Medical Care in Canada, United States

I found your article on Canadian health care very interesting. At no time was the quality of medical care mentioned. In California, you may pay much more for a given procedure, but you also don’t have to wait several weeks, or sometimes months, to have it done! There is also not an “unspoken” cut-off age (around 72, I’m told) for coronary artery bypass surgery, or dialysis.

A very recent example of the inadequacies of the system is the chemotherapy treatment my mother is currently receiving in a Winnipeg hospital. She is told she must be there by 8:30 a.m. for blood work, along with seven or eight other patients, who then wait until 11 a.m., noon, or even 1 p.m. for the actual treatment to begin, because there is only one pharmacist allowed to prepare the chemicals to treat the patients, and often the formula is not delivered to the treatment room until 3 to 4 hours after their arrival. By then, these frequently elderly and often ill patients have been sitting around becoming more agitated and anxious by the minute.

That is not my opinion of quality care! Personally, having seen both my parents and parents of several friends go through the Canadian medical system over the past 25 years, I wouldn’t trade ours for theirs on a bet!

SANDRA KUSSIN

Northridge