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I waited 8 months to see a Neurologist in Toronto for a slipped disk in my neck (he was in disbelief and shocked). By the time he saw me, it had healed on it's

I waited 8 months to see a Neurologist in Toronto for a slipped disk in my neck (he was in disbelief and shocked). By the time he saw me, it had healed on it's own. If you are dying the Canadian medical system is great (most of the time). If you suffer from things like back pain, injuries, condition, etc, it will be a long and arduous journey before you get the attention or treatment you need. I have many more stories, (family member being sent home with an Abdominal aortic aneurysm on the verge of happening (Friday) because the Surgeon didn't have time to perform the surgery until Monday. Guess what happened on Sunday? Guess what else happened a couple of days later? Wife almost died because she had to wait a month for a specialist. She just couldn't get anyone to take her seriously. Finally got the treatment in an Emergency room (she went septic). I live in the USA now and have the best medical care in the world for my family.

JohnFen 7y ago
> I waited 8 months to see a Neurologist in Toronto for a slipped disk in my neck In my part of the US, that is about the normal wait for that sort of surgery as well. Unless, of course, you're a millionaire.
ceejayoz 7y ago
All this happens in the USA, too. https://vtdigger.org/2019/06/19/patients-face-frustrating-long-waits-to-see-hospital-specialists/ https://vtdigger.org/2019/06/19/patients-face-frustrating-lo... > At the beginning of the year, the wait to see a cardiologist at three of Vermont’s rural hospitals was more than 100 days, according to data from state regulators. > At Southwestern Vermont Medical Center in Bennington, hospital officials reported patients would need to wait nearly 200 days to see a dermatologist. > As of March, some of the hospital’s specialists, including cardiologists, ear nose and throat doctors, gastroenterologists and psychiatrists could only see between 20% and 30% of patients requesting appointments within 10 days.
endorphone 7y ago
Canada's system is deeply imperfect (it falls short of France in most measures), and arguably underfunded, however such a finite limitation in resources is a reality in every country and every system. Such anecdotes about a condition being misdiagnosed exist everywhere. The US is certainly not immune from this reality.
- hourislate 7y ago
  I could see a specialist in less than a few days in DFW or immediately if necessary.
  - ceejayoz 7y ago
    Dallas is an outlier. https://www.keranews.org/post/shortest-wait-time-see-doctor-dallas https://www.keranews.org/post/shortest-wait-time-see-doctor-...
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
enraged_camel 7y ago
>>By the time he saw me, it had healed on it's own. In other words, you didn't actually need surgery. The system worked as intended.
- hourislate 7y ago
  I was in such incredible pain for so long that I finally realized why people kill themselves. I had asked my wife to cut my arm off with an axe at one point.
- code_duck 7y ago
  No, he needed surgery to avoid being in excruciating pain and incapacitated for months. If you look at it in terms of economic productivity, the inability of the doctors to schedule this properly was taking some useful out of the workforce and jeopardizing their continued employment and financial stability.
vkou 7y ago
> I waited 8 months to see a Neurologist in Toronto for a slipped disk in my neck (he was in disbelief and shocked). By the time he saw me, it had healed on it's own. There are plenty of multi-month waitlists in the US for common medical procedure. My wife sees a sleep doctor. Our insurance is fantastic. He has a nice, expensive office in an upscale regional medical center. I don't know which car in the parking lot is his, but there's a lot of nice cars in that parking lot. It is a ----ing nightmare. Multi-month waiting lists to first see him. Month-long waits for scheduling anything. Three-month wait to schedule a minor surgery. [1] He screws up her prescription changes, the pharmacy won't dispense because he didn't tick some box on a form, and he goes on holiday for a few weeks. His on-calls aren't able to fix the problem, because, well, they aren't on-call for his sleep practice. Guess who can't get her prescription? And for this privilege, we and my employer pay ~$20,000/year. I suppose we could fire his ass, and switch doctors, with no guarantee that the next one won't be any worse. [3] [1] Cherry on top - despite being fully covered for the procedure, and paying what they asked for at the time of the operation, the surgery center started calling us, demanding money. Guess who gets to untangle billing? [2] We do. Guess who, once the dust settled, turned out to have overcharged us, and eventually cut us a cheque? The surgery center. [2] Double-whammy - my wife dropped her old insurance two years ago, to switch to mine. Guess who started sending us bills last month? Her primary care provider, because at some point his office realized that she is no longer on her old insurance. Somehow, it's taken them two years to realize this. I'm assuming that the new provider has been paying them all this time, but who even knows at this point? [3] I must say, my best interaction with the US healthcare system so far has been at a walk-in clinic located in a crummy office with peeling wallpaper, patient examination rooms that doubled as storerooms, a broken water cooler, and a bathroom with a door that mostly closed, located above a laundromat in an, ah, common part of town. The staff consisted of the doctor, who was cycling through patients, and his assistant, who was translating to and from Spanish, juggling papers and photocopies, and doing vaccinations and blood draws. I was in, I had what I needed done, and I was out, with zero billing bullshit. I didn't see any Teslas in the parking lot, though.
FireBeyond 7y ago
I live in the US. I had a relatively minor injury (wrist) from a car accident. Nevertheless, it needed some interventions and I was advised to start PT right away. Was given a referral and a list of in-network providers (for a large insurer). In my (metropolitan) area, I could not find a provider with a less than 3-4 month waiting period within 30 miles. My step daughter wants counseling - 2 month wait. All three of my closest options for a PCP are "not accepting new patients". This isn't a problem of socialized medicine. I grew up in Australia, and I know that much.
code_duck 7y ago
I live in the US and had to wait months and months for endoscopy, and even a referral to a gastroenterologist who could order an upper endoscopy. I was losing weight rapidly and in moderate pain for 90% of every day. It had nothing to do with what insurance I had. The only way around that was to pay cash... Regular appointment, 6 weeks plus a month for the GI. Cash? Scheduled within a week.
bjourne 7y ago
Eight months is not years though.

