The superior Canadian Medical System

[Kylere]

http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2004/05/19/ca ... hild040519

and cut and pasted for theose lazy clickers

Family wants answers after fetus returned in cardboard box
Last Updated Fri, 21 May 2004 4:49:56

THUNDER BAY, ONT. - A Northern Ontario First Nations community says it wants a full investigation into how a hospital allegedly mailed the remains of a miscarried fetus back to the family in a cardboard box.


Zeb Kenequanash

"I was appalled and upset and disappointed of what had happened to this fetus," North Caribou Lake First Nation Chief Zeb Kenequanash told CBC News Online.

"The mother went hysterical after she found out the unborn child came through the mail."

Kenequanash is calling for a full police investigation and a coroner's inquest into the incident. The family, who live in North Caribou Lake, a remote community hundreds of kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay has also retained a lawyer.

In March, the woman was medevaced to Sioux Lookout hospital, said Kimberly Whetung a senior policy adviser with the Chiefs of Ontario, which represents 134 First Nations across Ontario.

The woman had completed her first trimester but miscarried at the hospital. Because the hospital did not have a pathologist on staff, the fetus was sent to Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, Whetung said.

The family requested the fetus be returned to the community. The mother was told that the remains would be taken from the hospital to a funeral home.

Instead, the fetus was sent by Purolator in a cardboard box to the wrong address – a post office in Pickle Lake, a community about 300 kilometres from North Caribou Lake. It was labelled "diagnostic specimen" and "room temperature."

Whetung said the box had been stamped with two addresses, the Pickle Lake address and the family address in North Caribou Lake. The box eventually made its way to the North Caribou Lake post office where it sat for six days.

On May 10, nearly 40 days after the miscarriage, the mother picked up the box.

The box was battered, partially opened and with only one piece of tape around it, Kenequanash said.

Kenequanash said the mother did not know what was in the box when she opened it. He said the fetus was wrapped in plastic in the box and badly decomposed.

Ontario's Health Minister George Smitherman pledged to investigate the incident.

"My immediate reaction was shock and dismay and disgust," Smitherman said.

Smitherman said it his understanding that this is the established protocol for transporting remains because of the transportation challenges in the remote area. But Smitherman said he did not condone the practice.

"I am not expressing confidence that those protocols are appropriate," he said.

Kenequanash said he had never heard of any similar incident like this before.

Media release
Read the media release from the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre [in pdf format]
National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Phil Fontaine, said in a statement he was "appalled that such an inhumane action can take place in this day and age."

"I pray this will never happen again to any family, anywhere in Canada."

Late Wednesday night the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre issued a news release offering its condolences to the family. It said that since the identity of the family has been released it will now be possible to investigate the situation.

[Kylere]

This would not have happened if it was a white kid, but we see how the Canadian system serves its native population.

[Niffoni]

Canada's health system blows. I prefer the concept of it to, say, America's. But jeebus, it's a mess of process and there's too few hospitals/equipment/doctors for the number of people who need it right now. And it's up in the air, as many are pulling for privitization. It needs some mucho buckaroos and some new people in charge.

As for this story, I don't even know what the hell happened. Somebody fucked up somewhere, and is gonna find themselves working at burger king by the end of the month.

[kyoukan]

Obviously some anti-abortion activist did it to make a statement. How is this indicative to a failure in our health care system?

Canada's health care program has it's problems. It's still vastly superior to the united states in terms of coverage and eligibility. I don't mind having to wait 6 months for elective knee surgery if that means if Canadians have to have a quadruple bypass, they won't be worrying about a 100 thousand dollar hospital bill if they weren't paying 200-300 a month in medical insurance.

[Midnyte_Ragebringer]

Mistakes happen everywhere. It's horrid and unfortunate for sure. But, I doubt it's indicative of the Canadian Medical system at large.

[Arilain]

There is no excuse for that at all....period. If Canada's legal system is anything like the US the mother that miscarried is gonna be in for some seroius cash.

As for the US health care system, I will never have to worry about paying for medical bills personally cause I am a vet. However, OMGIAMRETARDEDCAUSEALOTISTWOWORDS of the increases in cost are due to trial lawyers running rampant and HMO's trying to dot the i's and t's cause they don't want to get sued.

[Lynks]

If Canada's legal system is anything like the US the mother that miscarried is gonna be in for some seroius cash.

Everyday, I thank God our legal system is nothing like the US.

[Cotto]

Proves that not just the NHS is fucked up.

Why would it be an anti-aborption activist though? The fetus wasnt aborted. Or did they think it was and comically think the family deserved some distress I wonder?

[Lynks]

I saw this on the news a few days ago. They said that some clerk used the woman's address as the receiver of this package.

The hospital also said that they plan and removing the patient's address to prevent anymore of these situations.

[Dregor Thule]

Terrible mistake. Inexcusable. Now here's an independant report on Canada's health care system compared to 4 other rich countries.

Canadian health care quality comparable to other rich countries
Last Updated Tue, 04 May 2004 18:50:26
WASHINGTON - Canada has the worst record for surviving heart attacks and the best rate of survival from childhood leukemia, according to an international comparison of health outcomes.

Researchers used a list of health indicators to evenly compare five wealthy countries: Australia, Canada, Britain, New Zealand and the United States.

In 2001, Canada spent $2,792 per capita compared to $4,887 in the U.S.

The list includes survival rates for key types of cancer, kidney and liver transplants, heart attack and stroke as well as suicides and preventable diseases like measles.

"None of the five countries … is consistently the best or the worst on all 21 indicators," study co-author Gerard Anderson of Johns Hopkins University's school of pubic health told a telephone briefing.

Acute myocardial infarction or heart attack and stroke data were available from Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

"The higher case-fatality rate [for heart attacks] among older people in Canada is an area that warrants investigation," the study's authors wrote in Tuesday's issue of the policy journal Health Affairs.

The average severity of attacks, ambulance response rates and hospital characteristics such as length of stay can affect the 30-day fatality rate for heart attacks, the report said.

In Canada, five-year cancer survival rates were generally average or above average, according to the report.

The U.S. results were slightly better than Canada's for breast cancer, cervical cancer, non-Hodgkins lymphoma, pertussis and measles.

Per capita spending on health in Canada is 57 per cent of that in the U.S. but Canadian survival rates for colorectal cancer, childhood leukemia, kidney transplants, liver transplants and hepatitis B were higher.

"Spending more does not necessarily result in better outcomes, at least on these 21 indicators," Anderson said. He co-authored a study in the same issue of the journal that compared per capita health care spending in 2001.

The study was sponsored by the Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation that supports independent research on health and social issues.