Posted on 11/27/2007 4:21:27 PM PST by SJackson
Heart attack patient delayed at U.S.-Canada border
Updated Sun. Nov. 18 2007 9:46 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20071118/border_security_071118/20071118?hub=TopStories
Canadian officials are calling for a review of border security after ambulance workers were delayed while transporting a heart attack patient to a Detroit hospital.
"It's another sad chapter of what's happening at the border," New Democrat MP Brian Masse told CTV News. "It's becoming a militarized zone." The incident happened last Monday, when 46-year-old Rick Laport needed emergency angioplasty -- a procedure that couldn't be performed at his Windsor, Ont., hospital.
Medical officials rushed Laport to the border, expecting to be waved through so they could take him to Detroit's Henry Ford medical facility.
Instead, U.S. customs asked the male driver to exit the vehicle and show his identification card. Another border official opened the back of the ambulance to confirm a patient was inside, and asked Laporte to verify his name.
"What happened on Monday is something that you don't expect to happen with the protocols in place," Windsor Mayor Eddie Francis told CTV News. The ambulance workers were only delayed by five minutes, but Laport's heart had already been re-started twice by paramedics. The patient's wife, Kat Lauzon, said he could have died.
"We need something done about this," said Laport's wife, Kat Lauzon. "This needs to be changed. Not one person should die because of that type of miscommunication, or whatever you want to call it."
Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day expressed concern about the delay in a letter to his U.S. counterpart, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. "Canada and the U.S. have a long-standing tradition of helping one another in times of emergency," he wrote. "I am quite concerned about this incident." Day asked Chertoff that border procedures be reviewed.
Just last week, Quebec firefighters responding to a call for help from their American counterparts were also delayed at the border.
For nearly 40 years, members of the Lacolle Fire Department have pooled their resources with firefighters in Rouses Point, a town a few minutes south of the border in New York.
Last Sunday, Lacolle firefighters hoped to help extinguish a blaze at the Anchorage Inn, a well-known landmark in Rouses Point.
Because they were dressed in their gear, most of the firefighters didn't have any form of identification. As a result, they were delayed about 10 minutes at the border before they could reach their destination.
With a report by CTV's Joel Bowey in Kitchener, Ont.
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Well, not exactly middle east, but a middle east source.
Where ambulances carry things other than patients.
But the patient could have died, and this isn't the middle east after all.
An interesting story about borders, something to think about.
If the were driving all the way to detroit it wasn’t an emergency.
Dept. of Homeland Security at its finest. What a bunch of jerks, and my wife wanted me to work for them.
Not a chance with those idiots who are running DHS. They think like little children, and stupid ones at that.
Real question: Why did he have to come here> Why couldn’t they do it in the Canadian hospital?
That’s what socialized medicine does to you.
Winsor’s a big city. I can’t believe they can’t perform an angioplasty there. But on the other hand, it is Canada. Even if they could perform it, it would take a year to get emergency surgery.
It's also an interesting story about "single-payer healthcare", thought by some to be so wonderful.
They probably could, in October, 2008. Hillarycare, coming to a theatre near you.
Any questions? Anyone supporting nationalized healthcare not understand this?
Well it is a sad chapter, but it's not in the book this character thinks it is.
When this sort of crap has become commonplace, the terrorists have already won.
Where are we going to go if we end up with Hillarycare, Romneycare, or Huckabeecare?
WE want Hillary Care so We can be as good as the Canadians!
Hillary hasn’t even managed a local Burger King, but lets trust her with Our Health and Wellbeing! Please Lord, Save Us from this Mad, Unqualified candidate for the Presidency of Our Country!
oops,ontario,not quebec
Huh?
A Canadian can’t get across our border fast enough to get to our hospitals... and it’s our fault? Amazing...
If (when?) we get Canadian-style socialist healthcare in this country, American ambulances will probably be driving to Tijuana for their angioplasty.
Next time try crossing in from Mexico. There will be no delay there.
Careless: Embrace it...
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