Posted on 01/02/2008 3:45:35 PM PST by CedarDave
A Surrey woman's holiday in California has turned into a healthcare nightmare. The 68-year old needed emergency surgery after her appendix burst, but now she can't come home due to a lack of hospital beds.
Arlene Meeks has been in a California hospital since December 17th. Her family has been trying to get her transferred back to the Lower Mainland for 2 weeks now but they haven't had any luck.
Stephen Harris with the South Fraser Health Region says the issue is a shortage of ventilated intensive care unit beds, which are highly specialized. He says over the holidays, it's not surprising to see those beds filled up.
Harris says as soon as a bed becomes available, Meeks will be transferred to a local hospital. Arlene's daughter Kim says her mom is 'frustrated as hell', and she just wants to come home.
NDP Health Critic Adrian Dix says the issue is one that's continued to plague the Lower Mainland and he's blaming Liberal government cuts to acute care beds. "The number of acute care beds in British Columbia was reduced by 1,300 in the first mandate of the government, and some of the new facilities being opened won't be adding to that number."
(Excerpt) Read more at news1130.com ...
Socialized medicine with a shortage of hospital beds! Who would’ve thunk it?
She's lucky she was in a foreign country though, because those beds would still be in short supply and they'd just let her die in the streets or something.
The whole thing sounds terrible but there are probably worse things than being trapped in California during the winter.
A key part missing out of this story was her smart purchase of travel insurance, else she’d be bankrupt by now, if not dead.
She should be thankful. She’ll receive much better care here.
Canada: An apartment over a really great party.
Good move; I’ve purchased it myself when on a long trip in the event of a tour cancelation.
I wonder about her length of stay — she has been in the hospital for over two weeks and maybe still in intensive care. Complications (she is 68)?
Canuck ping
Arlene Meeks, 68, was holidaying in Indio, Calif., with her husband Wilf, 77, when she fell ill. At first she thought it was a flu bug, but after two visits to hospital for antibiotics and X-rays, she was told her appendix had ruptured.
That wasn’t all. The problem had been left for so long that her gallbladder became infected and gangrenous, and had to be removed, her daughter Kim Meeks said.
Since her surgery at Indio, near Palm Springs, on Dec. 17, she has been hooked up to ventilators, intravenous lines and a catheter.
— So, yes, complications.
A ruptured appendix can be a deadly thing. All the infection from the appendix is spread throughout the abdominal cavity.
Then she should stay where she is.
At least she has good medical care in the US using private medical facilities. Now if she had been in Canada she probably would have had to wait for a room or funding or both.
Getting sick at the end of the fiscal year is very bad timing in Canada. When the government spends their annual budget for healthcare they just stop spending until the next fiscal year starts. That means unless you are going to die before then, you have to wait until next year for anything major.
Welcome to 40% income taxes and crappy health care!!!!
Why sould she need to be in a hospital for two weeks?
Canada’s medical care is “free”, and worth every penny of it.
Good heavens - this is a little more than an appendectomy. Thank you for the details. She’s lucky to be alive. BTT.
National health care is rubbish to thinking people. To Democrats, it’s the greatest.
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