JohnFen 7y ago

> I waited 8 months to see a Neurologist in Toronto for a slipped disk in my neck In my part of the US, that is about the normal wait for that sort of surgery as well. Unless, of course, you're a millionaire.

ceejayoz 7y ago

All this happens in the USA, too. https://vtdigger.org/2019/06/19/patients-face-frustrating-long-waits-to-see-hospital-specialists/ https://vtdigger.org/2019/06/19/patients-face-frustrating-lo... > At the beginning of the year, the wait to see a cardiologist at three of Vermont’s rural hospitals was more than 100 days, according to data from state regulators. > At Southwestern Vermont Medical Center in Bennington, hospital officials reported patients would need to wait nearly 200 days to see a dermatologist. > As of March, some of the hospital’s specialists, including cardiologists, ear nose and throat doctors, gastroenterologists and psychiatrists could only see between 20% and 30% of patients requesting appointments within 10 days.

endorphone 7y ago

Canada's system is deeply imperfect (it falls short of France in most measures), and arguably underfunded, however such a finite limitation in resources is a reality in every country and every system. Such anecdotes about a condition being misdiagnosed exist everywhere. The US is certainly not immune from this reality.

hourislate 7y ago
I could see a specialist in less than a few days in DFW or immediately if necessary.
- ceejayoz 7y ago
  Dallas is an outlier. https://www.keranews.org/post/shortest-wait-time-see-doctor-dallas https://www.keranews.org/post/shortest-wait-time-see-doctor-...
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]

enraged_camel 7y ago

>>By the time he saw me, it had healed on it's own. In other words, you didn't actually need surgery. The system worked as intended.

hourislate 7y ago
I was in such incredible pain for so long that I finally realized why people kill themselves. I had asked my wife to cut my arm off with an axe at one point.
code_duck 7y ago
No, he needed surgery to avoid being in excruciating pain and incapacitated for months. If you look at it in terms of economic productivity, the inability of the doctors to schedule this properly was taking some useful out of the workforce and jeopardizing their continued employment and financial stability.

vkou 7y ago

> I waited 8 months to see a Neurologist in Toronto for a slipped disk in my neck (he was in disbelief and shocked). By the time he saw me, it had healed on it's own. There are plenty of multi-month waitlists in the US for common medical procedure. My wife sees a sleep doctor. Our insurance is fantastic. He has a nice, expensive office in an upscale regional medical center. I don't know which car in the parking lot is his, but there's a lot of nice cars in that parking lot. It is a ----ing nightmare. Multi-month waiting lists to first see him. Month-long waits for scheduling anything. Three-month wait to schedule a minor surgery. [1] He screws up her prescription changes, the pharmacy won't dispense because he didn't tick some box on a form, and he goes on holiday for a few weeks. His on-calls aren't able to fix the problem, because, well, they aren't on-call for his sleep practice. Guess who can't get her prescription? And for this privilege, we and my employer pay ~$20,000/year. I suppose we could fire his ass, and switch doctors, with no guarantee that the next one won't be any worse. [3] [1] Cherry on top - despite being fully covered for the procedure, and paying what they asked for at the time of the operation, the surgery center started calling us, demanding money. Guess who gets to untangle billing? [2] We do. Guess who, once the dust settled, turned out to have overcharged us, and eventually cut us a cheque? The surgery center. [2] Double-whammy - my wife dropped her old insurance two years ago, to switch to mine. Guess who started sending us bills last month? Her primary care provider, because at some point his office realized that she is no longer on her old insurance. Somehow, it's taken them two years to realize this. I'm assuming that the new provider has been paying them all this time, but who even knows at this point? [3] I must say, my best interaction with the US healthcare system so far has been at a walk-in clinic located in a crummy office with peeling wallpaper, patient examination rooms that doubled as storerooms, a broken water cooler, and a bathroom with a door that mostly closed, located above a laundromat in an, ah, common part of town. The staff consisted of the doctor, who was cycling through patients, and his assistant, who was translating to and from Spanish, juggling papers and photocopies, and doing vaccinations and blood draws. I was in, I had what I needed done, and I was out, with zero billing bullshit. I didn't see any Teslas in the parking lot, though.

FireBeyond 7y ago

I live in the US. I had a relatively minor injury (wrist) from a car accident. Nevertheless, it needed some interventions and I was advised to start PT right away. Was given a referral and a list of in-network providers (for a large insurer). In my (metropolitan) area, I could not find a provider with a less than 3-4 month waiting period within 30 miles. My step daughter wants counseling - 2 month wait. All three of my closest options for a PCP are "not accepting new patients". This isn't a problem of socialized medicine. I grew up in Australia, and I know that much.

code_duck 7y ago

I live in the US and had to wait months and months for endoscopy, and even a referral to a gastroenterologist who could order an upper endoscopy. I was losing weight rapidly and in moderate pain for 90% of every day. It had nothing to do with what insurance I had. The only way around that was to pay cash... Regular appointment, 6 weeks plus a month for the GI. Cash? Scheduled within a week.

bjourne 7y ago

Eight months is not years though.