Canada's Crumbling Medicare System

[styky]

Many chronically ill Canadians can’t afford medication: survey
By Robert Hiltz

OTTAWA — Many Canadians suffering from chronic illnesses say high costs are preventing them from filling the prescriptions they need and from seeing specialists, according to a new survey.

The survey for the Health Council of Canada found that those with long-term illnesses are, on the whole, less likely to see this country’s health-care system as effective compared to other citizens.

The survey — titled How Do Sicker Canadians with Chronic Disease Rate the Health Care System? — found that 48% of respondents said the quality of the health care they received was excellent or very good.

By comparison, just over three-quarters (76%) of other respondents said their care was very good or excellent.....................http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/12/12 ... on-survey/

[Neo-Liberal]

Everyone knows that (more) private health care options WILL happen in the future. There is no other alternative.

[styky]

I know from personal experience watching friends go through this that (1) they desperately try and keep these things to themselves (2) 8 times our of 10 they have no family doctor to report it to. It's a doctor that is familiar with a patient that you need with dementia not some stranger at a walk-in where you never see the same Dr twice.



Canadians missing out on early treatments for dementia: Alzheimer Society

Postmedia News Jan 4, 2012 – 2:31 PM ET
OTTAWA — Hundreds of Canadians are missing out on early treatment for dementia that could improve their ability to deal with the disease, says a new study by the Alzheimer Society of Canada.

According to the study, almost half of Canadians surveyed (44%) lived a year or more with their symptoms without seeing a doctor. Also, 16% of this group waited more than two years.

“A delayed diagnosis results in a huge treatment gap and prevents people from getting valuable information about medications, support and better disease management,” the study said.

The online survey was conducted in October 2011 including 958 Canadian caregivers of people living with Alzheimer’s disease or other dementia..............http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/01/04 ... r-society/

[styky]

B.C. hospital that used Tim Hortons as ER last year forced to treat patients in lobby

Tamsin McMahon Jan 4, 2012 – 9:30 PM ET | Last Updated: Jan 5, 2012 10:04 AM ET
A Vancouver-area hospital that was forced last spring to treat ER patients in a Tim Hortons was again grappling with massive overcrowding this week that left patients lying on stretchers in the hospital’s main lobby.

On Tuesday, an unexpected influx of patients suffering everything from the winter flu to serious car crash injuries overwhelmed the 410-bed Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster. With patients on stretchers already lining its hallways and waiting rooms, the hospital set up five more stretchers in its lobby, separating each with privacy screens. Patients brought in by ambulance spent hours being treated by paramedics in the lobby while waiting to be admitted.

Overcrowding has become a chronic problem at the 150-year-old hospital, which is one of just two trauma centres in the province and serves a third of B.C.’s growing population. But a spokesman for Fraser Health Authority, which manages the hospital, said forcing patients to be treated in the lobby or in the hospital’s Tim Hortons, as happened for 90 minutes last March, is unusual.

“It’s quite common for us to have patients in overflow,” said Roy Thorpe-Dorward. “But to open up in the lobby, we haven’t done anything that extraordinary since last spring.”

He said the busy holiday season, when family doctor’s offices may have been closed, helped account for the surge of patients. The health authority had issued a public appeal before Christmas asking residents to stay away from the ER unless they had a real emergency.

The crisis was over by Wednesday, Mr. Thorpe-Dorward said, although the hospital left the stretchers in the lobby just in case.

“We get these situations where, for whatever reasons, there’s so many patients coming into the ER that we just can’t handle the load of people coming in,” said Laurie Tetarenko, vice-president of the Royal Columbian Hospital Foundation. “This is not a new story. Every once in a while it gets media attention, but it just shows the demand for our services really outweighs our current capacity. It has been a chronic problem.”

The foundation is in the midst of a $2.8-million fundraising drive for a special treatment centre for cardiac and stroke patients, which is expected to shorten wait times across the hospital. It has also been pressuring the province to approve plans for an expansion of the hospital, a proposal the government has been studying for two years. On Wednesday, a spokesman for the Ministry of Health said the province plans to decide at budget time next month, but would need to consider “the reality of our fiscal situation before making any commitments.”

Royal Columbian has grown increasingly crowded since the province closed nearby St. Mary’s Hospital in 2004. By 2008, the hospital warned it would need to build a portable ER in the parking lot to keep up with demand.

