Newfoundland Premier Comes to US for Surgery

bang guy

Moderator
I think this is very telling... perhaps
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundlan...heart-201.html
Danny Williams going to U.S. for heart surgery

Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams is set to undergo heart surgery this week in the United States.
CBC News confirmed Monday that Williams, 60, left the province earlier in the day and will have surgery later in the week.
The premier's office provided few details, beyond confirming that he would have heart surgery and saying that it was not necessarily a routine procedure.
Deputy Premier Kathy Dunderdale is scheduled to hold a news conference Tuesday morning.
She's expected to provide more details about Williams's condition, as well as how the provincial government will function during his absence.
CBC reporter David Cochrane said Williams appeared to be in good health recently. He described the premier as "fairly active," playing pick-up hockey at least once a week when work permits.
 

cranberry

Active Member
I'm from Newfoundland.
Nobody listens to me when I say healthcare suxs there...... I guess the US perceived opinion is more valid than Canadian's lived/experienced opinion.
 

bionicarm

Active Member
Anyone consider he's coming to the US because we have more qualified heart surgeons than they have in Newfoundland? Go where the most experience resides. I've read of several US residents that have gone to Europe for procedures to treat cancer and other fatal diseases that the FDA still hasn't approved to be performed in the US. So does that make our treatments of those diseases more inferior? No. It's just Europe has more progressive treatments for some diseases. I don't think this has anything to do with Newfoundlands Socialized Medical practices. Unless you want to go with the reason they don't have highly qualified heart surgeons in Newfoundland is because theose surgeons can make a ton of more money doing the exact same procedures in the US.
 

cranberry

Active Member
The cardio at the hospital he would have gone to is very good.... there's something else going on.
Maybe it's a special procedure they can't do there... universal doesn't allow for all sorts of fancy equipment.
One year the Docs went on strike... what a mess that was.
 

cranberry

Active Member
Mom says it's because the procedure wasn't available. He's a politician.... he would go to the front of the line anyways. After all, he works for the company.
 

reefraff

Active Member
Originally Posted by Cranberry
http:///forum/post/3221208
Mom says it's because the procedure wasn't available. He's a politician.... he would go to the front of the line anyways. After all, he works for the company.
What would your mother know about it, she's only from there

I've heard these same stories about Canadians for years. Fall and break your arm? Great system. Need an MRI? Well, not so much............
 

darthtang aw

Active Member
Originally Posted by reefraff
http:///forum/post/3221240
What would your mother know about it, she's only from there

I've heard these same stories about Canadians for years. Fall and break your arm? Great system. Need an MRI? Well, not so much............
Yet strangely they have a higher percentage of completed organ transplants than the U.S....
 

cranberry

Active Member
We're all alcoholics, most of our healthcare budget goes towards liver transplants when we ruin the first.
And then there are the lower standards... we can do them for a buck fifty if you allow some substitutions.
 

darthtang aw

Active Member
Originally Posted by Cranberry
http:///forum/post/3221267
We're all alcoholics, most of our healthcare budget goes towards liver transplants when we ruin the first.

How does that affect the percentage of successfully complete transplants compared to the waiting list? And the U.S. has a higher percentage of alcoholics per capita than Canada.
 

reefraff

Active Member
Originally Posted by Darthtang AW
http:///forum/post/3221255
Yet strangely they have a higher percentage of completed organ transplants than the U.S....
Thats cause they have a higher number of donors due to the crappy health care they get
 

bang guy

Moderator
Originally Posted by Darthtang AW
http:///forum/post/3221271
How does that affect the percentage of successfully complete transplants compared to the waiting list? And the U.S. has a higher percentage of alcoholics per capita than Canada.
The bottleneck for organ transplants isn't medical technology. In the US we have a wierd aversion to being organ donors. I think it's more of a cultural problem than a medical problem.
 

darthtang aw

Active Member
Originally Posted by Bang Guy
http:///forum/post/3221320
The bottleneck for organ transplants isn't medical technology. In the US we have a wierd aversion to being organ donors. I think it's more of a cultural problem than a medical problem.
I would agree with that...
Plus due to our current healthcare form, we live longer and don't have as many people dying that can become donors....I just made this part up, wanted to see what made up stats look and sound like, first hand.
 

cranberry

Active Member
Originally Posted by Darthtang AW
http:///forum/post/3221271
How does that affect the percentage of successfully complete transplants compared to the waiting list? And the U.S. has a higher percentage of alcoholics per capita than Canada.
It was a joke. Newfoundland is known for being the province with having a high number of unemployed inbred alcoholics. We have the most pubs per square foot than anyone else in North America.
 

beth

Administrator
Staff member
Originally Posted by Bang Guy
http:///forum/post/3221320
The bottleneck for organ transplants isn't medical technology. In the US we have a wierd aversion to being organ donors. I think it's more of a cultural problem than a medical problem.
I think its fear that your organs may be taken rather prematurely if you go on record as a donor. Considering you have people buying organs from living people in India, its not a stretch to think that, if you become comatose, someone may start eying your body parts, or may push ahead to harvest while you are on life support...
 

lovethesea

Active Member
hopefully he is paying cash.
Missouris ************** program now has it on the front of the license. They ask you and you say yes or no. We all said yes, even my daughter who just started driving. Your dead, why do you need it. I just had anything that could be used donated for my mom. They even used her skin.
 

the maggot

Member
Originally Posted by Bang Guy
http:///forum/post/3221320
The bottleneck for organ transplants isn't medical technology. In the US we have a wierd aversion to being organ donors. I think it's more of a cultural problem than a medical problem.
In Canada there is lots of people on the waiting list to get an organ donation and there is lots of people who have agreed to donate them. For an organ to be "harvested" the host donor can't be dead. They have to be on life support and clinically brain dead. So very few donated organs.
 

darthtang aw

Active Member
Originally Posted by the maggot
http:///forum/post/3222046
In Canada there is lots of people on the waiting list to get an organ donation and there is lots of people who have agreed to donate them. For an organ to be "harvested" the host donor can't be dead. They have to be on life support and clinically brain dead. So very few donated organs.

still, canada's 55% successful completion rate is better than the U.S.'s 10%.
 
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