Genuine question, how are immigration levels being factored into health care planning when it comes to surgical capacity and specialist shortages?
EveoftheNorthCountry on
I just found out over Christmas that a girl who I know via other friends is stage 4 cervical cancer at 32 years old and the doctors told her there’s nothing left to do because it’s gone too long. Meanwhile she’s been on the surgery list for some time and also misdiagnosed. She has 4 kids between the ages of 6-15., the youngest being blind and autistic and needing a lot of support. What do you even say. And she’s not the only one I know.
In 2016-2017 I knew 3 other women ages 34, 41 and 60 who had uterine and cervical cancers. Two were women I worked with, one was a friend’s mom from church. The 34 year old died within two years of being diagnosed leaving a 12 year old daughter behind, she was misdiagnosed a few times when she was complaining of back pain. The 41 year old died waiting for care and left 3 teenagers behind, also after a short battle. And the 60 year old died after being misdiagnosed for 3 years and finally someone in an ER clued in, way too late. That’s just women I know with female cancers. I know of two other people who were misdiagnosed/died on a waitlist of cancer in the last couple years.
It’s really weird that I myself at 31, know 3 women who all died young due to female cancers, leaving young kids behind, who were diagnosed and delayed treatment to backlog. It’s terrifying and horrific.
Once_a_TQ on
So no different than every other facet of healthcare in this country.
Sucks, but this is what people want, clearly.
slumlordscanstarve on
It’s a struggle for doctors to take women’s pain seriously at all. Issues relating to access to care and denial of follow up care/treatment is killing women. It really feels like most doctors are in it for the money and have no empathy for their patients.
Plus importing millions of people into a country with zero resources to care for anyone means no one gets medical help. Unless you are wealthy and can pay for private treatment.
bric33 on
Misogyny at work.
Grimaceisbaby on
any condition I’ve had that mostly affects women has 3-4 year wait lists, if it exists at all. Canada is neglecting women’s health in every way possible.
DramaticParfait4645 on
After I finished having children I still went to my OB/GYN for annual Pap smears rather than get it done at my GP. I had my last child at 28 and when in my 50’s I had bleeding issues I phoned the office and was seen the next day. Over a couple of weeks II got tests run. It was determined that I needed a hysterectomy due to to cells changing. I was scheduled for surgery in six weeks but put on the cancellation list got in the next week. All told from first concern to surgery was 5 weeks. Friends were waiting much longer just to see the specialist.
Meterian on
This is what happens when healthcare is inadequate, and the alternatives are gatekept by wealth.
wowSoFresh on
“Canadian Healthcare the Movie: If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.”
Now in theatres for an indefinite time.
longlivenapster on
Let’s be clear, our healthcare system has had its issues since the 90s. After covid, with so many healthcare retirements plus backlog in all kinds of procedures, we are still catching up on. We need to add many more docs and nurses and other healthcare professionals to get the system working again. Immigrants make good scapegoats but are not the root of all our problems in this country. Remember that x number of people leave the country as well as come into the country.
chimtae on
I had to pay $12k out of pocket that I really could not afford (had to borrow money from my mom) to go to Romania for endometriosis surgery because the waitlists in Ontario are years long and the pain was debilitating.
Few-Education-5613 on
My wife has been waiting 3 years for surgery, the surgeon quit this summer to go into private practice.
Competitive_Big5415 on
I wanted to move to the USA since I am in a good career. One of the reasons was so my wife could get care if needed.
cactusplantlady on
WOMEN: if and when you ever get to see your gyno, express concerns about having cancer, weird symptoms, ANYTHING and they dismiss you, you ask the doc to document it on your appt notes that day!!!! A doctor passes you off as crazy, refuses to look into your issues etc., make sure you say “please write this down on my notes” “please document that you are refusing this treatment” “please write down my concerns and why you do not agree with me” it doesn’t always work, but sometimes that scares them enough to do it! Of course there are bigger issues like time, making appointments in the first place or even getting to see a gyno, but that’s my best/favourite tip for BS like this and doctors not taking women seriously.
