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[Canada:] Woman dies after 11-hour wait to see a doctor in New Brunswick emergency room
Global News ^ | March 21, 2019 | Callum Smith and Alexander Quon

Posted on 03/21/2019 7:14:30 PM PDT by rickmichaels

Marianne Porter spent some of the final hours of her life hunched over and moaning in pain as she waited to be seen by an emergency room doctor at Moncton Hospital.

Porter waited for 11 hours before she was eventually seen.

It’s a period of time that Porter’s sister, Donna Bordage, believes contributed to her death only hours later.

Bordage says Porter went to the hospital on Saturday morning for what she believed was a hernia.

Porter’s vitals were normal, but she was left in the waiting room in severe pain, waiting for hours before she was finally seen.

Doctors worked on her sister overnight, but her kidneys eventually shut down and she died just after 9 a.m. on Sunday.

Porter was only 58. She had three children.

Although Dr. Serge Melanson couldn’t speak to the specific incident of Porter’s death, the president of the New Brunswick Medical Society said that at times, half of the ER beds in the Moncton Hospital are taken up by people who are admitted to the hospital but can’t be transferred to a unit or another ward due to overcrowding.

“As much as we may look at the data in terms of numbers, in terms of wait times and percentages of hours, for example, at the end of the day, it is our patients and the community at large that we are failing by not meeting their needs in a more timely fashion.”

Melanson says the Moncton Hospital’s ER isn’t meeting any of its wait time targets and it’s begun taking a toll on both patients and staff.

“As a practicing ER doctor, I have a lot of regret when I see a patient who’s waited eight hours to see me,” he said.

The problem of overcrowding is a challenge in New Brunswick, and something that doctors say needs to be fixed.

One of the suggestions is for more patients to look at other health care options online. It’s believed it could reduce wait times and deter non-emergency health issues from ending up at the ER, taking up valuable space for those who need it.

Bordage says she believes hospital officials did everything they could, but she believes that overcrowding was a contributing factor in her sister’s death.


TOPICS: Health/Medicine
KEYWORDS: canada; canadianhealthcare; healthcare
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To: rickmichaels

The wonders of socialized medicine.

What a way to clear out the gene pool, let the sick and weak die off.


61 posted on 03/22/2019 7:27:59 AM PDT by metmom ( ...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith...)
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To: Will88
As I read the article, I was wondering who was doing the overcrowding, Canadian citizens or recent arrivals. Don't think it ever said, naturally.

There's your answer.

62 posted on 03/22/2019 7:30:08 AM PDT by metmom ( ...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith...)
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To: rickmichaels

But — it’s FREE! Poor woman — prayers for her family.


63 posted on 03/22/2019 7:41:08 AM PDT by Polyxene (Out of the depths I have cried to Thee, O Lord; Lord, hear my voice.)
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To: sheana

Rural locations are one of those places where universal care creates an un-suppliable demand. Here in MA with Romneycare, the wait for an initial visit to a PCP has reached about 1 year. I would actually support sort of subsidized medical clinic that would act as a triage. Most of the time a PA or nurse practitioner can handle those cases. In fact 90% of ER cases ARE handled by PAs.

Of course in the city, the Urgent care locations have popped up all over the place. This is mostly due to the major health systems charging a lower co-pay for them vs the ER. In my case, it’s $40 vs $100.

There are reasonable solutions to the problems. But the availability of Medicare care has got to change. And patients need to understand the definition of emergency, and they have to understand there is a responsibility for undersatanding their chronic diseases and how they drive this process.


64 posted on 03/22/2019 8:22:07 AM PDT by Vermont Lt (If we get Medicare for all, will we have to show IDs for service? Why?)
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To: hanamizu

When Natasha Richardson hit her head on her ski trip, they never did a CT scan or MRI in Quebec. There are very few MRI machines in Quebec. They had the financial resources to evacuate her to an American hospital, with the proper diagnostic equipment. I think they waited 3 days to get her to NY. By then, it was too late. For perspective, I was told that there are only 3 MRI machines in the Toronto area. I doubt there are any more in the Montreal area.


65 posted on 03/22/2019 8:22:09 AM PDT by toothfairy86
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To: toothfairy86

I was told that there are only 3 MRI machines in the Toronto area. I doubt there are any more in the Montreal area.


There might be a half dozen in my town of 38,000—two hospitals.


66 posted on 03/22/2019 9:59:52 AM PDT by hanamizu
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To: rickmichaels

Socialism! YEAH!

Take a number, baby.


67 posted on 03/22/2019 10:02:26 AM PDT by RinaseaofDs
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To: sheana

Rural locations are one of those places where universal care creates an un-suppliable demand. Here in MA with Romneycare, the wait for an initial visit to a PCP has reached about 1 year. I would actually support sort of subsidized medical clinic that would act as a triage. Most of the time a PA or nurse practitioner can handle those cases. In fact 90% of ER cases ARE handled by PAs.

Of course in the city, the Urgent care locations have popped up all over the place. This is mostly due to the major health systems charging a lower co-pay for them vs the ER. In my case, it’s $40 vs $100.

There are reasonable solutions to the problems. But the availability of Medicare care has got to change. And patients need to understand the definition of emergency, and they have to understand there is a responsibility for undersatanding their chronic diseases and how they drive this process.


68 posted on 03/22/2019 5:17:43 PM PDT by Vermont Lt (If we get Medicare for all, will we have to show IDs for service? Why?)
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To: nutmeg

.


69 posted on 03/22/2019 9:16:19 PM PDT by nutmeg (democRATs: The party of Infanticide, Open Borders, Crime, High Taxes and "Free" Sh*t)
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