Rereading what I wrote about “Medicare for All,” I realized I left out something the DrsC experienced with single payer Canadian medicine three summers ago. We were camped at Lake Louise and the other DrC fell and hurt her shoulder while hiking with our niece.
We went to the small clinic there and, after examination, the local physician concluded (w/o X-ray) nothing was broken. After we got home to WY maybe 10 days later, it still hurt a lot so she got the shoulder MRIed. The tip of the bone was crushed and there was a hole in the rotator cuff.
Some months later following physical therapy it healed and she now has complete mobility and no discomfort. I’m not angry at the Canadian doc, she did what she could with what she had and, as non-Canadians, we paid plenty for the privilege, also fair in my judgment.
In “government medicine” too much “best judgment” diagnosis is practiced by overworked, under-capitalized clinics and some patients, like the other DrC, fall through the cracks. I’m glad we sought a second opinion in the States and got her treatment.