Jan Mise, 74, spent two hours on a stretcher in the ER in October after suffering chest problems. She said she was lined up against a wall and treated by paramedics for two hours as patients sitting in the waiting room looked on.

“It was, excuse my language, bloody ridiculous,” she said Wednesday.

“There was no privacy. If you have to go to the washroom, you just jolly well get your butt off that stretcher and go yourself. So that’s what I did. It’s disgusting. It’s indescribable. Until you actually see it yourself, you don’t believe the news reports you see on TV.”

The hospital has been a persistent problem for paramedics, who often wait hours with patients on stretchers until staff can find room to treat them, said B.J. Chute, spokesman for the Ambulance Paramedics of B.C. “Many paramedics have spent their entire [12-hour] shift in the hospital, he said. “It’s not acceptable for the hospital to hold paramedics hostage like that and keep paramedics from providing the care that we’re supposed to provide.”

Paramedics have started billing hospitals for their time spent waiting, since it means ambulances have to be brought in from other regions to pick up the calls.

It has been a year of bad publicity for the Royal Columbian Hospital. In the summer, the hospital foundation announced it had taken a $3-million hit on a failed home lottery fundraiser. Last month, police charged a 29-year-old man they alleged snuck through the crowded ER and sexually assaulted a female patient in an examination room.

National Post
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/01/04 ... -in-lobby/

[styky]

Hmmm So this is not just a Canadian phenomena

Nowhere to Go, Patients Linger in Hospitals, at a High Cost
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/03/nyreg ... .html?_r=1

[styky]

Hospital CEO perks and bonuses are galling


By Rachel Sa ,Toronto Sun

First posted: Saturday, January 07, 2012 08:05 PM EST


They say a job well done is the best reward.

But not so, it seems, in the executive offices of Ontario’s hospitals.

Their culture of high salaries and swanky perks came under fire last week after the Ontario Hospital Association released executive compensation information for the first time.

The numbers show some GTA hospital executives are earning hundreds of thousands in base salaries, plus bonuses and hefty perks like car allowances, free parking and gym memberships. Cue the uproar.

Now, I’m not attacking fair salaries.

The fact is serving as the chief executive of a hospital is a big job, one that requires a high level of skill and experience.

So comparing the salary of a hospital CEO to a much lower paying job with much less responsibility is getting us into apples versus oranges territory.

A knee jerk reaction to slash salaries is also not correct. You need good CEO salaries to attract quality leaders.

But why have additional perks, paid for with public health care dollars, become an essential component of executive compensation in our hospitals?

Ontario Hospital Association president and CEO Tom Closson said these perks are necessary to ensure hospitals secure good leaders.

But to hear an extremely well-paying job in public health care also requires high-flying extras to be appealing is what is most galling to the public.

I mean, if you’re raking in $450,000 per year as your base salary, as is one hospital president and CEO, surely you can afford a decent car without having an extra $75,000 travel allowance tacked onto your pay.

Where else in our health care system could that $75,000 be used?

These added perks for hospital execs — who can already afford such extras out of their own well-padded pockets — are what’s out to lunch.

Of course, a hefty expense account for swank lunches and a generous car allowance to tool around in a slick ride are nice things to have.

But at what point does the reward of a generous salary and the satisfaction of a job well done become enough?

I know I want to be paid a fair salary for the work I do. We all do. But to characterize perks many of us can only dream of as being a necessary component to lure top public sector executives sounds more like something you would hear from my so-called “entitlement generation.”

If you take away fair compensation, you lose expertise.

We have to be sensible, while continuing to reward employees who work hard and achieve their goals.

What happens when you slash and burn and expect top performance for bottom rung pay?

You get the employees you pay for — ones who don’t give a damn.

I worked for a boss for more than two years who treated me like dirt no matter how hard I worked, how many projects I delivered, or how much praise I received from clients.

I eventually lost my motivation, stopped trying and moved on as soon as I could.

Employers and employees — even executives — have to recognize their roles.

If you want the best out of your employees, pay them a fair wage, acknowledge their hard work and treat them with decency and respect.

Employees — if you want to keep your job and earn your salary, do the job you’re paid to do.

It would be nice if we could achieve that dynamic in the public sector, without the car allowances, free parking and gym memberships.
http://www.torontosun.com/2012/01/06/ho ... re-galling

[Neo-Liberal]

I think most Canadians agree Canada`s health care care system is in need of a major overhaul. In the future, expenditures on health care will soak up over 50% of provincial budgets(if some are not there yet). We all know that we will have a more equitable public/private mix, but our politicians are still playing games and playing on public fears.

