Our preschool-aged child contracted an intestinal viral infection, vomiting continuously for five days and unable to retain even water without vomiting. Last week there was some improvement in the morning, but by afternoon the vomiting resumed. Unfortunately, when we called our family doctor at 3 pm, the office was just closing. Weighing our odds of having to go to a walk-in clinic and wait for hours, knowing that any tests that may be necessary would have to wait until at least the next day, since no blood testing or other tests are done in clinics, one has to go to a lab (2+ hour wait and only open 9am-5pm at best). So, we decided to drive to a hospital emergency room. We waited 8.5 hours to be seen by the doctor only to be told to continue with small sips of PediaLite. All together, we were there form 9 pm until after 7 am, since the doctor wanted to monitor her fluid intake for a little while after we finally go to see him. All that time we were taking turns holding our sleeping, lethargic, child while sitting in a chair. It was exhausting.
This is by no means uncharacteristic of the system. Couple of years ago I went with my three year old to a children's hospital in Toronto. My child had a bad ear infection and was running 41oC+ fever. Naturally, I was concerned about her going into seizures, but to my total dismay I was told that "seizures are normal". Not only that, we waited more than 9 hours to be seen by a doctor. At that point the physician called his colleagues to see how bad the ear infection actually was. Still, we were sent home and given an appointment with a specialist two days later. By the time we came to see her, my child's infection has drained in the waiting room. I know that in Europe severe ear infections were usually drained by the physician. The theory was that an artificial, clean, cut was more likely to heal without a loss of hearing, than a rupture of the eardrum. The specialist we seen at the hospital had no idea that this procedure even existed, what more, we were told us that such procedure was impossible, as if we made this up.
There are a number of shocking things that one learns only when the need for emergency care arises. Not many years ago I was in the vicinity of a large central teaching hospital when I experienced an excruciating abdominal pain. Based on the location of the pain and knowing that I was less than two weeks pregnant, I strongly suspected an ectopic pregnancy. I barely made it the one block to the hospital. By the time I walked into the emergency entrance, I could barely walk and I was in so much pain, I could scarcely speak. I explained to the nurse that I was pregnant and that the symptoms are indicative of ectopic pregnancy. Due to the nature of the emergency, I was actually seen by a doctor within an hour of my arrival. I arrived before 4pm and was seen by 5pm. I was told by the doctor that the diagnosis is likely what I have suspected, but that it has to be confirmed by an ultrasound, at which point I can be given medication to terminate the pregnancy, sparing me surgery.
Unfortunately, the ultrasound service closes at 5pm in all the hospitals of the central Toronto teaching hospital network. I had to wait 8 hours for a man with a portable ultrasound to come by and perform the ultrasound!!!! (And it was quite an experience, as I had to guide the probe, because there were certain things the patient had to do herself. I was in so much pain, I was barely able to move, little less hold the ultrasound probe. That was an awful experience.) The entire 8 hours I was in incredible pain, on strong pain killers. But, worse was yet to come. Within 30 min of the completion of the ultrasound, the ectopic pregnancy burst and I began to go into shock. The last I remember was feeling cold, shaking, absolutely covered in cold sweat and collapsing to the ground as I was returning form the washroom. All I thought was that I didn't want my teenage daughter, who happened to be with me, watch me die. It is possible to die within minutes of blood loss in a case of ruptured ectopic pregnancy. Because by now it was very late at night, being past midnight, the surgical team had to be called in from their homes and it took at least another hour for the emergency surgery to be performed. I was kept two days in the hospital thereafter, due to blood loss. I cannot even imagine the costs for the nearly 10 hours of emergency room space, the surgery costs, all of which could have been avoided if there was one single ultrasound technician available within the central network of Toronto teaching hospitals. I could have ended up taking a pill, rather than risking my life and going through surgery. I hope that this summarizes the Canadian healthcare system for the reader. The current approach of dealing with this crisis is a massive spending on adds posted all over Toronto, featuring healthcare administrators and doctors of the Ontario Medical Association, telling us that our "Your Life is Our Life`s Work". Well, at least we know who to thank. I wish I could say that these were my only dismal experiences, but I could list a number of other instances, equally serious in nature.
