My Latest Experience
Hello:
Well, it never rains but it pours, as they say. We have just started to adjust to my mother-in-law’s death, and the huge impact it will have on our lives.
Anyhow (and those of you who have seen Sicko will appreciate this), on Friday, I started to feel terrible pain in my groin, back and penis. I’ve been through this three or four times already. Kidney stones. I decided to wait it out until it became unbearable.
By 3:30 a.m., it was horrendous. Imagine a lump of coal pushing its way down your penis - or, for women, giving birth. It hurts like hell. I woke Judy, and we drove to University Hospital, the nearest hospital to us. There are four hospitals in our city - two have full emergency rooms, and one has an urgent care facility that is not 24/7.
I could have phoned Telehealth Ontario, or the health network run by the Government for patients of doctors who belong to a sort-of co-operative, as does mine. In addition, my doctor subscribes to an emergency physician service that is available whenever she does not have office hours.
Within ten minutes of arriving at Emerg, I had been seen by a triage nurse, given an emergency bed in the brand-new, state of the art Emergency facility, and was hooked up to an IV. A doctor who, to my eyes looked about 20, came, examined me thoroughly, and on the basis of my allergies (to opiates), hooked me up to toradol, a fairly decent painkiller and gave me an anti-nauseant.
The doctor was not thrilled that I had not seen an urologist, given 4 or 5 kidney stones over 12 years. He was sending a report to my GP, and she should have it first thing Monday morning.
After I had finished the two IVs, the doctor again examined me, and gave me a prescription for Naproxen, and told me to buy an over-the-counter anti-nauseant. He gave me two options - stay overnight at the hospital and have an ultrasound of my kidneys to determine what was going on, or go home, see my family physician on Monday, then get an immediate referral for an ultrasound, and to see an urologist. I chose the latter.
The care I received was personal, thorough, and caring. I am still pretty drained, but the pain is gone…for now.
Oh, yes, the total cost for this was …$12 for parking. All I had to do was present my OHIP swipe-card. No bills, no forms, nothing. I did give them a copy of my list of medications and allergies, as I carry it everywhere and they needed to know this stuff.
I’m not convinced that our taxes here are higher than, say Michigan, when you factor in healthcare premiums. In Ontario, there’s a graduated healthcare tax. I pay $130 a year as part of my income tax. Most people pay nothing.
So much for all the untrue horror stories Americans are told about the Canadian healthcare system. Capitalized medicine would not have treated me any better, in fact, probably a lot worse.
I’m going to try to insert my OHIP card. I covered up the 2 letter security code, hope you don’t mind.
Ian
Well, it never rains but it pours, as they say. We have just started to adjust to my mother-in-law’s death, and the huge impact it will have on our lives.
Anyhow (and those of you who have seen Sicko will appreciate this), on Friday, I started to feel terrible pain in my groin, back and penis. I’ve been through this three or four times already. Kidney stones. I decided to wait it out until it became unbearable.
By 3:30 a.m., it was horrendous. Imagine a lump of coal pushing its way down your penis - or, for women, giving birth. It hurts like hell. I woke Judy, and we drove to University Hospital, the nearest hospital to us. There are four hospitals in our city - two have full emergency rooms, and one has an urgent care facility that is not 24/7.
I could have phoned Telehealth Ontario, or the health network run by the Government for patients of doctors who belong to a sort-of co-operative, as does mine. In addition, my doctor subscribes to an emergency physician service that is available whenever she does not have office hours.
Within ten minutes of arriving at Emerg, I had been seen by a triage nurse, given an emergency bed in the brand-new, state of the art Emergency facility, and was hooked up to an IV. A doctor who, to my eyes looked about 20, came, examined me thoroughly, and on the basis of my allergies (to opiates), hooked me up to toradol, a fairly decent painkiller and gave me an anti-nauseant.
The doctor was not thrilled that I had not seen an urologist, given 4 or 5 kidney stones over 12 years. He was sending a report to my GP, and she should have it first thing Monday morning.
After I had finished the two IVs, the doctor again examined me, and gave me a prescription for Naproxen, and told me to buy an over-the-counter anti-nauseant. He gave me two options - stay overnight at the hospital and have an ultrasound of my kidneys to determine what was going on, or go home, see my family physician on Monday, then get an immediate referral for an ultrasound, and to see an urologist. I chose the latter.
The care I received was personal, thorough, and caring. I am still pretty drained, but the pain is gone…for now.
Oh, yes, the total cost for this was …$12 for parking. All I had to do was present my OHIP swipe-card. No bills, no forms, nothing. I did give them a copy of my list of medications and allergies, as I carry it everywhere and they needed to know this stuff.
I’m not convinced that our taxes here are higher than, say Michigan, when you factor in healthcare premiums. In Ontario, there’s a graduated healthcare tax. I pay $130 a year as part of my income tax. Most people pay nothing.
So much for all the untrue horror stories Americans are told about the Canadian healthcare system. Capitalized medicine would not have treated me any better, in fact, probably a lot worse.
I’m going to try to insert my OHIP card. I covered up the 2 letter security code, hope you don’t mind.
Ian