human into a number, put me on a waiting list and essentially told me to hope for the best....
>
>   
Bob, I'm curious to know why you think this is any worse than what 
happens here, every day in thousands of cases, under the system we now 
have.  When I was still working in the emergency room in a mid-size city 
in the 1960's we routinely saw people coming into ER, some of whom died 
then and there, because they had been denied care by the very system we 
have now.  By 20 years after that, it was a daily occurrence,  and some 
days there were several occurrences in a day.  Now it's 2008 and I can 
say it has only gotten worse; now my small town sees almost as many of 
these episodes as the city of  Fort Wayne did in the 80's.

On a more personal level, I began having symptoms of circulatory issues 
in Jan of this year.  There followed many visits to various doctors.  To 
each I took my old medical records (if you don't keep your own copies, 
you should get them now and keep good track of them yourself), where 
there is ample documentation of a familial clotting disorder and my 
several past episodes with same.  I upped the ante every way I knew 
how.  Finally in the end of June I was diagnosed with pulmonary emboli 
(a spiral cat scan at that time showed 88% of the lung occluded by a 
large saddle clot) and widespread DVT (deep vein thrombosis).  I was 
later told by my 'primary care' physician that "the diagnosis was 
obscured by the fact that you do not have a history of being physically 
inactive and we only see this in sedentary patients."  All that, in 
spite of my records right there, readily available, including all 
genetic information and documentation of previous episodes.  In case you 
are not familiar with pulmonary emboli, it is a condition responsible 
for many, many deaths.....DVT not so hot, either, as a piece of any of 
those clots can break off and occlude a vessel at any second.  So for 5 
months I was left to languish....

The diagnosis was not made (and therefore treatment not available) until 
I found out about and traveled to a physician who takes no insurance, 
only cash/other arrangement.  Lo and behold, when there was no insurance 
nipple to suck on, Bingo: "You have pulmonary emboli!".   I also have 
permanent lung damage (occluded too long to recover) and permanent 
damage to the circulatory system in both legs (also too long to recover, 
those veins simply try to seal off and lesser vessels try to take over 
the work of those lost).  I'm also fried and pi**ed.

Do you suppose a quick diagnosis/treatment plan would have made the 
jerks anywhere near as much money as the route they took?  So for months 
they ran 'tests' that had nothing to do with a likely diagnosis, 
scheduled 2 'visits' to speak to me about my "dangerous" cholesterol 
level (139), and used every other foot-dragging technique in the book to 
avoid the obvious, efficient, potentially lifesaving diagnosis.

I submit we are no safer than your Canadian example, and poorer to 
boot.  Unfortunately this is not an isolated episode. 
This system, although it has great potential, is a disgrace to our 
country's claim to provide decent medical care and a danger to us all. 

Susan Jane, in Maine