onmymind

I should start off this edition of “Why Americans Should NOT Envy the Canadian Healthcare System” by letting you know that, at least, in Ontario, Canada, we citizens are forced to sign a contract/legal document swearing that we will ONLY seek medical advice from ONE family doctor. I am sure that this began as a precaution to ensure that a single citizen is not bogarting multiple doctors when there are family’s out there without. This, if it were for sure a fact, could be considered a beneficial thing, but, as a negative, it means that Canadians have lost their say in concern with their ability to choose with whom to entrust their healthcare.

A family doctor in Canada is expected to act as the equivalent of a pediatrician / adult doctor / psychiatrist / OBGyn / Proctologist / and most every specialist you can think of. A family doctor is expected to be all of these things; however, I would like you to keep in mind that all of these types of doctors (specialists) are available separately in Canada.

Additionally, family doctors, as we Canadians dub them, are usually the basic graduates from medical school - they’ve learned the basics, but have not necessarily ‘specialized’. There are some of them available that have specialized (meaning extra education), but this usually ensures that they have not received all of their education within North America. In fact, it is usually after entering
North America that they have received their basic license to practice as a family physician… this is AFTER they’ve already received a license to specialize from another country – this is another issue unto itself that I may get into in a future blog. 

By all means, a family physician that has been previously licensed in another country is not a problem per-say, because all doctors are from different ilks, and all doctors have been proven to make mistakes, but it does mean a difficulty in successful communication between doctor and patient. And despite my own belief that all people should remain equal, can we really guarantee that a doctor from abroad will leave their cultural beliefs behind when treating a patient? After all, it’s hard enough to expect that a doctor from ‘home’ will be able to successfully leave their own personal morals at the examination room door. A mild example would include my own family doctors’ ‘comforting words’ in response to my concern about being able to conceive a child while having a thyroid problem… her response to me (which I can only assume stemmed from her religious and/or homeland beliefs – anything but her medical know-how) was simply that my concerns of fertility DID NOT matter. Her reasoning only included that ‘because I was not to be married for another week and two days, we (my fiancé and I) were not to be concerned with our ability to conceive children until after then’. Hmm was this her wanting me to make yet another appointment in two weeks? (See “Why Americans Should NOT Envy the Canadian Healthcare System (PART ONE - A Basic Doctor’s Appointment) Or was this the result of her own (non-medical) beliefs - the same beliefs that made her feel that it was appropriate to hang a giant ‘Jesus on the Cross’ statue in her old waiting room – the one she had before she recently moved into this new ‘walk-in-clinic’ environment. 

One cannot help but wonder what the possible reasons why we Canadians are lacking in available family doctors. Yes, a major reason is probably the difference in pay that our country offers in comparison to the country to the south of us, but could it also include the fact that our doctors are not expected exemplify the type of care and concern for a patient that is deserved within a single visit – therefore these doctors are awarded with a revisit? Could the Canadian family physicians’ overall ‘lack of interest’ in their patients be enforced by the fact that (despite how they treat and care for their patients) they get paid no matter what, AND continue to be ensured of future appointments/paychecks for ‘re-seeing’ the same patients that they have ignored before?

No matter what the reason, we Canadians find that these doctors’ paychecks have been blatantly pre-guaranteed by the Canadian government… NO MATTER WHAT!

(Ergo) The Canadian family doctor has a guaranteed paycheck… a paycheck that is rewarded by the almighty mountainous Canadian tax dollar… a tax that, through the permission of a group of poorly elected officials that reside in our country’s capital city (despite the satisfaction of the Canadians who pay these taxes), is supposed to ensure an equal opportunity for ALL Canadians to have equal access to worthy healthcare.

And so…BECAUSE THEY CAN:

…family doctors, in Canada, ensure the financial wellbeing of themselves OVER the overall wellbeing of their patients by making Canadians (at least Ontarians) sign a legal document swearing that they cannot look outside of their office for medical opinions.

…family doctors, in Canada, are less likely to recommend a specialist, and instead offer 3 minutes of their time and get paid for 10 minutes.

…family doctors, in Canada, purposefully do not send their patients to specialists in order to hoard as much available ‘healthcare’ money for themselves.

In conclusion, it seems that family doctors, in Canada, are NOT expected to fulfill their Hippocratic Oath – BECAUSE THEY CAN!

Has anyone else ever noticed how the much the words ‘Hippocratic’ and ‘Hypocrite’ are so much alike?

May I please leave you at this point of the series with a copy of the modern Hippocratic Oath:

I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant:I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow.I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures [that] are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism.I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon’s knife or the chemist’s drug.I will not be ashamed to say “I know not,” nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient’s recovery.I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. If it is given me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS