From the Ottowa Citizen:
Heading to Emergency room? Bring lunch, maybe a pillow, too
Patients in Ottawa and surrounding areas can expect to spend about 7.4 hours in the emergency department, according to a new report on emergency wait times in Ontario from the Canadian Institute for Health Information.
We joke about wait times here in the States, but this is indicative, and an indictment, of what a socialized / universal / single-payer (the gov’t) system would look like here. And this isn’t the worst of it!
That puts the Champlain Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) in the middle of the pack compared to other regions in the province.
But the Champlain region was comparable to Toronto central in the length of time it took the majority of patients with the most urgent symptoms to have an initial assessment by a physician — 3.7 hours.
Across the province, half of patients requiring rescucitation and in life-threatening conditions were seen within six minutes, and 86 per cent were seen within 30 minutes of arriving in the emergency department.
"Rescucitation"? within 6 minutes? Er, last I remember, 4 minutes without a heartbeat and your brain is well onto the "toast" plateau.
But the Champlain region was comparable to Toronto Central in the average length of time majority of patients in categories I through III according to the Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale (CTAS) waited for an initial assessment by a physician.
Patients with symptoms ranging from CTAS I (cardiac arrest, major trauma or shock) to CTAS II (head injuries, chest pain) and CTS III (mild to moderate asthma, and vomiting and diarrhea in patients younger than 2 years of age) could expect to wait an average of 3.7 hours to see a doctor.
Right – have a heart attack, wait a morning, call me in the…..forget it…
The report found that across Ontario, wait times were longest at teaching hospitals, where 90 per cent of patients were seen within nine hours. High-volume hospitals — those with more than 30,000 emergency visits a year — saw 90 per cent of emergency visits completed within 7.5 hours.
And then there is HillaryCare, RomneyCare, and GovernatorCare being presented here in the States.
When one hears that socialized / universal / single-payer system will save us all, remember one thing – it will be rationed. You may not pay with dollars at the time of the visit, but you will pay in other ways. Remember, the key word is TANSTAAFL – There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch. Somewhere, someone will pay. And taxpayers overall will not ante up all of the money needed to completely fund all medical needs. It would bankrupt our economy if it happens.
Why? When something is "free", people think that there is a bottomless well to supply it. After all, I’m not paying for it, right?
Is anyone out there listening for the oncoming debacles?
