"Night Dream" in a BC Hospital If a Quebec patient refuses surgery: Father

A Quebec man who fell while visiting British Columbia and broke his jaw, cheekbones, and bones around his left eye was told to "not pay" to his home state. After that, the procedure is said to have been canceled.

Patrick Bélanger, 23, takes pride in the residents of Kebeck and the universal medical system, as doctors in other states can refuse to maintain treatment for Kebeckians. Said it was a warning to all Canadians. Not compensated.

Belange's ordeal began when he and his girlfriend were walking on the trails of the resort town of Sunpeaks on the night of June 10. He stumbled backwards in the dark and bouldered his face.

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He was taken by ambulance to the Royal Inland Hospital in Camloops shortly before midnight and was told that he needed surgery for a "facial fracture". However, due to the absence of a surgeon on Saturday, he was discharged with a prescription for percoset, an opioid-containing drug, to manage his pain, Bellanger said.

The next morning, he and his girlfriend Beth Cooper returned to the hospital for surgery. However, Veranger said the surgeon canceled the operation while preparing for the operating room.

"He said the hospital wouldn't let him operate because I was from Quebec," Bellanger said, and he presented his state health card when he arrived in Royal Innland. Added.

"I was a little shocked. Thinking more, I thought it didn't make sense. Usually you would have an operation and later figure out the bill, or at least I thought it would happen, "he said.

"I was pretty scared. I was taking a lot of pain and painkillers, so I was still quite off the hook.

Bellanger said he offered to pay for the surgery through his family's private insurance, but the surgeon refused the option and said he had to talk to the hospital manager at first. Weekend.

"When he said he couldn't operate today, he suggested that I return to the city of Quebec to perform the operation," Bellanger said.

He was given a 10-day window before his facial bones began to fuse.

"It's totally ridiculous for me to have a broken face and go to a commercial airline to have surgery. I thought. In my country. "

Veranger's father and mother arrived at Camloops later that week and tried to talk to the managers of interior health authorities about their son's best options. Failed, Richard Belanger said.

"We were confused about his basic rights as a Canadian," he said, calling his son's experience a "nightmare."

Richard Bellanger said he went to the surgeon's private clinic and provided information about his family's insurance plans and a credit card in case surgery could be done there. However, the staff told him that the serious facial fracture that his son suffered meant that the surgery had to be done in the hospital, he added.

The four days of distress after the surgery was canceled was "unbearable pain" by Veranger with prescription opioids and morphins. After managing, his case was another surgeon, he said.

"I woke up in the middle of the night and cried in pain."

The second doctor needed immediate intervention and had surgery 7 days after the fall. Said that was done.

His family said he was still confused as to why the former surgeon did not operate.

"It's a serious incompetence on the part of the hospital and a failure on the part of the Canadian medical system," said Martha Feliz, Belanger's mother.

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Both Patrick and Richard Bellanger say the end result was "discrimination" against patients from Quebec. I am. We do not participate in mutual billing agreements for doctor fees involving all other states and territories.

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BC doctors, an association representing doctors, the agreement allows its members to claim their own state medical service plans for patients from outside the state, and The plan was said to be refunded under the jurisdiction of the patient's home country.

"Doctors receive rewards as if the patient was BC. Residents" in writing rice field.

"If a resident of Quebec needs medical care in BC, the doctor will not be able to charge and receive payment from the MSP," the association said.

However, the doctor servicing Keveser can charge the state or a patient seeking a refund from the government.

The Quebec Health Department said doctors elsewhere would be paid as if the patient had the same treatment in his home state. Patients have to pay the difference in cost and can apply for a refund through private insurance. The

department recommended that Quebecs take out private insurance before traveling outside the state.

Richard Bellanger costs his family's private insurance company after the first surgeon wrote on his son's medical chart that he could return to Quebec for surgery within 10 days. Said he refused to pay.

When a doctor in the emergency room pointed out that his son's chart could be addicted, the insurance company initially refused to pay the cost. Mr. Bellanger said he was doing it. But when the family asked why the test to determine the presence of substances containing alcohol was not done, it was later excluded, he added.

Former surgeon Dr. Peter Stephanut declined the request for an interview.

He said in an email that he couldn't talk about a particular case, but "in an emergency, care is provided to all patients, regardless of state or country of origin."

Service reward issues are best addressed in BC. The Quebec government, Stephanut, added.

After the surgery, Dr. Bob Rishiraji, especially after learning that the patient had been taking opioid and metadon for days and waiting for a longer time, the "politics" surrounding the claim. He said he wasn't worried about. The surgery involved the risk of infection.

"I was very worried that he was using a lot of morphin and his pain wasn't well controlled, otherwise someone with potential drug abuse There is a problem that it may be, "he said.

"I think the patient is a patient, and it doesn't matter if he's from Quebec, Ontario, or where he came from," Rishiraji said.

He said the risk of the claimed patient not paying the doctor is low and the cost does not seem to be an issue for Belange's family.

Interior Health did not respond to the interview request, but the doctor was not an employee of the health authorities by email Stated.

Feliz said his family would pay Rishiraji $ 2,563 and apply for a refund from Quebec.

Ironically, she said she used private health insurance while traveling abroad, but didn't think she had to trust it in Canada.

"It's amazing and a bit shocking to me."

The British Columbia Department of Health did not answer the question that a patient in Quebec was denied surgery. did.

"Immeasurable" emotional sacrifice

Dr. Catherine Smart, President of the Canadian Medical Association, said Canada's Universal Healthcare System cares for all Canadian citizens and permanent residents. Said that it is intended to provide.

"We work with the state and quasi-state governments to ensure that Canadians get the care they need, when and where they need it, and the federal government is the principle of Canadian Health Law. It is highly recommended that this be applied evenly throughout the country, "she said in writing.

Health Canada states that mutual billing agreements help promote legal portability standards while people are temporarily absent elsewhere in the country and need care. He said it was an administrative arrangement between the territories.

"These agreements are voluntary and not a requirement of Canadian Health Law," he said in a written response. I am.

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Six weeks after surgery, Belange had a hard time talking because his jaw was closed with a wire, but he still suffered physical pain, including migraine. The emotional sacrifice was "immeasurable."

Damian Contandriopros, a nursing professor and health policy researcher at the University of Victoria, said that on average, the state has other jurisdictions for the same care, regardless of Quebec's billing scheme. He said he would pay a higher doctor rate. Practiced many years ago.

Thousands of patients in Quebec take care of their doctors in a border town in Ontario, and the state often reimburses them, he said. He added that he was "shocked" by the denial of service. Based on billing issues.

However, British Columbia doctors, who are cared for by a relatively small number of Quebecs, are listed on about 3,000 pages in several complex categories, so they can provide information on the fees that the state pays. You may be discouraged from looking for it. Contandrio Bros, a former resident of Quebec, said.

In the case of Veranger, the surgeon should contact the insurance company's 24/7 telephone line to get information from the person in charge, rather than saying that the manager is absent on weekends. Said Contandrio Bros.

He called Veranger's week-long waiting for surgery "insane."

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