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Loading ...Canadian province contacts more than 1000 people who may be infected by dirty syringes
11.21.2008 3:10pm EST
(Edmonton, Alberta) Alberta Health says it has contacted more than 1,000 people who may have been infected by the re-use of single-use syringes in the High Prairie area.
The province says 954 patients who underwent endoscopies – a medical procedure where a tube is inserted into the body to look for health problems – have been offered testing for hepatitis and HIV.Another 427 dental patients who received intravenous medication in the recovery room are also in the process of being contacted.
In a release, Alberta Health says it understands the anxiety the incident involving patients in the area between 1990 and last month may be causing the community about 250 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.
The province also says it wants to reassure patients that the risk of contracting infection from the incident is very low.
Last week, Saskatchewan announced a risk review into the reuse of single-use syringes in Lloydminster, Prince Albert, Weyburn, Swift Current and Yorkton.
The truth is that American healthcare is an exorbitantly expensive system that can destroy people financially even if they have insurance. I’ve seen it happen.
But some help might be on the way:
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=6244040 – Healthcare Reform Gets Backing in Congress
“Both major parties, Congress, consumer groups and employers agree the U.S. healthcare system is in shambles and needs reworking. Obama will have to work with Congress to make any significant changes.”
“Nearly 46 million Americans have no health insurance and while Americans pay more per capita for healthcare than citizens of any other industrialized country, many studies show they have poorer health, suffer more medical mistakes and are in general unhappier with what they do get.”
Trace…you just don’t get it, do you? I had my say, but you just can’t let go of your ignorance. You still can’t admit that you don’t know what you’re talking about. You still won’t listen to people who know something about Canadian healthcare in general, let alone Alberta Health in particular. No, you won’t ask questions of people who know their stuff. You won’t go to Alberta Health’s website. You won’t look for in-depth information on what has happened in Alberta. Why? Oh–that’s right!–you’re American, by God, and our Free Enterprise System is the best thing the world has ever seen!
Trace, you talk about “basic,” “catastrophic” and “serious” care. I work in a psych hospital. We have regular patients (frequent flyers) who have poor case management because mental health funding is cut. Since they can’t keep their shit together without help, they can’t stay employed, so they don’t have the luxury of private insurance. When these people are hospitalized, it can be a long path to stabilization. Meanwhile, their ties to the outside world are eroded (as if illness hasn’t done enough), and so care is provided in a disjoint and insanely expensive piecemeal fashion.
You really wanna talk about “basic” care? Ask people with HIV who live in states where the state decides it won’t cover any new people under Ryan White. Sorry ’bout their luck, right? Or somebody like my ex-gf, who died of Lou Gehrig’s–not every state will provide someone like her with homecare, which is cheaper and may be far more effective than a nursing home. (And FYI, Ontario will pay for a nursing home in that case, but not homecare. So it happens on both sides of the border.)
Trace, it sounds like your friends are generally lucky enough to have private coverage. It sounds like those with Canuck experience may not understand the system much better than you. And the one who was a nurse who went to Canada? Trace, an RN makes at least 30% more in the US, and any cursory search would show that. Ontario can’t keep doctors because they can make more in the States–that is until they have to pay their own malpractice.
It’d be cool if you’d ask the Albertans here about their experiences, but you’re too arrogant. I can only hope you never get to be on the receiving end of your own ignorance.
And in the US no one is denied care for serious ailments. State Hospitals and community clinics are set up to provide basic and catastrophic care for patients.
Trace, over 40 million Americans do not have health insurance. If you take over 40 million people out of a line up, sure the line might be a bit shorter. But I couldn’t live with that. It is always better to have good health care for ALL instead of excellent health care for some and no health care for some. The Canadian health care system provides good health for ALL and therefore, it is far superior!
Trace – it’s not like you have a choice in the matter, so please keep it. I’ve never had to wait for any medical procedure more than three days. I’ve never had any problems with our healthcare system at all.
I know several people who left better-paying jobs in the US because of the cost of living with rare conditions and moved back here because here it’s close to free.
drewski, I did not claim superiority. I did mention that you would not find dirty needles being used in a non-Socialized medical system.
What I did say is that I only know of two instances health care issues that I would consider serious and did not receive appropriate care in Canada. I also know of one buddy that immigrated to Ft. Lauderdale as a nurse. Appears that the US actively immigrates for medical personnel from Canada. Appears that wages and benefits are considerably better in the US for medical personnel.
By all means, if Canada in general is happy with their health system then they should make no changes. I’ve simply said that I think I’ll keep the private health care system.
Trace, Canadian “medicare” is not one giant centralized system. Ottawa disburses funds to the provinces for heathcare; the target has been roughly 75% federal funding, but federal funding dropped in the recent past. Each province’s ministry of health is different; therefore the services available in Vancouver have no connection to services in Toronto. Another component of funding is the equalization system, where the “have” provinces (historically Alberta and Ontario) give money to the “have-nots” to maintain social service levels. This does not exist in the US. Depending on what’s included in the equalization formula, “have” provinces may have significantly lower per-capita funding levels. Finally, the provinces also pay; when voters decide they’re overtaxed, and demand tax cuts, that causes direct cuts in healthcare. It’s happening now in Alberta, and Alberta has never been generous on healthcare. It happened in Ontario in the mid-90s–ask your buddy about the Tory cuts back then. It caused cuts in available health services, yet the Toronto urban region is both huge (about 7 million in the Golden Horseshoe) and growing about as fast as Houston or Atlanta. The serious underinvestment in health infrastructure and staff led directly to the SARS outbreak.
