Apres le jour

[tealin]

So ... what was up with Bastille Day this year?

I mean, not in France; obviously there were parades and fireworks and stuff. I mean in the U.S. of A. I never remember this much attention being paid to Bastille Day outside of 'Learning about the culture is just as important as learning the language' bloody useless French class. Did I just never notice it before? Is it a California thing?* Or is it, as I cynically suspect, because we have a new administration and thus it's OK to not hate France anymore so anyone with an international perspective is celebrating this by overcompensating?

*very much doubt this

Comments

Re: leave canada out of this once and for all

[noodledaddy.livejournal.com]

Lack of hospitals and doctors equals rationing. More hospitals and doctors would cost money. There was a town in Ontario that had a lottery to see who would get in to see the doctor.
http://www.intermedglobal.com/news_canadian_doctors_shortage.html

The wait is not from the time you are in the hospital, it is from the time you are diagnosed as needing a new hip. Individual results may vary, but 18 months is the average wait for a hip replacement in BC. Bellingham hospitals say "Thanks!"

My Mother-In-Law literally went to the hospital 3 times and waited a total of 6 months for minor shoulder surgery so she could lift her arm above her shoulder.

In England there was a cool deal where the government guaranteed that on admittance to an emergency room, you would be seen in X hours. We'll when the line got too long the ambulances would literally sit in the parking lot with their patients inside for hours rather than admitting them and having their wait inside be too long.

The shorter wait for pets comes from government-funded MRI centers (or would it be centres?) not being allowed to be paid by human patients, but being allowed to be open after hours to take cash for animals. Thus, the very same piece of equipment being available for quickly pets but not humans.

There is no such thing as free health care. The doctors, nurses, and staff get paid. Equipment needs to get purchased. Hospitals need to be maintained. You just need to pay more taxes to get more doctors and more hospitals.

Re: leave canada out of this once and for all

[aspectabund.livejournal.com]

Well, it was still a four days' wait in my grandmother's case. She broke her hip, four days of waiting in the hospital later, she got it fixed. Which is beside the point, but just so you know, haha.

Yikes about the lottery thing. Nothin' really to be said about that.

As for the MRI thing, I was referring to situations such as at the clinic my mother works at, where they have an in-house MRI. It's not actually big enough for people, and they have to knock out the larger dogs so they don't bonk their heads or mess up the equipment. I have no real know-how about government-run MRI centres, and I won't pretend I do. C:

Anyway, my point was that if we had enough doctors and hospitals Canada's health care system would be much more functional. Since we don't, it is not working as well as it could be.