This article is dated, but some things can’t wait.
“In Canada’s public-health system, which promises free, equal-access care to all citizens, medical resources are explicitly rationed. For the country as a whole, that works — Canada spends far less on health care, yet the health outcomes of its citizens are generally as good as those in the U.S.
But the trade-offs are steep: Canadian hospitals are slower to adopt the latest technology, meaning patients have more limited access to cutting-edge medical equipment. There are fewer specialists for patients to see.
The riskiest trade-off of all is troublingly long waits. Once patients see a family doctor and get a referral for specialist care, it can take weeks or even months to get an appointment. In some parts of the country, patients waiting for admission to a hospital sometimes find themselves waiting for hours and even days on gurneys in the corridor, and receiving treatment there.
Waiting is the giant flaw in many national health-care plans. A study this year by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development found waiting times for elective surgery are a “significant health-policy concern” in about half of the group’s 30 members, including the United Kingdom, Australia, Sweden, Canada, Italy, Denmark and Spain. Waiting times weren’t a problem in the U.S., the group said.
In Canada, the long waits stirred a public outcry and a government inquiry when a 63-year-old heart patient at St. Michael’s died in 1989 after his surgery had been canceled 11 times. While the inquiry concluded the death wasn’t caused by the delays, it highlighted the long waiting lists and called for better management of patients in the line.”