[styky]

OHIP turns blind eye to suffering

COVERAGE: Area woman was chastised for seeking faster care before agency threw up roadblocks to paying for her care

By JONATHAN SHER, The London Free Press

Last Updated: January 20, 2012 9:55pm

Chastened by doctors for seeking speedier treatment for a painful disease threatening to rob her of fertility, Allison Jones writhed with pain so severe it was like a man continually passing large kidney stones.

Jones needed to see one of a handful of gynecological specialists who could remove the lining of a uterus where it grows outside that organ, a painful condition called endometriosis.

But after waiting seven months to see a specialist Jones, a resident of Southwestern Ontario, was told she'd have to wait at least seven more for surgery that might make her pain-free for the first time in years.

Only one specialist held an open door to her care, a Canadian schooled almost entirely in Ontario. But Dr. Ken Sinervo had committed a Cardinal sin as far as OHIP was concerned -- he offered life-changing surgery outside the country in Atlanta, Georgia.

Twice, Jones' family doctor wrote to OHIP, asking the agency to pay for Siverno's surgery, but each request was met by quick refusals and a suggestion she check a list of specialists, none of whom had time to see her any quicker.

One specialist, Dr. Alexandre Nevin Lam, chastised Jones for seeking faster access, writing in a letter she should stop "doctor shopping, since this was a waste of both health-care resources and her time."

Jones sought emergency care repeatedly, but the heavy-duty drugs prescribed did little to curb her pain.

So in April of 2010, she decided to go to Atlanta.

Three days later, she was on an operating table at the Northside Hospital Cancer Institute.

"That's one of the big differences between the health-care system in Canada and the system here," Sinervo told The Free Press this week from Atlanta.

The disease had progressed so quickly, Sinervo had to remove her uterus, fallopian tubes, ovaries and nearly 8 inches of her bowel.

The ordeal was traumatizing. Jones -- not her real name -- asked The Free Press last week to keep her identity secret.

But those who helped her spoke out.

It isn't just the speed of access that's different, Sinervo says. The surgeries he performs in Atlanta are more advanced than what's available in Ontario, in part because he performs surgery four or five days a week -- while Ontario docs might get a day and a half because of the rationing of operating-room time.

"That's one of the reasons I didn't go back to Canada after my fellowship in Atlanta," he said.

Sinervo uses a carbon-dioxide laser to remove all of the abnormal tissue to lessen the chance of complication and reoccurrences, something he says most specialists do not do.

The surgery was done, but the struggle for Jones had just begun: She faced a $70,000 medical bill including close to a week in hospital.

The Atlanta hospital, Northside Hospital Cancer Institute, later forgave most of the bill, wiping $57,000 off the books as it sometimes does for patients who just can't afford to pay.

But OHIP fought against covering the remaining $13,000, even though that amount is almost certainly no more than what Jones' treatment would have cost in Ontario, Sinervo said.

That hard-nosed approach is nothing new for OHIP, says the lawyer who represented Jones. For 20 years, the agency has acted strictly like a private insurance company, going to great lengths to avoid having to pay for any out-of-country care.

"There's no compassion at all," said Perry Brodkin, who was the agency's in-house counsel years ago, before regulatory change changed it from an agency that tries to help to one seeking any reason to reject coverage.

Most patients lose appeals to OHIP rejections because they can't afford to hire a lawyer, as legal costs typically range between $5,000 and $20,000.

Patients argue on compassionate grounds not to be found in a law that restricts out-of-country coverage to necessary care that's unavailable here or so delayed a wait would probably result in death or medically significant and irreversible tissue damage.

Pain alone isn't enough to get OHIP funding, no matter how excruciating or debilitating, Brodkin said.

But this time the bad guys lost, Brodkin said.

Jones won her appeal this month before Ontario's Health Services Appeal and Review Board.

Board members took issue not just with the stance of OHIP, but also with the Ontario specialists who had essentially told Jones to wait her turn.

The specialist she was to have waited for was Dr. Nicholas Leyland, top dog at Health Sciences Centre at Hamilton's McMaster University.

But when Jones went to Sinervo, Leyland wrote to support OHIP's denial of coverage.

