Comments on Scalpel or Sword?: The ER is Not Burger King

Canada doesn't have anything we'd want or we'd hav...

2008-12-10T12:45:00.000-06:00

Canada doesn't have anything we'd want or we'd have taken you over decades ago. Wait, I take that back....some of your nurses are pretty good, but we don't have to invade you to get them; they flee your country in droves to come work here, and many become US citizens.

I wonder why?

Personally, I'm more annoyed that you Americans ke...

2008-12-10T02:58:00.000-06:00

Personally, I'm more annoyed that you Americans keep assuming that socialized medicine is a bad thing.

From my perspective (me, with all my twenty years here, having lived in Canada all of those years): it's not.
It really, really isn't.

Yes, it would mean some serious systemic changes, if you guys went over to properly socialized medicine. But it would not be the horror-show you keep imagining.

I've been to the ER a few times - three times, to get checked out for what we thought might be appendicitis (it wasn't - just an ovarian cyst) and once for an allergic reaction to some medication I'd been prescribed for the cyst.
Each time, I was seen as quickly as the triage list allowed. When it was the risk of appendicitis? I didn't wait much over two hours when it wasn't busy - two times, it was four hours; once, when they'd just wheeled a guy on a gurney in, and once when they were treating a guy who'd been stabbed somewhere serious (it made the newspaper - he lived).
When it was an allergic reaction, I only waited about an hour and a half, with a careful watch on me to make sure that I didn't rapidly get worse.

Yes, we have a shortage of doctors and nurses. Yes, Parliment cut the funding to the medical system.
I'm not saying we don't have problems. Just that they're different from - and not nearly as bad as - yours.

In socialized medicine, it's not "everyone gets the same treatment" - it's "everyone gets treated, and everyone has a right to the treatment they need".
The ER isn't Burger King, no - but it's not any type of business, here. It's a vital service, but not something that is supposed to - or expected to - make money.

There are very few private health insurance companies up here in Canada, and not many people sign up with one. Why do so, after all, when the national health insurance already covers anything you'd need?
And I do mean national. I'm from Ontario. I'm attending university in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. I have no worries that my OHIP card will be accepted at any ER or clinic I go to here.

Yes, there are some things OHIP doesn't cover - mostly procedures seen as "optional". Currently, this covers any plastic surgery that is not purely reconstructive (meaning, the patient with burns to their face or other parts is covered - the fifty-year old who's trying to shave off ten years is not) and since about 2002, I think, sexual reassignment surgery (because, you know, physical gender and brain-gender synching up isn't going to save lives or anything. >.> Thanks, Harper.)

I can't say that we don't have some of the same problems - I don't have an inside look at things, and as someone who's majoring in history and folklore...I'm not likely to. A better bet would be to ask Dr. Couz about it; she's over here (http://drcouz.blogspot.com/) and is nearly done her residency.

It sucks really. My local ER is great and my doc ...

2008-12-03T22:40:00.000-06:00

It sucks really. My local ER is great and my doc pushes the generic stuff. I am not prepared for this socialist garbage, especially since I'll be a nurse in a few years.

No comment on the actual post. Just shocked that I...

2008-12-02T09:11:00.000-06:00

No comment on the actual post.

Just shocked that I actually remember those Burger King uniforms. Especially the bitchin' hat.

I am not a fan. My doctor just prescribed a drug ...

2008-12-02T07:42:00.000-06:00

I am not a fan. My doctor just prescribed a drug and was very clear that I needed the name brand, not the generic because she does not like the side effects from the generic in combination with some other medicines I am on. My insurance won't cover it unless it is generic. I am already paying a bunch of these kind of "extras" that should be decisions left up to the doctor, not the insurance company. I can only forsee this getting more and more difficult for me and for everyone else like me. As long as a person is healthy, it won't bother them at all but once they have any kind of medical crisis everyone will be complaining about something we are seeming to choose.

No problem, we are already well trained:Having to ...

2008-12-02T02:00:00.000-06:00

No problem, we are already well trained:
Having to wait (18 hours and up) in the ER until death or a doctor - whichever comes first - arrives and having to beg our private health insurance companies for permission to have a test/a medication that was ordered.
Did I mention the 3 to 6 month waits to get an appointment with some specialists?
See, we are already well trained at being herded. :-)

Keep eating at Burger King et al and you will even...

2008-12-01T17:36:00.000-06:00

Keep eating at Burger King et al and you will eventually end up in the ER.

Sooooooo dramatic. Gimme a break.

2008-12-01T17:21:00.000-06:00

Sooooooo dramatic. Gimme a break.