“Waiting years to be told to go private? It revolts me!”: this patient denounces the insane delays to the public

2023-07-06 22:31:52

A Shawinigan woman who has been waiting for arm surgery for almost five years is outraged at having been offered twice by orthopedists to pay to go private faster.

• Read also: No less than 150 doctors went from public to private last year

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“It’s not nearly discouraging! And it’s frustrating to go into a doctor’s office and be told: “If you come to the private sector, in two weeks you will be operated on”, deplores Sylvie Hébert.

Injured in the right arm in August 2018, while working as an attendant at the Shawinigan hospital, the 59-year-old woman has been waiting for surgery since then. Sports, work, travel: his whole life is on hold.

“I no longer have a quality of life, admits the woman. Five years is unacceptable.

Listen to Rémi Villemure’s interview with Sylvie Hébert, resident of Shawinigan awaiting shoulder surgery via QUB radio :

Faster in private

Shortly following the pandemic, she learned that the Lévis orthopedist (the second she consulted) who was to operate on her had finally turned her back on the public network. On the phone, the secretary therefore offered to go private.

“I worked for 20 years in the healthcare field. To have a respectful deadline, are you suggesting that I go and have my surgery done privately? No!” summarizes the patient, who estimates the cost of her surgery at $12,000.

PHOTO QMI AGENCY, JEAN-SIMON HUBERT

Transferred to Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital, she was told by her new orthopedist in June 2022 that she would return to the bottom of the waiting list, since she had changed doctors. In the public, the wait was at least a year, but he suggested that she go private to pass faster.

A proposal that further enraged the woman from Shawinigan.

“If I want to go private, I know there are clinics, I’ll go there! But wait years [dans le public], to be told to go private? It revolts me!” she said. Has the health system come to this? Private orthopedists have become so independent that they have no awareness of the patient. Me, I was just a number! »

Listen to Rémi Villemure’s interview with Gaétan Barrette, former Minister of Health and columnist at La Joute at LCN via QUB radio :

Disappointed with the system

“He doesn’t look at you, except when he tells you he’s doing private business!” she adds.

Since she was injured at work, Ms. Hébert is insured by the Commission for Standards, Equity, Health and Safety at Work (CNESST). She inquired on this side to obtain care paid for privately, but they refused her.

Faced with this observation, she hopes to be called as soon as possible to be able to return to work. Normally, she was to retire in the fall.

“I am quite disappointed with my health system”, admits the one who evaluates the possible legal remedies.

“I still think that’s going to be the call,” she admits. There is no help in the system.”

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