"We could have carried out the same kind of care that was provided by Dr. Sinervo, who was a trainee of ours a few years ago. This patient would not have suffered death or irreversible tissue damage in waiting for this surgery. Many patients are waiting for this procedure much longer," Leyland wrote.

The board rejected Leyland's claim, noting in his letter, he didn't mention Jones' specific condition or if delay would cause irreversible tissue damage, dismissing her claim because some other women with the same general condition had to wait longer.

"It is unfortunate that Dr. Leyland did not testify at the hearing," the board wrote.

The board also took aim at OHIP: "The Appeal Board is troubled by (OHIP's) assertion that since endometriosis is by definition a progressive disease, any further progression in the form of tissue damage is expected and is not medically significant."

The decision is timely, Brodkin said, as waits for surgery by Leyland have grown to nine months, with about 60 women affected.

"Most wait and suffer damage," he said. "(This case) may open the doors (for care in Atlanta)," Brodkin said.

The Toronto lawyer challenged Ontario Health Minister Deb Matthews to change the rules and process to give patients a fighting chance, even if it's to arrange for an advocate or ombudsperson for those who can't afford a lawyer.

As for Sinervo, he'd like to negotiate a reduced rate with the health ministry for Ontario women going to Atlanta's Center for Endometriosis Care, something close to half of the regular charges.

The Free Press requested interviews three days this week with Matthews, a London MPP, but she didn't make herself available.

Messages left for Leyland and Lam also weren't returned.

http://www.lfpress.com/news/london/2012 ... 74441.html

[styky]

Inquest opens into case of Toronto man who died waiting for ambulance

Megan O'Toole Jan 24, 2012 – 4:49 PM ET | Last Updated: Jan 24, 2012 6:21 PM ET
A coroner’s inquest opened Tuesday into the death of Jim Hearst, who was felled by a heart attack during the 2009 civic workers’ strike after waiting more than 35 minutes for an ambulance.

The inquest, which will probe how to avoid similar deaths in the future, comes amid a fierce debate over whether Toronto EMS should be declared an essential service, with paramedics rallying outside City Hall Tuesday morning to support the cause.

Inside the coroner’s court on Grosvenor Street, jurors were expressly instructed not to probe whether paramedics should lose the right to strike, but to consider in a more limited sense how the labour disruption may have had an impact on Mr. Hearst’s case — and whether Toronto Emergency Medical Services needs to tweak its training or strike scheduling processes accordingly.

“There are still many questions that I have,” said Alejandro Martinez, the victim’s former partner. “I know that it’s going to be quite painful to be told all the facts about what happened, but that’s what I want; I want answers. I want to know what happened to my partner.”

Mr. Hearst, 59, died of a heart attack on the third night of the civic workers’ strike in June 2009 after waiting more than 35 minutes for an ambulance. Witnesses in the lobby of his Alexander Street apartment building described watching the victim turn blue as help failed to arrive.

The inquest heard there were three separate 911 calls placed in relation to Mr. Hearst’s deteriorating condition that night, but the first two were classified as “Bravo,” the second-lowest priority. Dispatchers upgraded the third call to a top-priority “Echo,” but by the time police, firefighters and paramedics arrived on scene, it was too late.

A subsequent investigation by the Ontario Health Ministry laid blame on two EMS dispatchers and an operations supervisor, in addition to two rookie paramedics who arrived within nine minutes of the first call but decided to “stage” their response by waiting for police to arrive before entering the building. It was later revealed the pair were concerned they may be walking into a brawl.

Toronto EMS has since changed its policy on “staging,” requiring paramedics to notify a supervisor immediately and go as close to a scene as possible before determining whether it is too dangerous. Stipulations on how many EMS staff must work during a labour disruption also rose this year to 85% from 75%.

The inquest — which is anticipated to wrap up by mid-February — will hear from more than two dozen witnesses, including 911 dispatchers, paramedics, supervisors, union representatives, fire crew and a variety of civilians who were by Mr. Hearst’s side as he lay dying.

“These witnesses are being asked to relive a traumatic and stressful moment in their lives,” coroner’s counsel Stefania Fericean said in her opening address. “I anticipate that this evidence may be quite emotional and may be very difficult to listen to.”

The first witness and the only one to testify Tuesday, supervising coroner Dr. James Edwards, cited Mr. Hearst’s cause of death as heart disease. The victim, who ran a trucking dispatch company, had previously collapsed from a heart attack in April 2004, the coroner’s jury heard.

