Birdy Posted February 20, 2006 Report Share Posted February 20, 2006 so about a year ago i called to make an appointment to see my doctor as it was already long overdue that i see her. turns out she's booking appointments for the following march, which is this march of 2006. at the time, i was shocked, but patient and thought oh well, the system is fucked so i'll have to wait my turn.well a few minutes ago i thought i would call just to confirm my appointment which i have been waiting so long to have and was told that unfortunately my doctor is going on vacation and will be unable to help me.FFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK.i'm on a waitlist now for the next available cancellation.i think i'm going to lose it. i hate not being able to see a doctor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deeps Posted February 20, 2006 Report Share Posted February 20, 2006 Shite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d_rawk Posted February 20, 2006 Report Share Posted February 20, 2006 I'm surprised, SM. When I was in Waterloo, the waiting list for a general practitioner was about 2 years.Small consolation, Birdy: Canada is often used for its unique example of having experienced doctors strikes. And the mortality rate falls sharply during doctors' strikes.But really, that sucks. Take to the streets! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Birdy Posted February 20, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2006 that's my plan d_rawk! i've already started to compose by letter to the editor , but will probably never send it as we're too much of a small town. there is a clinic in town sugarmegs but it's always soo backed up you literally have to take the bloody day off to get in. ahh well.. i've calmed down a bit now and the plan is to keep calling and calling and calling until they realize that giving me an appointment is the only way to shut me up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorgnor Posted February 20, 2006 Report Share Posted February 20, 2006 I grew up in K-W and haven't seen a doctor outside of private clinics in 10 years because my GP died and left his practice including my family of over 30 people to... NO ONE! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d_rawk Posted February 20, 2006 Report Share Posted February 20, 2006 Yeah, I'm guessing that SugarMegs grew up in the region so had access to her family doctor by virtue of having grown up with him. Please clarify if I'm mistaken, SM. Private clinics were definately the only option when I was in the area. A group of us (MaxWebster, etc..) moved there en masse circa ~2000 from Toronto, and I'm not aware of anyone who successfully secured a physician. The one or two doctors who were "accepting patients" according to the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons either a) weren't actually, or didn't speak english. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d_rawk Posted February 20, 2006 Report Share Posted February 20, 2006 On a side note, I recently had a terrible experience with jurisdictional issues that was very problematic.Hmm. I don't want to encourage you to post personal details that you might end up uncomfortable with, but if you could explain what you mean either here or via PM, I'd really appreciate it. Sensitive area, I know ... I'm still kicking myself (as I always do) about posting personal stuff on the board recently. If it needs to be vague or cryptic, I understand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmoothedShredder Posted February 21, 2006 Report Share Posted February 21, 2006 Would Homeopathic/Holistic medicine fit under the term "private health care."? The commercials are lame, but the therapy's are not. I've heard that the initial consultation at a Western Based private clinic, the ones that have been popping up around Ontario, is 3 hours. I would love to see this as a part of our national health care, but right now, you're lucky if a doctor has time to smile and look you in the eyes at a public clinic (unless of course you have problems with your eyes). What good is health care if it can't do a minimal maintenece job? This is how we are going to achieve a 'healthy aging population' and since 90% of each persons health care dollars are typcially spent in the last 10 years of a persons life, seems to me a healthy aging population will minimize the impact an individual will have on the health care system at the end of their life. If the state doesn't work to maintain a healthy population, we're just going to have, and currently have ticking time bombs walking aroud. I say this because I feel/think the health care has been in a state of crisis (Canadian style) for the last 20 years. Right now, the only option is to wait for the worst, and to take care of yourself the best you can, if you care or worry about what happens when you do have to rely on that 90% commitment you'll need from health care. I say this because the wait times are so long, and because of the frustration/lack of dialog an individual has with the current heath care system, they are likely only to go when something is seriously wrong... this can often be too late for somethings such as cancer, strokes, and heart disease, because it's then they have to play the horrible waiting game with waiting lists up to the year. I fear that we might get caught up in dealing with a band aid solution health care system, leading to horribly complicated, and limited lifestyles for our winter years. I don't want to say that the only way to solve this problem is to simply 'open private clinics', but I believe they could be a serious help to the struggling system... especially when some of the private clinics could be considered the holistic/homeopathic/reflexology kind... and if we can accomplish this NOW by making it part of pubic health care, then fine, but if it means giving tax breaks to these alternative clinics, weather based in Western Medicine, or something a little more traditional, or a little newer, then fine. Otherwise, the actual gap in health care, as it pertains to it's ability to minimize the pain in peoples lives will never be given a fair chance to work towards this goal. I'd just like to point out that much of our health care problems come from our population explosion, and the health care system has been frantically trying to keep up. In the short term, a network of private clinics would add to the overall network of health care available, and would instantly take some pressure off of the public health care system. In my mind this only accelerates the ability of the current helthcare system to catch up and get it's feet under it, especailly in this time of stable/declining population growth in Canada (a good counter argument is that if this is true, it may just be a matter of time and staying the course and it'll be able to do fix itself on its own... and I might consider it a possibility, but I have read any glowing reviews of the health care system recently) I heard the other day about the idea of giving people bills when they visit public facilities, not so they have to pay, but so they understand just how much money it actually costs.... it's absolutly astonishing how much care actually costs, a week in hospital due to a serious sugury can cost $25,000-$50,000. But I really don't know what to do about health care, but I hope something happens for the better soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Birdy Posted February 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2006 my conversation with the nurse acting as receptionist the other day went something like this...nurse/receptionist: "well, if you have something wrong with you, then we can certainly see what we can do to get you in sooner".me: "isn't that nice! let's just hope i don't have anything wrong with me".brutal. i'm sick of consulting online doctors, punching a bunch of symptoms into something that resembles google and viewing the multitude of things that could be wrong. makes for an awful night of tossing and turning in my bed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmoothedShredder Posted February 21, 2006 Report Share Posted February 21, 2006 Yeah, that's pretty much the gidst of it... dealing with this health care system can make you sick. That's why I like the holistic approach... it's about dealing with more abstract root causes of symptoms, and not just the symptoms themselves. The current health care system really only has time for the symptoms, and cronic care... and if they have to be symptoms, THEY BETTER BE SERIOUS! As far as your worrying so much that it keeps you up at night... Buddha would have a word for that: Demons.... and since he's the 2006 Boss I'd listen to what he's got to say! Demons are to be lauged at! