Likewise, they seem to live in a world where nobody in the US ever waits for a procedure the way those poor Canadians do.
Recently I found a growth on my back and waited for a dermatologist appointment for three weeks. Turned out to be just a cyst which actually burst before my appointment, so no need for "emergency" surgery. After several days to deal with the insurance company on pre-approval, we finally scheduled minor surgery to permanently remove it. That'll happen in a couple of months. In the meantime I just need to keep it clean and allow it to drain as necessary.
My dad waited almost two months for bypass surgery, and that's after the wait for all the various tests needed to diagnose the condition. In the end, there were unforseeable surgical complications and he did not recover, so in a perverse way, he may have gotten a couple of extra months of life, but that's besides the point.
One of the interesting factoids I note from his experience is that Bill Clinton, who had similar symptoms, was rushed in to surgery within a day or two of having the problem, in the same hospital and with the same surgeon. (My dad was in there for a pre-admission checkup the day Clinton checked in.) This is part of the problem. There's a perception among our supposed leaders that there's no problem. And there isn't. If you're one of them. For the rest of us, waiting is normal unless it's an emergency. In that respect we don't get that much different care than our neighbors to the north. |
