More Victims of Canadian Health Care

© MMVIII

This story was forwarded to me by someone who is afraid to have his identity known by Canada's medical establishment.

My Name is John. My Wife, Jane, and I keep our anonymity out of fear or reprisals from the Canadian Medical establishment. Isn't this awful in my own country I have to fear an organization for something that is not my fault!!! We are afraid of the Canadian Medical Protection Association (CMPA). I am afraid they will neglect my wife and damage her further if I make any waves.

Before I go any further with our story I must stress that I am not doing all that great. I am in shock and ill from all the stresses that have occurred, I am a Care giver and exhausted, so if patches of the story do not make sense I am sorry, but I am doing the best I can with what I little I got. These are the facts to the BEST, and I mean Best of my knowledge, SO HELP ME GOD.

Like many people who've encountered the CMPA I am exhausted with little strength to fight, no less fight a Goliath like the CMPA, they have something like 2 billion dollars if not more, I am broke and over worked and exhausted. My only recourse is my written word. This helps me in opening the eyes of other family's and victims suffering at the unfair balance in our LEGAL system, not to be mistaken for a JUSTICE System.

Before my wife went in for brain surgery tests were needed. They hooked her up to a machine with 20 feet of wiring, just enough to go to the bathroom and to her bed, they wanted her tied up for 7 days, I know there are wireless machines, but the hospital cutbacks I suppose they couldn't afford them, I don't know. Basically She was to be tested in solitary confinement for a week. The testing was archaic like being back in the 1950's so much so that my wife became ill from the tests and isolation.

First the staff pulled her off of ALL of her medications. She was being tested for epilepsy. She was pulled from her Valium and her antidepressant. I know from experience that pulling a person from pills like that can cause a false positive for the epilepsy, which would not be a good thing when a surgeon is cutting out brain.

My wife was getting sicker and sicker from the tests as the days went by. I concluded it was withdrawal from the Valium and her antidepressant. I finally got a hold of the neurologist (which wasn't easy) and told him that he shouldn't be taking her off of these medicines. He agreed and had the Frantic staff put her back on these pills. She got a little better but by the 4th day she had lost so much weight and was so freaked out with cabin fever that I had to stop the tests, there was no other option, she was getting very sick and the ironic part was she was healthy getting into the hospital and a mess when I took her home, I had to take her home early. The neurologist said he found the area of the epilepsy and the surgeon could operate and remove that spot.

We returned home where my wife slowly recovered and awaited surgery. when the day came after all the MRIs and so on and so forth they operated. I saw her in intensive care after the surgery. She complained that her head was pounding. "Oh that is normal" I was told over and over again. I was told to relax. We were told not to do anything for at least a year just wait for the surgery to work. They pulled my wife from the Intensive care on the 2nd day and put her in a unit with 4 or 5 other sick people. The noise in the room was insane, she continued to complain about her head pounding, "Oh that is normal" we were told. They took off the cast and there was a huge lump in her head "Oh that is normal" she didn't sleep for 2 days! we were told again after only 4 days after the surgery they sent her home after the fella who put the plate in her head looked at the lump and the surgeon looked at the lump and said it was just swelling.

The 2nd day we were home my wife had no attacks, she smiled in bed despite the "imaginary" pain in her head. She told me she was hoping to some day have a job and drive a car and have a normal life. I never felt so good in my life, I never had so much hope. The 3rd night I she got ill at around 2 o'clock in the morning. Went to the bathroom and as she got up from the toilet she passed out and cracked her head against the corner of the shower, knocking down the shower curtain, she hit her head exactly where the plate was!!!! I ran into the bathroom and pulled her out of the bathtub in a panic. I wanted to call an ambulance but she refused! Anyhow I called her surgeon the next day and they had her in to see him the following day STAT. He was excellent, he had another MRI Done he had discovered the plate was put in wrong and they would have to remove it. I must admit, he had compassion, responsibility and competence.

Another surgery later the plate is removed and she is taken home, her seizures are beginning to last longer and they are stronger. The surgery has totally backfired and made the situation worse. But I don't blame the surgeon he did his job 110 percent. My wife's personality has totally changed, her logic is altered, her condition has worsened.