Good luck everybody, from another Canadian female with major gynecological issues who is also waiting and haven’t seen their gynecologist in years!!!!!!
JohnDorian0506 on
Our health care system was not perfect before but it was adequate. Until the federal government to satisfy greedy corporations imported millions of cheap foreign labourers. Eventually, Provincial health care systems got overwhelmed by these new patients and their families.
oli_Xtc on
Well I’m not surprised by this, sadly… My Gf was sick for about 6 years and doctors never wanted to listen to ear, blaming hey symptoms on…. anxiety (lol) till the day were she wasn’t even able to go to work because she was too sick and couldn’t move out from the bed…
When and only when she reached that point of suffering, they finally started investigating, and I’m dead serious when i told you, it took about only 1 month of exams for them to find out was disease she have, put her on medication (it’s an incurable disease she will have it all her life) and now she’s fine and after so many years her life is finally bearable.
Why in the fuck did it took 6 YEARS before they finally started to listen to her and do some test ???? What a joke and I’m ashame to think that almost half of my taxes go towards the Healthcare system for it to be so broken.
Kyliexo on
This isn’t a new problem, but it’s definitely getting worse. I have waited years for endometriosis excision surgery in the past few years
Cole_Evyx on
This is why we simply have to train more doctors in Canada, that stay in Canada.
This is a huge problem and I am tired of people continuing to shove it under the rug.
CdnCharKueyTeow on
You can get immediate service in private hospitals when you fly to Thailand. The flight is also shorter than the emergency wait time.
j-bulls93 on
I mean I big reason for these wait times is the amount of people that came into Canada and our doctors and nurses haven’t gone up, new hospitals and family doctor practices haven’t been built. Who knew bringing in hundreds of thousands of people and not having the infrastructure to support the influx would create this?
jhontpiece1 on
Welcome to the club ladies. Any healthcare in this country takes way too long.
walkingdisaster2024 on
So is anyone actually getting healthcare? Or is the system so deep in the shitter it’s like an overwhelmed worker – lot of work but no productivity.
22 Comments
Genuine question, how are immigration levels being factored into health care planning when it comes to surgical capacity and specialist shortages?
I just found out over Christmas that a girl who I know via other friends is stage 4 cervical cancer at 32 years old and the doctors told her there’s nothing left to do because it’s gone too long. Meanwhile she’s been on the surgery list for some time and also misdiagnosed. She has 4 kids between the ages of 6-15., the youngest being blind and autistic and needing a lot of support. What do you even say. And she’s not the only one I know.
In 2016-2017 I knew 3 other women ages 34, 41 and 60 who had uterine and cervical cancers. Two were women I worked with, one was a friend’s mom from church. The 34 year old died within two years of being diagnosed leaving a 12 year old daughter behind, she was misdiagnosed a few times when she was complaining of back pain. The 41 year old died waiting for care and left 3 teenagers behind, also after a short battle. And the 60 year old died after being misdiagnosed for 3 years and finally someone in an ER clued in, way too late. That’s just women I know with female cancers. I know of two other people who were misdiagnosed/died on a waitlist of cancer in the last couple years.
It’s really weird that I myself at 31, know 3 women who all died young due to female cancers, leaving young kids behind, who were diagnosed and delayed treatment to backlog. It’s terrifying and horrific.
So no different than every other facet of healthcare in this country.
Sucks, but this is what people want, clearly.
It’s a struggle for doctors to take women’s pain seriously at all. Issues relating to access to care and denial of follow up care/treatment is killing women. It really feels like most doctors are in it for the money and have no empathy for their patients.
Plus importing millions of people into a country with zero resources to care for anyone means no one gets medical help. Unless you are wealthy and can pay for private treatment.
