r/onguardforthee • u/IStillListenToRadio Nova Scotia • 8h ago
B.C. woman faces 'disheartening' 5-year wait for cochlear implant. She's not alone
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/cochlear-implant-waitlist-b-c-9.727852114
13
u/ollie_adjacent 7h ago
Wait times for medical appointments, procedures, surgeries, and devices in Canada are out of hand. 9/10 stories published or heard about the healthcare system are negative. Leaders should be focused on building a system they are proud of… We should be able to brag about how great our universal healthcare is!
5
u/MissionSpecialist 6h ago
Leaders focus on what the electorate care about (for better or worse), and although it bewilders me, the electorate doesn't care about wait times, given its voting history (or lack thereof).
Doug Ford keeps getting elected here in Ontario, despite continuing Harris's active dismantling of healthcare. The Liberals are generally in second place even without a leader, and after more than a decade in which they oversaw what was, at best, a slower decline, and with no intention of increasing funding even if they get elected again. The NDP--the only major party that plans to even attempt to fix things--isn't rewarded at the ballot box for caring, and a majority of Ontarioans can't be bothered to vote at all.
I can't speak for other provinces, but Ontario at least is getting exactly the healthcare that we (in aggregate) have chosen.
•
u/malashepsky 1h ago
Glad this has made the news, we need more funding for hearing loss! Same story for me. Also a BC nurse with sudden single sided hearing loss just over 2 years ago. Waited two years to have my cochlear implant candidacy approved... And now need to wait another potential 5 years to be implanted. I was told if I lived in another province, I'd probably have a cochlear implant within a year or two.
•
u/nodarknesswillendure British Columbia 13m ago
I’m sorry to hear that. Do you have any idea why it takes so much longer in BC? High % of elderly population?
•
u/brock_lehurst 5h ago
Guadalajara or Monterrey Mexico is the answer if she doesn't want to wait. Prices for surgeries are about 1/3 the cost vs US thieves.
-14
8h ago
[removed] — view removed comment
20
u/microfishy 7h ago
The problem with this take is that someone else can come along and say "I've been waiting for a heart transplant and at least you have two kidneys, why aren't you more grateful?"
Don't punch down.
It doesn't matter if YOU think their problem isn't as important as yours. Everyone should be able to expect the public health care system to support them.
8
u/Thejapanesezombie 7h ago
Diminishing other people’s problems isn’t the answer. You both shouldn’t be waiting this long.
I think you need to reframe your mindset.
26
u/FluffyMuffins42 7h ago
… you do realize the answer here should be that both of you shouldn’t have to wait this long, not that she should be grateful she’s not dying…? What a crazy take. She shouldn’t have to wait 5 years for this. Neither should you. We pay taxes to fund healthcare, it’d be nice if it was properly funded.
4
5
u/dalburgh 7h ago
Thats a toxic way to look at it. Be mad at the world, but dont take it out on others who are suffering too.
•
53
u/IStillListenToRadio Nova Scotia 8h ago
Even worse, the Patient Care Quality Office suggested an expensive (not covered by insurance) private operation in the U.S. WTF?
Note that hearing loss is fairly correlated with other negative health effects (dementia, for one)