Outside court, a city lawyer denied the 2009 labour disruption had any significant impact on Mr. Hearst’s case. Lawyer Robert Baldwin’s comments come as Toronto gears up for another potential strike or lockout affecting thousands of unionized workers in the coming weeks.

“The city of Toronto is committed to a full and open examination of all the factors that led to Mr. Hearst’s death,” Mr. Baldwin said. “We hope to learn by the jury’s recommendations as to how similar circumstances can be avoided in the future.”

National Post
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/01/24 ... ambulence/

[styky]

What I want to know is was anyone fired??????? Just what is it that you have to do as a health care worker in this country to get fired.



Multiple discrepancies found in pathologist's work
Updated: Fri Feb. 17 2012 19:54:47

ctvwinnipeg.ca

Health officials have released results of a routine audit last year, which found dozens of discrepancies among pathology tests in Winnipeg.

Two senior pathologists and two international laboratories reviewed more than 3,000 cases of a single doctor's work.

They found discrepancies in 137 of those cases, five of them classified as critical incidents.

"There were three cases that were diagnosed as cancer and on review had to be upgraded as to the severity of cancer which meant they had to have a change in their treatment," said Jim Slater, CEO of Diagnostic Services of Manitoba.

Two other people were originally told their cases were benign and were later told they had an early stage of cancer.

"I don't think in any of the patients we talked about lives were put at risk. I think the reason for that is the review was done very quickly. The second reason for it is we decided to inform the patients and physicians as soon we knew that there was error," said Dr. Amin Kabani, chief medical officer of Diagnostic Services of Manitoba.

In a statement to CTV News, Manitoba Health Minister Theresa Oswald said the government "has made quality and patient safety a top priority – with checks and balances to ensure systems are safe."

Myrna Driedger, PC party health critic, said those changes are not enough.

"I think they need to change their processes and tighten them up a bit and make them more rigorous so that mistakes like this don't fall through the cracks and they're caught sooner than they are," said Driedger.

In 2009, Dr. David Grynspan, a pathologist working in Winnipeg, raised his concerns about Manitoba lab conditions putting patients at risk.

"The main problem I identified were work load issues related to volumes pathologists were doing," said Grynspan.

He later moved to Ontario, after the issues he raised were deemed unfounded at the time, but now some of his concerns have been proven correct.

Officials with DSM said that while the audit's findings aren't a good-news story, they said patients don't need to worry. They said they are going to be more transparent to instill confidence in patients. (well gosh doesn't that make it all better )

The pathologist whose cases were reviewed no longer works for Diagnostic Services of Manitoba. He was initially recruited from the U.S.

- with a report from CTV's Ina Sidhu
http://winnipeg.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local ... nnipegHome

[styky]

Montreal doctors accused of taking bribes
Cardiologists allegedly accepted cash to push patients to front of wait list
CBC News
Posted: Feb 21, 2012 8:47 PM ET
Last Updated: Feb 21, 2012 8:40 PM ET
Two Montreal cardiologists are facing disciplinary action over allegations they received hefty kickbacks to push patients to the top of the waiting list, the Quebec College of Physicians says.

The college's investigation uncovered at least two doctors who were allegedly taking envelopes of cash in exchange for providing faster service, Dr. Charles Bernard told CBC News.

"It's awful," said Bernard, who heads the college. "It's unacceptable … Usually, physicians have a good job, a good pay. It's very difficult for me to understand that."

The investigation was triggered 14 months ago, when a Montreal woman told the news media she had paid a $2,000 cash "incentive" to have her mother bumped to the top of a waiting list.

After the investigation, the college said two cardiologists from Montreal would face a disciplinary hearing later this year in connection with such incidents. Bernard would not discuss the details of the cases, as nothing yet has been proved............http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/ ... ation.html

[styky]

Saskatchewan hospital closes doors due to lack of nurses to cover shifts

By: The Canadian Press

Posted: 02/20/2012 2:55 PM | Comments: 0 (including replies) | Last Modified: 02/20/2012 3:16 PM

SHAUNAVON, Sask. - A hospital in southwestern Saskatchewan is closing for a night because there are no nurses to cover the shift.

This will be the third time in a month that the Shaunavon Hospital will be closed due to a lack of nurses.