I was driving a beat up old car that kept breaking down ever month and driving 150 Km to my "Career" back and forth in I.T. I couldn't pay Rent, Gas, Utility's, Food, Car repairs, Insurance, eyeglasses for my wife, her dental visits, her pills etc. etc. I couldn't afford to live. I went to Social Services with my wife and Daughter. The woman refused to put my wife on a disability, as I was earning 13 or 15 dollars an hour(I can't remember), with no benefits, and pretty much the the soul supporter of a House, I was earning to much money. My wife continued to keep her meager Canadian Pension of 700 a month with no benefits. Her gums are disintegrating as a result of al the medication she was put on since she was a child soon her teeth must be pulled out, her vision was changing day to day after the surgery. we went through 3 sets of eyeglasses in 2 years!! I CANT AFFORD THIS!!!!

We booked an appointment with her neurologist and they tested her. Her speech is gone to that of a 3rd grader, they acted as if she was faking it. Her logic is not all there anymore, her eyes are slipping, she suffers from anorexia, physical pains, her epilepsy has gotten so bad so on and so on. The staff of the neurologist blamed me right there and then, they say that the problems are not a result of the surgery but our financial nightmare, you see "This is my fault". A month later I ask for her file from the neurologist, they can't seem to find the file anywhere, they misplaced it. To this day they can't find it, pity. Kinda hard to find something like a medical file, they go missing all the time I guess.

A Year goes by and another, like they didn't even exist. Finally I get my act together and figure that I got to get a lawyer to sue.

I called around to all the lawyers I could find, I CALLED 10 lawyers and was told the Same thing from 5 of them, you CANT FIGHT THE Canadian Medical Protection Association, and since they "LOST THE FILES" this makes things impossible. The Canadian Medical Protection Association I am told over and over again will spent what ever it take to WIN, and since our case is so complex we don't stand a chance.

My wife is not the same woman I married, and this has changed me I don't even recognize my self, some days I feel as though my life is over and there is no hope. I work 10 hour days 6 some times 7 days a week just to pay bills, never mind a savings. I can not look after the finances as I am exhausted beyond hope. I am not a spendthrift, I am to confused to look after bills, and as a result I fall behind, because I CAN'T look after doing all my own shopping, working 10 hour days, not to mention travel, doing my own cooking own laundry, emotional care giving, I am fried out of my mind with worry over my wife and our future!!!! I have gotten Sick emotionally and physically from this nightmare, There is no help and the only hope is this forum.

I suffer now from chronic neck and back pain, osteoporosis, anorexia and it is a miracle I haven't developed cancer from all the chain smoking and stress. We lost her kids as a result of this, I had to give up my Career, as I got emotionally sicker I snapped at work and burned the only bridge I had with a great boss and my CAREER IS OVER!!! I work retail now to try and pay the bills, but it is only a matter of time till I snap from the stress and physical pain I am experiencing and can no longer work. From the kids perspective there was to much friction in the family after all this, they took off to their fathers, I don't blame them. But when my daughter left for her dads my heart was torn out, that was the END of my life, the final nail in the coffin so to speak. There was no hope. I was working as a super administrator for a multi million dollar organization based out in New York, took me years of hard work and not giving up to get that job, now it is gone forever, I snapped at work as a result of this and burned my bridge, I'll never be able to work in IT again, my future is not looking to good.

I am so burnt out, and I know I am not alone, other Canadians are suffering like me at the Hands of the Canadian Medical Protection Association. Well that is where I stand, let's see where this leads us shall we. I am one [expletive deleted] pissed off [expletive deleted] dude, and if a goon approaches me, they are just adding fuel to the fire, this strategy backfires, I don't fear anything, really I don't. Fear is like gone, I have had so much of it that the force of fear has pushed me off a cliff and all I feel is a floating sensation, I no longer feel the force of the fear pushing me.

I am currently seeing a head doctor for my breakdown, and he is helping me, my family doctor is helping me, and if they make mistakes it is o.k., I don't have a problem if a person makes a mistake and they do everything they can to correct the problem, even if they can't correct the problem at least they tried and took responsibility. People are human, so are doctors, but we must admit our mistakes, I know I do.

One thing that is a fact and the Fact is this. We DO NOT have a Justice system in this country, we have a Legal system. If the person your fighting has more money than you the odds are not in your favor, the Casino always wins. The Casinos name is the Canadian Medical Protection Association.

Thanks Morley for letting me share this in your Blog. I stand behind You 110% in this quest.

John X