A Process

This did not have a happy ending. But the ending is another thing all together.

I do have a fair bit of experience with the Ontario health care system as I had a close family member who was ill off and on for over 35 years (the one I am talking about here). She was in very poor health the last few years of her life. Also, I worked in a non-medical role in 2 different, large hospitals – one in 1999, and another in 2001-2.

In July 2008, I was thrust, along with other family members, into the position of being in a hospital to provide support for major surgery to a close family member. On the day of the surgery we first sat in a pre-check in waiting area still with the patient herself. After check-in, we went to wait for her in the "waiting to be prepped, but has already been admitted" waiting room. Again the patient was still sitting with us. Then, she was called to be prepped. When she had been prepped for surgery, we remained in waiting room #2. Then, we were told she was prepped and we went to waiting room #3, in the "prepped, but not yet in surgery" waiting room. Here you could go two loved-ones at a time to see her in the prep room while she was waiting to be wheeled into the OR. Then, when she was off to the OR we were sent to another floor completely. We remained there in the "while the operation is in progress" waiting room.

One miss-step had occurred – she had gone for full blood work at a clinic the day before. Those results had been sent like lost luggage into limbo. It's as if the tests had never taken place. So, if the stress of surgery wasn't enough, they did an entire new set of blood tests on the cusp of he surgery. That could have gone better.

Waiting in the surgical room: Well, this was like enduring a missed or delayed flight connection at an airport, but with the added bonus of having a close family member having a serious operation! We had to push to get the first update. Finally a nurse or surgeon came to tell us there had been a delay as they had to fine tune the machines that collectively go "ping" to be in working order for the surgery. We were treated very well as this person left the OR to talk to us and that was helpful. When it was completed the head surgeon talked to us and filled us in, and stayed until all of our questions were answered. We were very, very well treated and informed.

It was a very structured process – not simply for the patient, but also for the loved-ones. I did simply not expect that kind of rigid structure. It seemed to be well thought out and probably well evolved since the bleeding with leeches era.

If you watch Grey's or House, let's say that what goes on as portrayed on television is done so for dramatic purposes. Reality is very different from drama. Since I have a B.A. in English, hopefully this is not something I only recently discovered. I also side with Alfred Hitchcock that drama is real life with all the boring parts cut out. On TV, the waiting room seems to be near the emergency entrance, right out in the open. I suspect this helps segue to plot B where the car crash or shooting accident victims come blasting through the doors and words like "Stat" and "GSW" are yelled out. We were far from any madding crowds on the 3^rd floor, nowhere near any main door. If I may use the term, we were in a place that seemed sterile.

I watched Michael Michael Moore's "Sicko" and while one must obviously take into consideration "Moore's Law", that he is going to wildly twist his thesis to suit his conclusion, I get the impression that in The United States, underwriters determine the course of a patient's treatment in many, many cases. I did not get that impression from my experience – that the hospital administration was on the phone to OHIP to approve treatment. I got the impression that the medical people made the medical decisions. Billing comes later. Our way is better. Period.