On Thu, Feb 25, 2010 at 7:34 PM, Ken Waller <kwal...@peoplepc.com> wrote: > Glad to hear it was only a case of gravity ! > > The waits I'm hearing about with Canadian medicine are mostly about elective > surgery - knees, hips and things like that.\ > > BTW, as I sit here typing away, my pulse is 59 bpm.
59 is impressively low. You're right about the waits for elective surgery. They've been unreasonably long for some time now. I believe that they're getting better, but there's certainly more work that needs to be done. About 10 years ago we had a shortage of MRI technicians (not the machines, just the techs) so there was a waiting list for those as well. We Ontarians were sending cancer patients down to Buffalo on the Canadian taxpayers dime. In time we got our waiting time down to something more reasonable. I think that many even here in Canada are frustrated that they can't get faster service if they pay for it (like you can in the US). That would, in the minds of many (including me!) undermine the idea of universality that's now the bedrock of our system. If one can pay to get to the front of the line, then someone with less money will have to wait longer. Some may think this is fair, some (like me) don't. That being said, I've never been in the situation of needing surgery and having to wait. I'm honest enough to admit that my tune might change some if I could afford hip-replacement surgery but had to wait months or years to get my surgery. cheers, frank -- "Sharpness is a bourgeois concept." -Henri Cartier-Bresson -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
