They Break Bones in Canada

February 25, 2010 9:00 AM 4 comments

There was some flutter on February 5th when Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams announced he was flying to the U.S. for surgery on his heart.  Turns out, he learned America was the best place for him to go.  Williams had his procedure and, it turns out, had he undergone treatment in Canada they would have broken his bones:

The 60-year-old Williams said doctors detected a heart murmur last spring and told him that one of his heart valves wasn’t closing properly, creating a leakage.

His doctors in Canada presented him with two options – a full or partial sternotomy, both of which would’ve required breaking bones, he said.

What I found most interesting is once in America it was a simply procedure:

That’s where he was treated [the Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami] by Dr. Joseph Lamelas, a cardiac surgeon who has performed more than 8,000 open-heart surgeries.

Williams said Lamelas made an incision under his arm that didn’t require any bone breakage.

“I wanted to get in, get out fast, get back to work in a short period of time,” the premier said.

One has to wonder why Canadian doctors would have needed to break his bones while in the U.S. they did not.  And this raising a sad fact about Socialized Medicine: the “elites” who often favor it can afford to go elsewhere:

“This was my heart, my choice and my health,” Williams said late Monday from his condominium in Sarasota, Fla.

Just Politics..? is not saying Mr. Williams is an “elite” but only that he obviously can afford to go elsewhere when it counts.  For those who cannot pay privately for better treatment (even though Liberals say they have healthcare so why would they need to?) they are left on waiting lists and, had Mr. Williams stayed in Canada, broken bones:

“I would’ve been criticized if I had stayed in Canada and had been perceived as jumping a line or a wait list. … I accept that. That’s public life,” he said.

And just reflect on that… stuck on a waiting list when his doctor said this to him:

Eight months later, in December, his doctors told him the problem had become severe and urged him to get his valve repaired immediately or risk heart failure, he said.

 

Did you like this article? Get new articles daily for free via RSS or Email.

 

4 Comments

Leave a Reply


*
CommentLuv badge

Other News

  • Featured, Liberals

    Wacky Wednesday: Are SeaWorld Killer Whales Illegal Slaves?

    Part of me wishes I was making this up but People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is suing SeaWorld for how its Killer Whales are being treated at three of its locations: The suit, filed in October 2011, asked that the court declare that the orcas are “held in slavery and/or involuntary...

    Read more →
  • Featured, Liberals

    The Magic of the Open Road (In a V8)

    There is something special about taking a roadtrip in the United States.  Getting out onto the open road, seeing the country, taking in the sights.  Once you’re outside of the metropolitan areas you begin to realize just how sparsely populated America is.  Driving for an hour and only seeing...

    Read more →
  • Featured, Liberals San Francisco’s Parklets: Another Stupid Liberal Idea

    San Francisco’s Parklets: Another Stupid Liberal Idea

    I’ve lived in San Francisco since 1995 and, for part of that time, it’s been without a car.  I don’t mean I’ve been one of those hypocritical people who don’t own a car (and decry the internal combustion engine) but rents one for the weekends.  I mean without a car. Like...

    Read more →
  • Featured, Liberals Mercurial Occupyers Turn on Their Liberal “Masters”

    Mercurial Occupyers Turn on Their Liberal “Masters”

    Occupy Oakland: Violent Leftists are the same everywhere... The Occupy movement exists mainly in large metropolitan areas which are almost always governed by Democrats.  When the Occupy movement started in the United States the mayors of these cities were unwilling to clean these cockroaches out of...

    Read more →
  • Featured, Liberals Newt’s Flame Out

    Newt’s Flame Out

    Conspiracy theorists unite!  Some will say all of the negative press from The Druge Report the other day painting Newt in a negative light is responsible for his decline in the polls. Drudge picks his favorites, that’s true, but few were disputing stories with titles like: INSIDER: GINGRICH REPEATEDLY...

    Read more →
  • Featured, Liberals Wacky Wednesday: Hollywood Hypocrisy: Robert Redford, Sundance Film Festival, and the 1%

    Wacky Wednesday: Hollywood Hypocrisy: Robert Redford, Sundance Film Festival, and the 1%

    Nothing gets me fired up like some false Class Warfare/Liberal Hypocrisy.  Robert Redford, the “Golden Boy” of American cinema, said the following about his corporate/affluent Hollywood-sponsored event: We show stories of what people in America are really dealing with, and really living...

    Read more →
  • Conservatives, Featured, Liberals A Fig for Newton?

    A Fig for Newton?

    What's all the fuss about? In the strange world outside the United States there is something called the Metric System.  Found in this peculular way of measuring things is the “Newton Meter” which gauges how much torque is applied to something.  In America, tonight, we also have a...

    Read more →
  • Featured, Liberals ObamaNation: Bonus Edition

    ObamaNation: Bonus Edition

    Mitt Romney helped carry out a useful function in a capitalist society while he was at Bain Capital… helping companies to become more efficient and stay in business… even grow.  What better representative of everything Barack Obama is against? We hope you enjoy this week’s ObamaNation: Share/Email

    Read more →