So Much for the benifits of the free Canadian Health System...

[LadyMischief]

So I was recently diagnosed with Von Willebrands disease, a genetic bleeding disorder that obviously has to be dealt with before I go for any surgery. I went into the hospital today to do what they call a "DVCPP Challenge", that tests a certain medication's effectiveness in increasing VW factor in the blood to promote clotting. The test requires that they draw 5 vials before, administer the medication for 10 minutes, sit and wait for an hour or however long and then take more vials after. The woman suggested that instead of me getting poked 3 times, would take the intial vials off the iv before she put the tube on. I figured that was fine so I agreed.

She puts the iv in, takes the vials, then wanders away. Of course, she failed to turn off the iv valve before she left so I sat there bleeding all over the place, didn't know how to turn the damn thing off and trying to flag someone down without moving around too much (the room had suddenly gotten busy with a ton of people getting blood transfusions). 5 minutes later the twit nurse wanders back and says "Oh my! What a mess let's clean this up", thankfully the rest of the proceedure went without a hitch (until the time came to REMOVE the iv, that is). Let's say when she removed the iv, she wasn't so watchful and ended up messy. I was so put off by the whole thing, here I am getting medication for a bleeding disorder and she is letting me bleed all over before I even get the medication! Fortunately (hopefully) it wouldn't have been life-threatening TOO quickly, but it was uncomfortable and definitely unneccessary.

I can't say I don't appreciate our system the way it is as far as accessibility and affordability, but at the same time I guess you get what you pay for?

I'm still shaking my head.