Bryce Martin with the Cypress Health Region said the doors will close at 7:00 p.m. Monday night.

He says there will be no emergency outpatient services available, nor will there be any acute inpatient admissions and the closest hospital is in Swift Current, which is 109 kilometres away.

Martin said the main challenge is to find registered nurses to cover shifts when others are sick or on vacation.

He explained that they have made progress in bringing more nurses to rural Saskatchewan, but they still need to find more casual or part time help.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-a ... 36823.html

[styky]

Canada not tracking prescription drug death statistics
Provincial hodge-podge of systems means no reliable numbers on fatal drug mishaps
By Janet Davison, CBC News
Posted: Feb 21, 2012 5:04 AM ET
Last Updated: Feb 21, 2012 7:59 AM ET
It seems like a relatively straightforward question: How many Canadians die each year as a result of prescription drug overdoses?

But there is no simple answer, and the fact that no number is readily available is one indication of the many challenges scientists, medical professionals and others face in the fight to overcome what some have labelled a public health crisis: prescription drug misuse and abuse in Canada.

While there is a sense the number of deaths from overdoses of prescription painkillers and other drugs has been growing, there is no central clearing house that can provide definitive statistics.

"We don't have national data to be able to give that answer," says Deborah Cumming, national priority adviser at the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse in Ottawa. "The tracking is done differently in different provinces."

And that creates a big problem: "We don't have a comprehensive national view of this issue," Cumming said.

Still, Cumming and others are searching for ways to develop strategies to address the issue.

"There's quite a few streams and ways of tackling this," she says. "It's not going to happen overnight, and there is no magic bullet."

When scientists start looking at the provincial numbers, they go back a few years...............http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/201 ... eaths.html

[styky]

What the H will they think of next, imagine involving the patient in their own care. Who thinks this stuff up. [/sarcasm]

Better patient engagement: crucial to future of health care
From Monday's Globe and Mail
Published Sunday, Mar. 04, 2012 7:30PM EST

Engaging patients is the big new idea in health. Though it seems obvious that patients should be involved and actively taking part in their own care, medicare has been in trouble so long that this change is seen as a revolution.

A Commonwealth Fund Survey of 11 countries found Canada falls in the middle in patient engagement for primary care – 48 per cent of Canadians feel involved and actively participating in their care – with New Zealand, Australia and Switzerland at the top, with 68 per cent, 63 per cent and 59 per cent respectively.

More broadly, the Health Council of Canada released a report late last month, calling for the inclusion of the patient voice when designing, planning and delivering health-care service. The patient experience, it says, should be measured at all levels. It went so far to say that patient engagement is crucial to the health-care system’s future.

“If this is to really take hold, it has to take place in the physician and family team offices,” John Abbott, the chief executive officer of the Health Council of Canada, said in an interview. “There has to be a direct connection to an outcome – not more process, not more numbers - literally more results.”..................http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opi ... le2357238/

[styky]

Doctors operate on wrong leg of Manitoba man
CBC News
Posted: Mar 1, 2012 11:09 AM CST
Last Updated: Mar 1, 2012 7:11 PM CST
A Manitoba man who went for surgery on his Achilles tendon woke up in hospital to find doctors cut into the wrong leg.

Rick Campbell went into Seven Oaks hospital in Winnipeg for a two-hour surgery on his left leg after he'd torn his tendon. After a five-hour operation, he was told they'd accidentally opened the right leg first.

It happened in March 2011, but Campbell said he felt compelled to speak out now after hearing about Heather Brenan's incident with the same hospital.

Brenan, 68, was sent home from the hospital's emergency ward in late January. But when she got home, she collapsed on her doorstep and died a short time later.

An autopsy determined she died from blood clots in her legs. Her daughter, Dana, claims the hospital took Brenan off her blood thinners.

Campbell told CBC News that doctors at the hospital did the surgery again, on the correct leg, once they were told of their mistake.

But because of the mistake, he still has trouble walking, he said.

“It's been a devastating situation and it's brought me to tears," Campbell said. "And there's been several times I wish I didn't wake up in the morning.

“I come in to have surgery on a leg that's injured and I leave disabled. It's indescribable.”

Campbell said he is still waiting for an apology from the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority.

However, a spokeswoman for the authority told CBC News that officials at Seven Oaks have apologized to Campbell several times, and changes have been made to help prevent a similar incident...........................http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/ ... itoba.html