Aqualung

Let’s hear it for Canada’s free health care system.

TORONTO FIREFIGHTER Ian Hansen lived an emergency room horror yesterday—the type of scenario he fears for every person he needs to send to a hospital. Hansen went to Sunnybrook and Women’s College Health Sciences Centre last Friday as a day patient to undergo a hernia operation but, because of complications, he wasn’t released until Sunday.

Yesterday Hansen’s girlfriend—who is a Toronto paramedic—took him to Sunnybrook’s emergency room with extremely low blood pressure, fearing he was bleeding internally.

“I was in so much pain I couldn’t sit up,” Hansen said yesterday while waiting most of the afternoon to see a doctor.

“They said there were other people ahead of me and no beds, so I asked for a pillow so I could lie down on the floor. They wouldn’t allow that.

“It’s unbelievable they didn’t have a pillow,” he said.

“I had to leave so I could lie on a park bench outside of emergency and wait. This is a great way to show the state of our health care.

”I’ve seen the horror stories and now I’m experiencing it myself. Knowing the job the way I do, I could have called 911. At least I would be on a stretcher. I didn’t want to jump the queue.” [Emphasis added]

Someone please explain to me again why the Canadian system is so much better than ours?