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Teen's bad break
Curtis Brown
Local News
BRANDONSUN
Friday, April 15 2005
1202Pets can get better health care than people in rural areas, says an angry Hartney-area mom.
Christina Roper wants answers after watching her 15-year-old son Jordan wait in excruciating pain for five days before an orthopedic specialist in ******* was able to treat the leg Jordan broke during a hockey game last weekend.
"Our dog broke his leg last year. We paid $1,200, but at least he got surgery the next day. We had to wait five days for Jordan ... and I would have been willing to pay an insurance premium or something to have it done sooner," Christina said.
******* will be without orthopedic coverage for most of the month of April as two of the city's three orthopedic surgeons write medical fellowship exams, said Dr. Andrew Baron, vice-president of medical services for the ******* Regional Health Authority.
Jordan was playing in the prestigious Directors' Cup hockey tournament in Souris last weekend. About 10 minutes into a game Saturday, he caught the edge of his skate between the bottom of the ice and the board and ended up breaking both his tibia and fibula right above the top of his skate.
"It was just a freak thing, playing hockey," Jordan said. "It just hurt a lot."
He was carried off the ice in a stretcher and taken to Souris Health Centre, where his doctor put his leg in a back slab and told him he would need to see an orthopedic surgeon.
But the Ropers had to wait until Wednesday, while Jordan was on morphine in Souris hospital, before they could see a specialist in ******* who could operate and put Jordan's leg into a proper cast.
"You hear of people who need hip replacements and I realize they're backlogged. But in our case, the fact that he had to wait for five days on morphine just seems inhumane," Christina said.
Baron said with the current complement of specialists, the region generally has no orthopedic coverage every third weekend. If a doctor is sick or on holidays, that period could run longer.
Unlike in other specialties, the ******* RHA doesn't bring in doctors from other places to fill in the gaps in orthopedic coverage.
Baron said the situation is better than it was a year ago when there were only two doctors, but acknowledged there's still a problem that will be fixed only when the city finds another orthopedic specialist.
"It's a concern and I think we should have on-call coverage 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. We're working on that, we're not there yet and we'll get there by having another orthopedic surgeon," Baron said.
The only days the city will be covered for the rest of this month are April 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 22, 23, 24, 25 and 26.
The provincial NDP government has been frequently criticized by the opposition for not doing enough to recruit specialists.
Health Minister Tim Sale has said the problem is a severe shortage of specialists across the country. He insists the province will work with regional health authorities to ring foreign-trained doctors here will encourage rural Manitobans to get into medicine by opening up more spaces at the University of Manitoba medical school.
Baron said orthopedic surgeons can be hard to recruit as many graduating doctors specialize in a specific orthopedic procedure. He said the doctor he finds needs to be able to do many types of surgeries.
"We have to get (an orthopedic surgeon) who meets the needs of *******," Baron said.
But the Ropers' MLA, ***** Maguire, said this scenario makes him worry not just about people in rural Manitoba and whether they can get care in time, but also what effect the doctor shortage could have on rural communities trying to host events.
He's worried towns like Souris won't get big tournaments like the Director's Cup if organizers realize there isn't adequate medical care nearby if something goes wrong.
"Small towns could lose out because there's no doctors. This doesn't auger well for us outside Winnipeg if we're trying to get these events in the future," he said.
cbrown@brandonsun.com

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I guess next time a Canadian tries to tell me how superior the healthcare system is in Canada, I can point them here, eh?

It is an intentional shortage based system. They do the same thing with eggs, milk also and keep foreign out. weird....poor young kid also.

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yes sometimes this happens. most of the time we lose our specialists to the states who pay almost 3 to 4 times as more. often americans dont understand how our social system operates.

as a canadian myself im quite happy with the medical system. sometimes we run into problems like this and there is the odd snag. the system is far from superior but it works. the most recent poll across canada found that 70% of the people in Canada are happy with the services they get.

******* isnt too far from winnipeg and from other metropolitan areas. a short car ride. the opposition party just manages to blow up the issue to get some attention.

nobody is without care in canada. and nobody is ever financially burdened. i have a relative in san jose who has been working 2 jobs to pay back hospital bills for a valve replacement. another relative in eastern usa who cant afford chemotherapy anymore.

there are 2 students in my class who have medical issues that they need looked at but they cant afford it because their private insurance does not cover the care they need.

money is never a problem here in canada. it may take some time to get services but you will get them for sure.

we are two different countries with 2 different sytems. socialism is a way of life here and we learn to cope with few complaints.

its nice to have any test performed in the states as long as your wallet can afford it. increase un-needed testing so you can keep down the lawsuits. your legal system dictates how you treat your patients not your doctors.

True, but these Canadian Docs are the best trained in the world. Word Up, eh ?

i also heard our anesthesiolgy lawsuits are way lower up here too. our government has moved all surgeries into igloos so no need for halothane or other fun stuff like that.

however in our parliament they are about to raise the ice-cube tax where the patient has to bring their own ice-cube trays.

pitstar are you canadian?

Amen. It's disgusting. It pains me to order tests for the lawyers. G

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Why does it take an orthopedist to set a fracture? I think if they thought that being on morphine for 5 days was such a huge problem they should've just let their family/general surgeon set it. If they wanted to make sure they got the best treatment why is it such a problem to wait - especially when they aren't paying for it out of pocket? People want the best treatment they want it now and they want it free or cheap - i think they are being spoiled and have a blown up sense of entitlement...

no not the population as a whole. these morons in the prairies tend to put their kids in adult leagues hoping that they will play for the NHL some day. our little league issues in Canada resemble the baseball issues you have in america.

as soon as mommy or daddy dont have things going their way they will look for someone to blame and phone their local village idiot at the newspaper....

Breaking the tib and fib right at the ankle like the article says is a major problem. To fix it corectly you will need a decent amout of hardware instaled (pin, plates adn screws).

Just like i would want an electrican and not a carpenter to wire my house i would want an orthropod to fix my leg not a general surguan. remeber that you will be using that ankle to walk for the rest of your life i woiuld suggest not pasting it back together with bailing twine and duct tape.

There are reasons that orthopods stay in training longer than general surgans, its to handle this kind of specific injury.

so if you want to go to a GP to have your leg set, have fun, as for me i chose an orthopod to allow me to walk the rest of my life.

Later
YODA

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