Deadly Canadian Care
An Illinois physician is arguing that actress Natasha Richardson might have survived her skiing accident if it had occurred in the United States rather than Canada. Explains Dr. Cory Franklin:
Canadian health care de-emphasizes widespread dissemination of technology like CT scanners and quick access to specialists like neurosurgeons. While all the facts of Richardson’s medical care haven’t been released, enough is known to pose questions with profound implications.
In the U.S. Richardson likely could have been both diagnosed locally and flown to emergency care in a nearby city. Adds Franklin:
What would have happened at a US ski resort? It obviously depends on the location and facts, but according to a colleague who has worked at two major Colorado ski resorts, the same distance from Denver as Mt. Tremblant is from Montreal, things would likely have proceeded differently.
Assuming Richardson initially declined medical care here as well, once she did present to caregivers that she was suffering from a possible head trauma, she would’ve been immediately transported by air, weather permitting, and arrived in Denver in less than an hour.
Deadly Canadian Health Care
Opponents of nationalize health care rightly warn about the negative impact of politicizing medical care, but it’s never easy to prove that someone who otherwise would have lived died as a result. Yet Canadians are asking whether that may be the case with actress Natasha Richardson. Reports the News & Observer (hat tip to Matthew Vadum at the American Spectator blog):
Questions are arising over whether a medical helicopter might have been able to save actress Natasha Richardson.
The province of Quebec lacks a medical helicopter system, common in the United States and other parts of Canada, to airlift stricken patients to major trauma centers. Montreal’s top head trauma doctor said Friday that may have played a role in Richardson’s death.
Richardson, 45, died Wednesday at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York after falling Monday on a ski slope at the Mont Tremblant resort in Quebec.
“It’s impossible for me to comment specifically about her case, but what I could say is … driving to Mont Tremblant from the city [Montreal] is a 2 1/2-hour trip, and the closest trauma center is in the city. Our system isn’t set up for traumas and doesn’t match what’s available in other Canadian cities, let alone in the States,” said Tarek Razek, director of trauma services for the McGill University Health Centre, which represents six of Montreal’s hospitals.
While Richardson’s initial refusal of medical treatment cost her two hours, she also had to be driven to two hospitals. She didn’t arrive at a specialized hospital in Montreal until about four hours after the second 911 call from her hotel room at the resort, according to a timeline published by Canada’s The Globe and Mail newspaper.
Because of the pervasiveness of both third party payment and government regulation, the American medical system spends more than it should. But it remains far more oriented towards meeting patient needs than does government-dominated health care. As policymakers debate various “reform” measures, they should keep Natasha Richardson’s tragic fate in mind.
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