Misogyny at work.
any condition I’ve had that mostly affects women has 3-4 year wait lists, if it exists at all. Canada is neglecting women’s health in every way possible.
After I finished having children I still went to my OB/GYN for annual Pap smears rather than get it done at my GP. I had my last child at 28 and when in my 50’s I had bleeding issues I phoned the office and was seen the next day. Over a couple of weeks II got tests run. It was determined that I needed a hysterectomy due to to cells changing. I was scheduled for surgery in six weeks but put on the cancellation list got in the next week. All told from first concern to surgery was 5 weeks. Friends were waiting much longer just to see the specialist.
This is what happens when healthcare is inadequate, and the alternatives are gatekept by wealth.
“Canadian Healthcare the Movie: If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.”
Now in theatres for an indefinite time.
Let’s be clear, our healthcare system has had its issues since the 90s. After covid, with so many healthcare retirements plus backlog in all kinds of procedures, we are still catching up on. We need to add many more docs and nurses and other healthcare professionals to get the system working again. Immigrants make good scapegoats but are not the root of all our problems in this country. Remember that x number of people leave the country as well as come into the country.
I had to pay $12k out of pocket that I really could not afford (had to borrow money from my mom) to go to Romania for endometriosis surgery because the waitlists in Ontario are years long and the pain was debilitating.
My wife has been waiting 3 years for surgery, the surgeon quit this summer to go into private practice.
I wanted to move to the USA since I am in a good career. One of the reasons was so my wife could get care if needed.
WOMEN: if and when you ever get to see your gyno, express concerns about having cancer, weird symptoms, ANYTHING and they dismiss you, you ask the doc to document it on your appt notes that day!!!! A doctor passes you off as crazy, refuses to look into your issues etc., make sure you say “please write this down on my notes” “please document that you are refusing this treatment” “please write down my concerns and why you do not agree with me” it doesn’t always work, but sometimes that scares them enough to do it! Of course there are bigger issues like time, making appointments in the first place or even getting to see a gyno, but that’s my best/favourite tip for BS like this and doctors not taking women seriously.
Good luck everybody, from another Canadian female with major gynecological issues who is also waiting and haven’t seen their gynecologist in years!!!!!!
Our health care system was not perfect before but it was adequate. Until the federal government to satisfy greedy corporations imported millions of cheap foreign labourers. Eventually, Provincial health care systems got overwhelmed by these new patients and their families.
Well I’m not surprised by this, sadly… My Gf was sick for about 6 years and doctors never wanted to listen to ear, blaming hey symptoms on…. anxiety (lol) till the day were she wasn’t even able to go to work because she was too sick and couldn’t move out from the bed…
When and only when she reached that point of suffering, they finally started investigating, and I’m dead serious when i told you, it took about only 1 month of exams for them to find out was disease she have, put her on medication (it’s an incurable disease she will have it all her life) and now she’s fine and after so many years her life is finally bearable.
Why in the fuck did it took 6 YEARS before they finally started to listen to her and do some test ???? What a joke and I’m ashame to think that almost half of my taxes go towards the Healthcare system for it to be so broken.
This isn’t a new problem, but it’s definitely getting worse. I have waited years for endometriosis excision surgery in the past few years
This is why we simply have to train more doctors in Canada, that stay in Canada.
This is a huge problem and I am tired of people continuing to shove it under the rug.
You can get immediate service in private hospitals when you fly to Thailand. The flight is also shorter than the emergency wait time.
I mean I big reason for these wait times is the amount of people that came into Canada and our doctors and nurses haven’t gone up, new hospitals and family doctor practices haven’t been built. Who knew bringing in hundreds of thousands of people and not having the infrastructure to support the influx would create this?
Welcome to the club ladies. Any healthcare in this country takes way too long.
So is anyone actually getting healthcare? Or is the system so deep in the shitter it’s like an overwhelmed worker – lot of work but no productivity.