无了期等候被迫赴美做手术
星报通讯社电/又有两名安省病人因无法等待漫长的公营医疗排期，被迫去美国作肿瘤切除手术，而状告安省政府，并要求赔偿。
来自安省纽马克(Newmarket)的43岁的妇女霍姆丝(Shona Holmes)和来自沃特登(Waterdown)的66岁男子麦克雷夫(Lindsay McCreith)昨天联名向安省政府索偿，称他们被否决了在“省营垄断”的医疗系统以外接受治疗的权利，而深受痛苦。
诉状称，安省对关键医疗服务的“垄断”，及其提供服务的拖延，致使两人必须“去美国寻求这些服务，而蒙受巨大的财务、精神及身体的艰辛”。
他们的指称尚未经法院证实。
霍姆丝昨天在省府召开的一个新闻发布会上称，她2005年3月开始视力减退，5月通过MRI诊断患有脑瘤，但家庭医生为她排到的看专科医生的时间为7月19日及9月19日。因为肿瘤压迫她的视觉神经，她的视力日益衰退。
她害怕夜长梦多，就去了美国做看了专家，并做了手术。她的视力10天内得以恢复，但她的家庭因为昂贵的医疗费用，而背上了9.5万元债务。
霍姆丝称，她丈夫为此而打起双份全职工，他们还把房屋作二次按揭。虽然她有幸保驻了视力，但这个历程简直摧人心肺。
安省卫生厅长史密瑟曼(George Smitherman)的发言人称，因为案子已到法庭，厅长不便置评，但“会坚决捍卫公营的医保系统”。两人的官司获得加拿大宪法基金会(Canadian Constitution Foundation的支持。
Patients suing province over wait times
Man, woman who couldn’t get quick treatment travelled to U.S. to get brain tumours removed
Sep 06, 2007 04:30 AM
Tanya Talaga
Health Reporter
Two Ontario patients who had brain tumours removed in the United States because they say they couldn’t get quick treatment here are suing the provincial government over what they claim are unjustly long wait times for medical care.
Lindsay McCreith, 66, of Newmarket and Shona Holmes, 43, of Waterdown filed a joint statement of claim yesterday against the province of Ontario. Both say their health suffered because they are denied the right to access care outside of Ontario’s “government-run monopolistic” health-care system. They want to be able to buy private health insurance.
Ontario’s “monopoly” over essential health services and its delay in providing the services have left both patients to “endure significant financial, emotional and physical hardship to access such services in the United States,” states the claim .
The accusations made in the statement of claim have not been proven in court.
Holmes began losing her vision in March 2005, she told a press conference at Queen’s Park yesterday. An MRI in May 2005 revealed a tumour in her brain. Her family doctor couldn’t expedite appointments booked with specialists for July 19 and Sept. 19, 2005. As the tumour pressed on her optic nerves, her vision deteriorated. Afraid to wait any longer, she went to the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Within a week she met three specialists and was told she had a fluid-filled sac growing near her pituitary gland at the base of her brain. They urged her to have it taken out immediately. She went home with the hopes of quickly removing what is known as a Rathke’s cleft cyst.
Unable to get surgery fast, she returned to Arizona and had the mass removed on Aug. 1, 2005. Her vision was restored in 10 days. The Holmes family is now in debt $95,000 because of medical costs.
“My husband has taken a second full-time job. We’ve re-mortgaged our home. It has to be known. People can’t go through this,” said Holmes, a family mediator. “I was very fortunate to save my eyesight but the cost and the battle has been devastating.”
David Spencer, a spokesperson for Health Minister George Smitherman, said the minister can say little as this matter is before the courts.
“We understand there is a statement of claim being put forward. It’s our intention to be there to vigorously defend the public health system.”
The Canadian Constitution Foundation, a non-profit group, is backing the legal action by McCreith and Holmes.
The CCF has dubbed the lawsuit the “Ontario Chaoulli.” Dr. Jacques Chaoulli went to court in Quebec on behalf of his patient George Zeliotis, who suffered acute pain while waiting for a hip replacement. In June 2005, the Supreme Court of Canada handed down a decision in favour of Chaoulli by striking down Quebec’s ban on private health insurance.
Many felt the decision would open the door to increased access to private health-care in Quebec, but that has yet to happen.
Holmes’ experience was similar to that of Lindsay McCreith, a retired auto collision repair shop owner. According to the statement of claim, McCreith suddenly experienced seizures on Jan. 2, 2006. After waiting seven hours in a Newmarket emergency ward, he was examined by an internist. A computed tomography or CT scan showed a large wedge-shaped brain tumour. He was discharged from hospital four days later with a diagnosis of stroke and a prescription for anti-seizure medication.
Worried the tumour might be cancerous, McCreith and his family wanted an MRI. He was given an appointment date four months later. McCreith went to the U.S. and paid $494.67 (U.S.) for an MRI. Armed with the scan, he saw his Ontario family doctor, who referred McCreith to a neurologist. He was examined on Feb. 8, 2006. He was referred to a neurosurgeon but would have to wait three months.
Unhappy with this, he returned to Buffalo. In early March, during a biopsy, the tumour was found to be malignant and surgically removed. He paid $27,650 for his consultation, biopsy and surgery in Buffalo and OHIP has refused to reimburse him because he failed to seek pre-approval for the expense, the claim notes.
