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OPINION
Continued from page 20 ping in the streets for lack of healthcare. When friends meet for a
Molson, they talk about football (hockey), the stupidity of their
Case in point: my dear mother. In the 1980s she had a mild heart politicians, and the latest movie, just like us. Canadian medical
attack and was told she would need a stent (Canada was doing these schools are bursting at the seams with lengthy wait-lists. Childrens’
years before the FDA okayed them here). She was put on a list and medical issues and acute trauma are always dealt with immediately.
told she would be contacted by telephone when her time came. She
lived in a town in Northern Ontario, and only one hospital in that I think Elisabeth Kubler-Ross provides the best explanation of
region could (was allowed to) perform the procedure. She was fur- this dichotomy with her five stages of grieving. Americans are still
ther told that if she didn’t answer the first and only phone call, they in the denial, bargaining and anger phases. Canadians (and Brits)
(the government-funded hospital) would move on to the next have evolved into lemming-like acceptance.
name. Needless to say, she was wedded to her telephone for nine
(count ‘em, 9) months (this was before cell phones). She eventually Obviously, Prince Philip won’t be waiting in line for his doctor’s
had her stent and helped make Canada’s survival stats look real appointment. But he is still a Brit and speaks the lingo. It brings to
good (the sicker people all died before their phones rang). And did mind the poor knight in Monty Python. With both arms lopped
my mother complain about her wait? Not a whimper. She was de- off at the shoulders and blood spurting like two garden hoses, he
lighted not to pay (directly, at least) one penny for her care. insists it’s “only a flesh wound.” That positive attitude will make
his six-month wait to see a surgeon just fly by.
LENGTHY WAIT-LISTS
Reminds me of the old couple out for a stroll, when they come Robert G. Johnson, MD, is an orthopaedic spine
surgeon with Neurosurgical Associates of San Antonio.
upon the end of a long queue. The woman shoves her husband into A frequent contributor to San Antonio Medicine, he
the line and says, “Save a place — I’ll go see what we’re waiting for.” has been a BCMS member since 1989.
Having said all this, let me explain that Canadians are not drop-
34 San Antonio Medicine • April 2015
