Woman waits 5 days for surgery on broken arm

[alp227]

A woman in Langley, B.C., says she has spent five days in agony in a makeshift hallway room at Surrey Memorial Hospital waiting for surgery to mend a broken arm.

Lee Campbell says even her surgeon was shocked by how long she'd been sitting at the hospital, unable to eat almost all day in case the surgery could suddenly be performed.

"It's very frustrating," Campbell told CBC News Friday. "It's painful ... I'm not sleeping well."

A misstep in a parking lot Monday caused her to fall, breaking her arm. That was the day Surrey Memorial put Campbell, 65, on a list for unplanned surgeries.

Full story: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2011/05/13/bc-surrey-memorial-campbell-surgery.html

Yikes...the downside of universal health care? How does this "unplanned surgery" list work anyway?

[ClusterFreak]

1. More like hospital staff were negligent in the extreme.

It's an anomoly in the extreme as well. Just like stories you hear about people dying waiting in ER waiting rooms in the States. A tragic anomoly.

[thelordofhell]

2. Yeah, she should just go to the States

I'm sure she can afford the 10 thousand dollars it would probably cost for her uninsured visit to an American hospital....and that's before any treatment.

[polly7]

3. This isn't a downside of anything ......... just a 'very' rare and terrible

mistake that could have happened anywhere with any system, and is in no way representative of universal health-care. Good try though.

[Very_Boring_Name]

4. Man dies at Hospital after waiting 16 hours for treatment

See, I can do it too.

http://www.ksat.com/news/26827797/detail.html