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d_rawk Posted February 21, 2006 Report Share Posted February 21, 2006 Would Homeopathic/Holistic medicine fit under the term "private health care."?No, not exactly. They are classified as complementary/alternative medicine, whereas private medicine is generally understood as private services that offer the same type of allopathic care as the public system. But getting these things rolled into the public system would be a definate boon. And probably deliver a tremendous amount of savings.It is akin to banging your head against the wall, though. Someone close to me is a former head nurse and presently sits on the board of the MS society. She was fighting this particular fight for quite awhile, but burnt out on it, ultimately. The vested interests need to be shut out or castrated before opportunities for genuine reform or progress are attainable.Or, we demand it through unflinching vigilant violent protest. But that has its drawbacks, too ....This is one of my discomforts with the NDPs healthcare position -- that while they are staunchly in support of the public system, they miss some opportunities for productive criticism that might lend itself to genuine reform. Which is why I think the idea of a national pharmaceutical program makes sense fiscally and has its heart in the right place, but might ultimately end up feeding a greater evil. At least until it can be reigned in, and medical education begins to follow some sort of rational criteria not so heavily influenced by drug pushers. I've been to endocrinologists (a specialization peculiarly prone to attracting the medical hacks, incidentally -- any sacrosanct opinion they throw at you, ask them to pull that heavy volume of Williams Endocrinology off the shelf behind them and look it up. They will blush heavily.) whose desks have actually been converted into billboards for the drug of the month. No joke. Big giant ads upon which they shuffle their papers day in and out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d_rawk Posted February 21, 2006 Report Share Posted February 21, 2006 I don't want to say that the only way to solve this problem is to simply 'open private clinics', but I believe they could be a serious help to the struggling system... especially when some of the private clinics could be considered the holistic/homeopathic/reflexology kind... and if we can accomplish this NOW by making it part of pubic health care, then fine, but if it means giving tax breaks to these alternative clinics, weather based in Western Medicine, or something a little more traditional, or a little newer, then fine.This part I'm confused about. Those clinics already exist, and you can go out any time and pay for the services. Making the good ones part of the public system, I'm all for. But there is no change required for the 'private ones' ... they are abundant already and not a violation of anything. Even your run of the mill physician is already 'private', which is some of the confusion in the debate. By 'private' people/policy is generally referring to 'for-profit' services that offer identical services to those insured by public health insurance. Public health insurance (OHIP, etc..) doesn't cover these other services, so there is no resistance to their proliferation. They certainly don't need taxbreaks, most make a decent enough dollar, especially by selling directly the very supplements and such they recommend you. If we could divorce the recommendation and the selling to eliminate potential conflicts of interest, and ensure that the taxbreaks were passed along to the patient/client, then I could see an argument for taxbreaks .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmoothedShredder Posted February 21, 2006 Report Share Posted February 21, 2006 I'm reading right now... but just a quick comment... there's a lot of 'p's' in there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d_rawk Posted February 21, 2006 Report Share Posted February 21, 2006 2 posts in a row, not sure which one you mean. But yeah, probably. I'm a sucker for alliteration :laugh:Ah, yes. I see what you mean. Kinda distracting, isn't it? ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmoothedShredder Posted February 21, 2006 Report Share Posted February 21, 2006 (edited) Yes... banging my head against the wall trying to get my head around this issue. Which I know I shouldn't do, cause it'll lead to ill health... If Private health care is making enough money then why isn't everyone healthy?Yeah, it's too bad we have eliminate conflicts of interest in light of every doctor having to take the hypocratic oath. Edited February 21, 2006 by Guest I meant the second post d_rawk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d_rawk Posted February 21, 2006 Report Share Posted February 21, 2006 (edited) Depends. Are you still talking 'private' as in holistic/alternative/naturopath/reflexology/etc.. or 'private' as in allopathic physicians who have opted out of the public health insurance system, or 'private' as in those facilities that construct themselves with public money and turn it around to charge out of pocket to queue-jumpers? Edited February 21, 2006 by Guest added an extra private, for good measure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmoothedShredder Posted February 21, 2006 Report Share Posted February 21, 2006 I don't know anymore... The logic has fallen apart between these posts. Sorry...Hmmm... how about changing gears...What would your ideal health care system look like?, without having to even worrying about the current mess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d_rawk Posted February 21, 2006 Report Share Posted February 21, 2006 It's a really good question, but not one I'd want to answer off the cuff ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmoothedShredder Posted February 22, 2006 Report Share Posted February 22, 2006 Let me take a stab at it:My Ideal Health Care Would Be:A system which allowed for strong health, and lack of discomfort/suffering for all citizens.I realize it would probably take less time to fill up the Grand Canyon with a shovel, but I think it's a good point on the horizon to point the morals and justifications. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Birdy Posted March 29, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2006 YAY! I HAVE A DOCTOR'S APPOINTMENT! HALLELUJAH! :) bout time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ollie Posted March 29, 2006 Report Share Posted March 29, 2006 See? You have to make the system work for you! Congrats! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Birdy Posted March 29, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2006 hehee.. thanks ollie! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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