Tired of waiting for surgery? Grab a bullhorn
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 19/12/2023 (659 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Do Manitobans have to beg and grovel to get proper medical treatment these days? It appears so, at least when it comes to orthopedic surgery.
Those who can advocate for themselves, or who have family and friends who can speak out on their behalf — including making “noise” through the news media or other channels — have, sadly, always received speedier care than those who don’t. However, the problem seems to be getting worse as Canada’s beleaguered heath-care system continues to fall apart.
Those who make the most noise get the fastest care. Those who don’t, or can’t, for whatever reason, get neglected, whether it’s in an emergency department waiting room or on a surgical wait list.

Ste. Anne resident Karen Bennett called everyone and anyone she could think of, including the news media, to pressure the system to get her procedure done. It worked. (Supplied)
They wait in pain and agony, month after month, hoping the phone will ring to tell them their hip or knee replacement surgery is booked. They have no idea when that phone call will come, nor how long it will take to get their procedure once they do hear from a health-care administrator.
Until then, their quality of life deteriorates. They try to find the strength to endure the worsening pain shooting through bodies and struggle with the mental anguish it causes.
This is the state of Canada’s “universal,” government-run health-care system.
The only solution, it appears, is to speak up and make noise. Those who do, such as 77-year-old Karen Bennett, who got knee surgery nearly three months ago at Grace Hospital, get their procedures faster.
Bennett, who had been waiting in pain and misery, called everyone and anyone she could think of, including the news media, to pressure the system to get her procedure done. It worked. The squeaky wheel got the grease.
“One nurse said, ‘Karen Bennett. Oh! Are you the one that was in the paper?’ I said, ‘Yes, I am.’ So, my name was out there,” Bennett recently told a Free Press reporter.
Ugh. What a way to run a health-care system.
The truth is, many people get treatment based on how much noise they make or how well they can advocate for themselves or their loved ones.
Winnipegger Mark Havens also had to speak up to get his much-needed hip surgery after waiting longer than expected for the procedure. He finally got it on Nov.6, but not until after he spoke out in the news media. Then, like so many others who have been forced to shout from the rooftops to get medical treatment, his appointment magically appeared.
“I had no intention of being a squeaky wheel in order to get moved ahead. What I wanted was honest answers to questions about the process and the status of the backlog. What I got was a fast surgery date,” he wrote to the Free Press in an email.
It makes a mockery of claims by health-care administrators and politicians who say patients wait for treatment based on need, level of acuity and how long they’ve been waiting. The truth is, many people get treatment based on how much noise they make or how well they can advocate for themselves or their loved ones.
They jump the queue (if there even is a queue), not with money by paying directly for a service, but through advocacy and how loud their voices are. You can’t blame them. It’s the only way they can get timely care.
If you embarrass the system enough by going public, you’ll get treatment. If you don’t, you wait.
Obviously the system is under-resourced. In Manitoba, funding cuts to acute-care services in favour of tax cuts delivered by the former Progressive Conservative government have had a deleterious effect on front-line services.
But there’s more to it than that. Canada’s single-payer universal health-care system run by politicians doesn’t work well, at least not compared with universal health-care systems in developed countries around the world (and I’m not talking about the United States, so don’t @me).
And it will only get worse with a growing and aging population. As the baby boomers move into their 70s and 80s, the system — as it’s currently configured and resourced — simply doesn’t have the capacity and flexibility to respond.
Shockingly, Canada has done virtually nothing to reform its health-care system over the past three decades when it comes to how it’s funded and run (except to add more layers of government bureaucracy, which has done nothing to improve patient care).
It will get worse before it gets better unless this country wakes up and realizes the health-care model it put its faith into over the past several decades doesn’t work.
tom.brodbeck@freepress.mb.ca

Tom Brodbeck is an award-winning author and columnist with over 30 years experience in print media. He joined the Free Press in 2019. Born and raised in Montreal, Tom graduated from the University of Manitoba in 1993 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and commerce. Read more about Tom.
Tom provides commentary and analysis on political and related issues at the municipal, provincial and federal level. His columns are built on research and coverage of local events. The Free Press’s editing team reviews Tom’s columns before they are posted online or published in print – part of the Free Press’s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
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