Recently, a man died in a local hospital waiting room after sitting there unattended for 34 hours. All he needed was to have his catheter changed, and get some antibiotics into his system. He was in plain site in the waiting room, having somehow bypassed the usual triage procedures - and sat there dead long enough for rigor mortis to set in.
I cannot express my outrage in words strong enough. His invisibility to the staff of the health care facility appears to be due to a variety of incidental factors -his being aboriginal, his being "of the street" in looks, his being in a wheelchair as a double amputee, his having a speech impediment that inhibited his communication, his passivity (no doubt a product of years of being in one gov't system or another as a disadvantaged and vulnerable person). He was there for HOURS, unattended, unmonitored, uncared for. The ticking of the clock and the beating of his heart were not in time.
Hospitals need a "patient advocate" that literally lives in the emergency ward, and helps the health care workers manage the expectations of those who are sitting for ridiculously long amounts of time to receive urgent or emergency medical care. We need to put the URGE back in URGENT. AND if there were more general practitioners available to take new patients, we wouldn't have people using the emergency wards as a 24 hour walk in clinic - because they need medical attention.
He had a name. Brian Sinclair was a vulnerable person and the system that my tax dollars pays for failed him. Completely. No one will be held accountable, no one will be punished. There will be much hand wringing, much regret, some apologies, something restorative, and likely a Health Care policy called "Sinclair's Law" that ensures that people sitting in a hospital waiting room must be accounted for in addition to any supposed registration at the Triage Desk. And it will happen again and again because we as a nation of compassionate citizens have lost our way. And we are wandering blind without a compass, a map, and our vision of the North Star. I am ashamed.
In sharp contrast - I had to take my cat to the vet. He had a sore on his paw, aggrivated by his licking at it because it is sore. The vet examined him, sedated him, did a needle biopsy, aspirated the inflammation, did a paw smear, did a slide of the matter taken from the biopsy, gave him antibiotics and a steroid shot - and presented a full range of diagnosis possibilities from "a simple allergy" to "contact dermatitis feline style" to "cyst" etc... depending on how the cat responds to the medication given.
I was asked to call the office with an update on Monday, and then two weeks later, if things were healing up well. I got my cat back, slightly doped up, and paid my bill, and left feeling that he had been well cared for, that I had been given a wealth of information and options, and that there was genuine concern for both my well-being and the health of my cat.
I am so fortunate that I have a great general practitioner for my personal health care - and I am active in advocating for a better medical system. I believe in two tiers of medical care. It is the only way to take the strain off the system. Here is what I propose:
- graduates of Canadian medical institutions have to do 3 years as a GP in a major metropolitan area, or 2 years in a rural/remote setting. They get significant tax breaks on their student loans for this period of public service.
- A fee guide be set for standard medical practices, similar to the dental fee guides that exist in that industry.
- up to 40% of any GP or specialist's practice can be for paying clients under the fee guide. These paying patients get no special status or privileges other than access to those 40% app't slots on the daily calendar.
- Support technology (radiation, ultrasound, mri, etc) are run 24 hours a day, and these technicians are fairly compensated for taking the midnight shift. Same for diagnostic labs, etc... medicine becomes a full time business in public service.
- Diagnostic services can be purchased by any client willing to pay the full rate, but those privately paid appointments are scheduled during that later shift, so public health patients get their tests done first. The paying patients are paying for the extra time/costs of running the overnight shifts, essentially. If there are no paying patients, then public health needs fill up those slots.
Does any of this need to be complicated? Sure, there would be push-back, but for the sake of people like Brian Sinclair, can we please fix the problems in the medical system to protect those people who need medical attention and can't speak for themselves. Money has to start changing hands. But those who can pay don't get priority sequencing, daylight hours, or percale sheets.
My cat can't speak for himself either, but the system in the veterinary world supports a pay-for-services model that allows me to provide him with the best care I can afford (thanks to the miracle of credit cards). He's worth every penny. I'm worth more than my tax dollars are getting me when it comes to the medical system as it stands.
To the spirit of Brian Sinclair - as a citizen who paid for your neglect, I apologize. To the family of Brian Sinclair, as a citizen who has a voice to speak, I offer the hollow comfort of these words of outrage as a sympathy card - and I share your grief. To the medical staff who looked through a vulnerable person, and then didn't see the dead man that replaced him - you should be ashamed of yourself.
Incognito, Ergo Sum,
Jane Doe, Citizen.
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