My soon-to-be-ex is positive. He too thinks Canadian healthcare sucks. Like you, he doesn’t understand that Canadian healthcare operates differently. The rest of the world is not obliged to be just like the US. You fail to mention that there are available (at least in Ontario) PRIVATE supplemental insurance plans, for things like prescription drugs and dental care. Yes, in some respects, HIV-poz Americans with private insurance may have it better–but that has a lot to do with American special-interest politics. Canadian healthcare covers everyone, not just a few. Your sacred private US system can and does refuse to provide non-emergency primary care. Canada spends roughly half as much per person on healthcare, and administrative costs are lower and being targeted for further cuts.
Trace, it should also be mentioned that Canada is still in flux on pharmacare. OHIP (Ontario Health Insurance Plan) may cover meds for some conditions and not others. Prescriptions are typically for the individual to buy, which is why the provinces buy in bulk and why drugs are usually cheaper in Canada. Again, this varies by province, and again, there is secondary insurance. Since there is no charge for office visits or hospitalization, the cost of drugs has been viewed as a reasonable individual burden. That isn’t necessarily the case anymore, which is why there is exploration of both general drug coverage as well as expanded coverage for med-controlled chronic conditions (like HIV).
Trace, no system is perfect. The US healthcare system summarily excludes almost 50 million people, which is roughly equal to Canada and the Netherlands combined. If our system is so great, why is the US prevalence of HIV so much higher than Canada’s? Why are you so defensive, so unwilling to justify your reflexive claims of American superiority?
Sorry, I’m just basing it on a buddy in Toronto that is married to a Canadian. The buddy has had dual citizenship for years. He needed to go on HIV Meds and could not get in to see an infectious disease doctor for 4 months. He was able to drive down to Knoxville and get in within a week. A friend ended up sending meds to him for almost a year.
Also, a buddy in Vancouver that had to wait for open heart surgery. He ended up having the surgery in Atlanta.
Thanks, I’ll keep my private system.
Trace…what a typically ignorant(ly) American thing to say. Dude, I got news: the oh-so-sacred Private Sector has a bad habit of putting [butt]-covering before medical standards. You think you won’t wait for services in the States? In Canada (and this is generally true of all provinces), resources typically go to the ailments where the money does the most good. That means the provincial system can choose not to provide or even cover expensive experimental therapy for, say, pancreatic cancer. You want it, you’ll have to go somewhere and pay out of pocket. Sure, I can take my happy self five miles down the road to the Cleveland Clinic, and they may have the technical wherewithal to do things no Canadian hospital can. And you think they’re gonna do those things and save my life if I DON’T HAVE MONEY??? In the States, lack of insurance and cash can affect not just your treatment, but even your diagnosis. Yeah it can be fixed, but no we won’t tell you because we know you ain’t got the money. You think that’s such a superior system–where it’s acceptable to lie to a patient rather than at least tell them what they’re gonna die of? No thanks, hoss.
As for Alberta Health…in a fair world, former Premier (like governor) Ralph Klein would stand trial for this. You hear of re-used needles in the Third World, but it happened in Alberta because the permanently-governing Conservatives (who never believed in the Progressive part of the name) have been more concerned about low taxes and no government debt than they have been about a basic public service. Even Ontario, with the worst per-capita healthcare funding in Canada, never saw this happen, even in the worst of the Harris/Eves years.
Oh…Trace…since you, like so many Americans, have such a vast wealth of knowledge on the many shortcomings of “socialist” Canada, would you care to tell anybody how you obtained this wisdom? Besides Fox News and Rush Limbaugh? Clearly it’s NOT from experience, because while you’re criticizing Canada, you demonstrate that you don’t know that Alberta is the part of Canada which most reflects the values you espouse. Bruce can probably explain better than I can, though.
Trace,I have never met a genuinely sick person has had to wait for health care.
Those who have to wait seem to be more abusive of the system.
And never minimize the cost of private health care, once they know you have pre-existing medical problems.
Our Medicare System is a shining model globally, the HMO’s in the states lobby to have it dismanteled because they don’t want the USA getting any ideas about implementing a similar system.
Bruce, with a private health care system you don’t have to wait weeks or months for basic and life threatening procedures. You also don’t have to worry that they’re reusing syringes.
I agree with Bruce. The Conservative government in Alberta has been trying to dismantle the public health care system for years. This may be one of the many opportunities they will be using to make the case for a two tier system. We can’t let conservatives destroy the Canadian Dream of living in a just society!
I live in this provence and it IS the wealthiest provence in Canada!
Our provencial government is trying to dismantle the public health system to replace it with a private one (based on the failed USA model).
I find it interesting that the public funded system is trying to save money by blatantly ignoring basic protocall.
I can only imagine what a for profit system would resort to.