Canadian Governor Seeks Heart Surgery in America

Best analogy of this story I've seen so far was at Instapundit.  There they said it was akin to the CEO of GM telling his customers and workers to buy GM at every union and shareholders meeting -- only to turn around and head for the nearest Ford dealership.

Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams is set to undergo heart surgery this week in the United States.

CBC News confirmed Monday that Williams, 60, left the province earlier in the day and will have surgery later in the week.

The premier's office provided few details, beyond confirming that he would have heart surgery and saying that it was not necessarily a routine procedure.

Deputy Premier Kathy Dunderdale is scheduled to hold a news conference Tuesday morning.

She's expected to provide more details about Williams's condition, as well as how the provincial government will function during his absence.

CBC reporter David Cochrane said Williams appeared to be in good health recently. He described the premier as "fairly active," playing pick-up hockey at least once a week when work permits.

Makes you wonder if we become Canada with our health care, where will the Canadian political elite -- who sell the values of an NHS daily and with a straight face -- go when they need a doctor?

Well, the Olympics are coming to Canada next week in Vancouver.  Might be the only time that nation sees the vast importation of doctors it will in a long, long time.

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February 2, 2010 · Filed under U.S. Politics, World News

  • Bruce
    So what? Health care is not now and never will be equal. Quality is uneven. If Labrador and Newfoundland lack a qualified and available surgical team to do needed surgery, why not go to the USA? Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto may be farther than Boston. Those who have sufficient resources will seek quality care, those who lack resources will take what is available. An emergency room will tell you that you have cancer but you or someone will still have to pay for surgery, radiation or chemotherapy. There are plenty of people in Minneapolis/St. Paul who go to Rochester for treatment - because they can afford it! Plenty of people in Minneapolis/St.Paul can not make that choice. Americans who shill for insurance company positions and greed should reconsider their simple minded comparisons with Canada & England. Those systems grew up in a different era and continue to deal with realities of their countries. The US medical care system will not become Canada's system. The medical mess that the contemporary USA is facing needs commentary on complexity way beyond the simple-minded analogy of a GM executive purchasing a Ford.
  • Art Hackett
    You should pay attention to the phrase, "not a routine procedure." Provincial health care systems frequently send patients to larger cities. St. John, the capitol of Newfoundland, has a population of about 100,000 people. It's not cost effective to have a program for unusual surgical procedures. And it's not good medicine, either. If you need a particular operation, you're better off with a surgical team that does it over and over, day after day. Like everything else, practice makes perfect.

    What they do instead is pay to fly you to the nearest hospital which does have a high volume program. My guess is he's in Boston.

    And don't call Canadian health care a National Health Service. The plans are all run at the provincial level with private doctors.
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