Hospital ‘nightmare’ in B.C. for Quebec patient denied surgery: father
Global News
Patrick Bélanger says he was denied surgery for a week after he fell and broke his jaw and cheekbone and ended up in the emergency room of a hospital in B.C.
A Quebec man who fell and broke his jaw, cheekbone and a bone around his left eye while visiting British Columbia says his surgery was cancelled after he was told his home province “won’t pay” for the procedure.
Patrick Bélanger, 23, said his experience is a warning for residents of Quebec and all Canadians who take pride in a universal health-care system because doctors in other provinces could deny treatment to Quebecers by maintaining they won’t be compensated.
Bélanger’s ordeal began when he and his girlfriend were walking along a trail in the resort town of Sun Peaks, B.C., on the evening of June 10. He tripped and stumbled backwards in the dark, hitting his face on a boulder.
He was taken by ambulance to Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops just before midnight and was told he needed surgery for a “broken face.” But a surgeon was not available on Saturday, so he was discharged with a prescription for the opioid-containing drug Percocet to manage his pain, Bélanger said.
The following morning, he and his girlfriend, Beth Cooper, returned to the hospital for surgery. But Bélanger said that just as he was being prepared for the operating room, the surgeon cancelled the procedure.
“He said that the hospital would not let him do the surgery because I was from Quebec,” Bélanger said, adding he’d presented his provincial health card when he arrived at Royal Inland.
“I was kind of in shock. As I thought about it more, I thought that doesn’t make sense. Normally, you’d do the surgery and figure out billing afterwards, or at least I thought that’s what was going to happen,” he said.
“I was pretty scared. I was still pretty out of it because I was in quite a bit of pain and on pain medications.