Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
U.S. fighter slams Canada's 'Third World' health system
Brock Lesnar (JIM MONE / ASSOCIATED PRESS ARCHIVES)
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MIXED martial arts champion Brock Lesnar slammed the Canadian health-care system as "Third World" Wednesday during a news conference announcing his return to cage-fighting following a battle with a digestive disease.
Lesnar -- the heavyweight champion for the popular Ultimate Fighting Championship and a former WWE pro wrestling star -- says he had felt unwell for some time when he became ill at a hunting lodge at a Canadian location he refused to disclose. He said the lodge was three hours from the nearest medical centre.
That medical centre -- which a media report this morning identifies as Brandon Regional Hospital -- wasn't up to the fighter's standards.
"I love Canada," said Lesnar. "Some of the best people and best hunting in the world, but I wasn't in the right facility."
"They couldn't do nothing for me," he added. "It was like I was in a Third World country. I just looked at my wife and she saved my life and I had to get out of there."
Lesnar's wife, former WWE wrestler Sable, took the six-foot-three, 285-pound giant away from the medical facility in "excruciating pain" and "drove 100 miles per hour" across the border to Bismarck, N.D.
"That doctor there saved my career and saved my life," he said. "That's when I made a phone call to (UFC president Dana White), cussing him out and told him to send a jet for me."
The controversial champion, who calls himself a "conservative Republican," used his experience to launch a tirade against U.S. health-care reform efforts by President Barack Obama.
"The only reason I'm mentioning this, I'm mentioning it to the United States of America because President Obama is looking for health-care reform and I don't want it ... I'm speaking on behalf of millions of Americans, the doctors of the United States don't want this to happen and neither do I."
Lesnar refused to disclose whether the Canadian facility that he felt was inadequate was a major city hospital or a rural outpost, but claimed that the care he received in the United States, and later at the prestigious Mayo Clinic, was far superior and thus was evidence that the U.S. health-care system is the best in the world.
Lesnar was suffering from diverticulitis, a condition that causes the colon to become inflamed. In Lesnar's case, his intestine became perforated, which meant his body was being slowly poisoned from within.
Lesnar said he hadn't felt well for a month and, while relaxing in his lodge, "it just climaxed and the perforation happened. I woke up in shock, in a cold sweat. I didn't know where I was and realized I had to seek medical help.
"I was out in the boondocks up there, so it was about three hours from what I thought would be a good medical facility."
The condition came about, says Lesnar, from an all-protein diet.
"I'm a carnivore. I'm not a big fan of PETA. I'm a member of the NRA and whatever I kill, I eat. And basically I was just, for years, surviving on meat and potatoes and when the greens came by, I just kept passing them."
"I'm just stating the facts," he added. "I love Canada, I own property in Canada but if I had to choose between getting care in Canada or the United States, I'd choose the United States.
"I hate to bash them but, I'm not one to get into the political side of things but our health-care system is a little radical -- we have the best doctors in the world. Our system does need some restructuring but I don't believe a total reform is the answer."
Lesnar has his own health insurance but also benefits from coverage paid for by the UFC.
At the end of the news conference, Lesnar admitted that his U.S. health-care adventure wasn't all perfect, telling reporters that he was initially misdiagnosed -- he thinks -- with a case of mononucleosis.
-Canwest News Service
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition January 21, 2010 A2
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