Okay, I'm not sure if I can do this, but, I'm gonna try. I'm sure no one can help here, other than moral support, plus, letting me get something off my chest.
Here goes. My wife has MS, which is no fun. A year and a half ago, she started having seizures, which were not controlled by regular seizure medications. She's been in a big city hospital for two weeks, last year to get all the usual tests done and get the seizures under control. Everything came back normal. Did one more extra test, result was..... that my wife does't need a neurologist, she needs a physciatrist, ( she does, but that's because she's married to me :) ). Neurologist signs off on my wife's case. Since then, seizures are increasing in frequency. Family Doctor, who is a very good man, is now in charge of my wife's care. He tries to get a %%^^ physciatrist, but, we're still waiting. We've been in and out of our local hospital several times, they know us by name, and a couple of the Doctors are sure my wife has a type of seizure that is very difficult to find, but, there are only two Doctors in Ontario who treat them and one is retiring and the other is too busy. Meanwhile, my wife is basically bedridden in serious pain, and fear, not knowing when the next seizure will happen.
Whatever happened to Doctors who want to heal people, all people, and not just the easy , here, take a pill fix?
Thanks.
as sad as it is...but a lot of doctors or all kinds of medical people move to states.....there are salarys are better down there....
All the best to your wife
All the best to your wife first of all...
In answer to your rant? It's all about the money, the more specialized you are, the more earnings you can make anywhere else but Ontario because of the caps that OHIP puts on billings to try and keep costs under control.
Doctors like it or not, go where the money is... Same analogy why dealerships don't necessarily have "specialists" on staff at all times to deal with specific things, like transmission repairs (Or why they even farm that work out to other places nowadays) because the quick & dirty repairs make them the most $ as opposed to having specialists sitting waiting for those tough cases like a blown tranny...
What's the answer? Take the cap off what specialists can make and you may as well kiss another 10% of your pay goodbye to the taxes to pay for it...
NefCanuck
Sorry to hear about your wife :( I hope that something can be found out soon to make her all better!
Are you able to come down here to see a doctor? Does your healthcare cover out-of-country things? Can you go to Quebec or something for any treatment, or does your health insurance only cover Ontario?
I hate how the medical profession doesn't give a rat's ass about anyone but themselves. I think that whole Hippocratic Oath thing garbage anymore.
NefCanuck,May 16 2007, 11:49 AM Wrote:All the best to your wife first of all...
In answer to your rant? It's all about the money, the more specialized you are, the more earnings you can make anywhere else but Ontario because of the caps that OHIP puts on billings to try and keep costs under control.
Doctors like it or not, go where the money is... Same analogy why dealerships don't necessarily have "specialists" on staff at all times to deal with specific things, like transmission repairs (Or why they even farm that work out to other places nowadays) because the quick & dirty repairs make them the most $ as opposed to having specialists sitting waiting for those tough cases like a blown tranny...
What's the answer? Take the cap off what specialists can make and you may as well kiss another 10% of your pay goodbye to the taxes to pay for it...
NefCanuck
[right][snapback]238653[/snapback][/right]
I've had cars that needed a specialist, or extra time to fix it, I've never had a mechanic say "I can't figure it out, go somewhere else, I don't have time or interest." and, they don't charge extra, they wanted to figure it out. Sorry don't want to compare my wife to a car, but....
torradan,May 16 2007, 12:08 PM Wrote:Sorry to hear about your wife :( I hope that something can be found out soon to make her all better!
Are you able to come down here to see a doctor? Does your healthcare cover out-of-country things? Can you go to Quebec or something for any treatment, or does your health insurance only cover Ontario?
I hate how the medical profession doesn't give a rat's ass about anyone but themselves. I think that whole Hippocratic Oath thing garbage anymore.
[right][snapback]238656[/snapback][/right]
I think we can get out of province care, but, you gotta jump through %^%^ hoops. Next visit to our Doctor, that will be on the agenda. Our Doctor said that if we were in the States, my wife would be treated by now, if we could afford it.
Quick and dirty response is that there just aren't enough doctors right now, especially specialists. I know, it sucks... I've been through it many times over. When they found the third tumour in my knee a few months ago, it was like pulling teeth to get in and get a firm diagnosis.
The only thing you can do is keep being a pain in their backside. Don't let them tell you no.... don't let them call the shots. It's your wife's body, not theirs.... keep it up until somebody listens to you.
Good luck with everything. :)
torradan,May 16 2007, 11:08 AM Wrote:I hate how the medical profession doesn't give a rat's ass about anyone but themselves. I think that whole Hippocratic Oath thing garbage anymore.
[right][snapback]238656[/snapback][/right]
Unfortunately, there are some of us that do care. we just get weeded out of the 18000 Ontario med-school applications, and never get the chance, so we give up
Terrible to hear about your situation. My father in law is a medical specialist and he was schooled in Spain, residency in US and has worked in Canada for 20 years. He left ON for AB, returned to ON because it was better than AB's messed up system. He has no tolerance for all the political stuff that ruins the effiecency and quality of healthcare and drags down the system.
I'm very sorry to hear that your wife is having to go though this. Last spring I started having blackouts which were eventually diagnosed as seizures. They decreased in frequency over the latter half of the year but returned in January. The first time you are in mid sentence talking to someone and the next thing on the floor out cold and shaking is a truly scary thing... for the other person. I've had the CT's, EKG's, EEG's, Halter's, etc etc but nothing picks them up shows or showed anything more than that I have a very low resting heart rate. I'm now on my second anti seizure medication the first one left me pretty much a vegetable and bed ridden the 2nd leaves me feeling drunk most of the time but at least I can work. I can completely understand your frustration. Mine are obviously far milder than your wifes but my neurologist has yet to refer me to anyone else, rather deciding to rely on the drugs.
I know that there is a federal or provincial group that deals with advising people on seizures so maybe they can help refer you to someone.
Best of luck... I'm sorry that's all I can offer.