Canadian Woman with Brain Tumor Tells Nightmare Story of Government Health Care - Video 7/5/09
Here is MUST SEE video of a Canadian woman diagnosed with a brain tumor telling her nightmare story of what she faced in the government-run Canadian health care system. She would have faced a six month wait just to see the needed doctors to determine treatment. She came to the U.S. and had seen the needed specialists within ONE WEEK! Those doctors tried to pull strings in Canada to get her needed surgery scheduled and could not. She wound up having her surgery here in the United States.
The end of the video is especially poignant. The woman begins to cry and says something profound:
"All my life I've lived in this country (Canada) with public health insurance, and I always thought I would be OK - that everything would be fine. And when I needed help, it wasn't there, and that's the thing I find so tragic."
This is what we have to look forward to if Obama and the Democrats succeed in imposing socialized medicine on the United States.
10 comments:
...because everyone in the US gets the treatment they need right away? I don't think so. Both sides can point to sob stories. Let's cut the hyperbole, gather all the facts, and have an actual debate of the pros and cons.
That the woman couldn't get treatment is a problem. I'd like to know more about that. But she began to break down crying over the amount she owes and can't afford to the "great American health system"
How many people in her situation in the U.S. can't get care because they can't scrape together the funds?
The Canadian problem is much more easily fixed than the American health "care" disaster.
There are many people in this country that die from the inability to afford treatment for life threatening illnesses. Rationing of healthcare happens in America everyday! If you can't afford a procedure or proper medication you just go without it. The insurance companies are the problem not the solution! Cut out the middle man.People should educate themselves many do not realize there is a difference between universal single payer systems and nationalized socialized healthcare. Single payer is a method that only deals with the financial methods of payment within a healthcare system. Leaving private and public options for healthcare providers and hospitals. Nationalized socialized systems ( like the U.K.) deals with the delivery of services, the goverment runs all healthcare ie. hospitals doctors etc...
I have lived in this country for 20years, and I know people that have experienced similar health situations. The only difference is that, if they did have a chance to speak up... they would say how lucky they are to have a health care system that saves lives, and IS ALWAYS THRERE WHEN NEEDED.It is not fair that only one situation is being analized, and that though it must have been a terrible situatuion for her. I would be more concerned with having more than one individual's opinion. Before judging Canada's health care system, ask yourself. Why would anyone not want affordable, reliable health care?
Turned out to be a lie. The medical-industrial complex stands to lose a LOT if health care becomes affordable. You can read about it on dailyjos, http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/7/19/755113/-Another-Healthcare-Lie,-and-the-Lying-Liar-Thats-Telling-It.
Yeah, I am a Canadian living in the US. I have been living here for 6 years now and I feel like the medical system in the US is 3rd world!! I had what ended up being a gallbladder problem but took them 1 1/2 yrs to diagnose and meanwhile snotty, idiot dr's not beleiving me, not listening until they did one test that showed I had a "slow gall bladder". Then it was an incredible task to find a surgeon. I love my home country Canada I love the health care, I never had a problem and I was never in debt because of my health. In fact, I have had MORE problems with my health here in the US than I EVER had in Canada. I just had an idiot Physicians Assistant give me medicitaion for fibromyalgia and didn't tell me it was a SNRI which I am allergic to and I developed a skin rash and mastits. She asked me "are you breatfeeding"? Now I have seen this particular PA for over a year and she asks me this? I have a 6 year old son. WHO would I be breastfeeding? What a dumbass. Then after she had previously said she could help me she said "I can't help you" in a flat out derogatory tone. I promptly went to the office manager and asked for a real DR. We dont' use PA's in Canada, obviously for a good reason. My mom is an RN and I have taken Medical terminolgy and have a pretty good knowledge of medical terms and had repeatedly asked this PA to be more technical with me which she could not seem to grasp. Now I'm still suffering the effects from this stupid med sample she pushed me. Just a damn pill pusher. I would rather see my Psychiatrist, my Psychologist and my Gyne than HER.
Medical care in Canada IS top notch and there are many good teaching hospitals there as well where you can get perhaps some experimental stuff, be part of a study etc..that is why I have been on topamax ever since it was released! Had it not been for the insight of a very good Psychiatrist at the University of British Columbia teaching hospital I would probably not be alive today. I knew that resource was there, I was made aware of all of my options and i chose to partake as a guniea pig but sometimes you have to do that. I have never had options presented to me here like that. I am limited to the Dr's I can see. In Canada, I can see whoever I want! A $60 Rx here is $4 in Canada. That is why in BC we have busloads of seniors come from Washington State to see Canadian Dr's to get Rx's and go to Canadian pharmacies to have them filled. They wouldn't be able to afford them otherwise.
Oh In Canada..it's not SOCIALIZED medicine..get the terminology straight!!!
http://www.pnhp.org/news/2008/february/10_myths_about_canad.php
10 myths about Canadian Healthcare (although she says that you can't claim some things on your income tax I have to disagree)
She's lying. NPR exposed it, DailyKOS exposed it, and I hope lots of other people expose it. She had a cyst, non-life-threatening (but which certainly needed treatment). She DID NOT have cancer. Folks with cancer get FAST treatment in Canada. Canadians live longer than Americans, lose fewer babies (lower infant mortality rate), and spend HALF of what Americans spend on health care. Better results at half the cost? From a pure business standpoint, how can you not go for better results at a lower cost? Stop the fear-mongering and lying.
Somehow I'm not going to trust a DailyKos story or an NPR story over what even left-leaning CNN obviously thought was a valid and accurate story.
If you don't like that woman's story, try this one:
http://www.freedomslighthouse.com/2009/07/huckabee-talks-with-canadian-mother.html
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