Comments on: Ottawa hospital accused of giving Karlsson preferential treatment

By: jaredphi

jaredphi — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 14:20:15 +0000

For my part, I can’t criticize something that’s far superior to the medical system we have here in America.

We should’ve passed a Single Payer healthcare bill instead of Obamacare.

The issue is rather simple:

- You can pay a little more in taxes out of each paycheck (and have ALL the risk taken out of the equation if you get cancer, a heart attack or another expensive healthcare problem. These medical issues are at least HALF MILLION DOLLAR bills (or $1 million or more) and insurance won’t cover the majority of their costs.

- You can pay the same taxes you pay now, keep the American system and risk getting an expensive medical problem, whereupon if you are working or middle class, you will find yourself BANKRUPT without two nickels to rub together (and likely incapable of paying for your treatment all the way through to returning to good health)

For those that think all this unregulated, shoot-for-the-moon capitalism is a good thing in the US medical system, please read the special issue of TIME magazine from a couple of weeks ago (it has a white pill on the cover) on our out-of-control, ever-spiraling healthcare costs here in the states. Real eye opener!

By: thehighcountrybear

thehighcountrybear — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 02:34:36 +0000

chanceoffleury1: I care diddly squat if Karlsson is a Norris winner or if he can walk on water. In Canada, public healthcare is equally accessible to all, and not determined by ability to play an insipid and inherently violent kid’s game. If the Senators were not the penny-pinching farce they are [ look at the players they've let slip away ], they’d have ensured access to first class private health care for their players. Ottawa’s the pork-barrel freeloading hyper sponge capital of Canada…why would the Senators not presume right to the same privilege. Get me a kidney pan nurse, I need to vomit…

By: thehighcountrybear

thehighcountrybear — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 02:14:29 +0000

Um, they don’t have hospitals in Pittsburgh…? If the injury warranted immediate care bypassing everyone else in ER, it should have been attended in Pittsburgh where they have some of the finest hospitals in the world. Putting Karlsson through travel including processing through customs and immigration tells me the injury was either non critical or Senators management had already manipulated the Ottawa hospital before ever leaving Pittsburgh. The fact of the matter is, professional teams presume right to preferential treatment and always have. The problem of privileged access to healthcare is so bad in Alberta, a highly damning public inquiry is underway, and has been extended in time and mandate simply to deal with the sheer volume of complaints [ guess who have been fingered for abuse of privilege ]?

By: chicagobtech

chicagobtech — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 02:03:21 +0000

I’ve never heard that one from Canada, only England. The stories I’ve heard from Canadians and medical usually ends up as some flavor of waiting a long time for tests or crossing the border with a voucher and hit up an American clinic.

By: chanceoffleury1

chanceoffleury1 — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 02:02:42 +0000

If he had been there since 7:30 and it was now midnight I can PROMISE you that his mother’s blood pressure was not actually at 200. I’m a nurse and if they were sending Erik Karlsson to this emergency room than it was obviously one that knew what they were doing. They would have admitted her after taking her vitals if it was that high. That being said, a flesh laceration on a major joint is a level 2 injury at my hospital. That is one step below injuries like emergency amputation. I’m gonna take a shot in the dark here and say his mother ended up just fine.

You think Lebron James and Tom Brady are gonna sit and wait in the general admission emergency room when they blow a knee ( or get a cramp in Lebron’s case)? You live in Canada, bro. If you don’t want reigning Norris Trophy winners to get treatment over your hypochondriac mother than move to the Congo or something. It’s just the world we live in. You don’t have to like it, but something tells me Erik Karlsson and the Senators don’t really care.

By: rpiotr01

rpiotr01 — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 01:44:47 +0000

Man who cares. Karlsson needs his knees more than some normal lady does.

By: chanceoffleury1

chanceoffleury1 — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 01:34:51 +0000

Um, probably because the game was at 7pm in Pittsburgh. It’s around a 2 hour flight from Pittsburgh to Ottawa. C’mon, countrybear, keep up. Injury probably happened around 8:30-ish (end of 2nd period), they evaluate him and determine he needs to head home for emergency surgery. Get him on a plane by 9:30pm. 2 hour flight lands him at around 11:30pm. Then a half hour to get him to the hospital for surgery around midnight. Timeline seems a-okay to me.

By: 950003cups

950003cups — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 01:01:32 +0000

How did this become a story?

By: r8rbhawk

r8rbhawk — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 00:15:05 +0000

Why, if it isn’t my old friend, Mr. McGreg. With a leg for an arm and an arm for a leg.

By: thehighcountrybear

thehighcountrybear — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 00:10:51 +0000

If Karlsson’s injury was so critical, why did it take until after midnight to get him to hospital…? How many other people were in the queue, and how critical were their injuries…it’s evident the ER was backed up? I think the concern is genuine if Karlsson simply arrived, and was whisked-off to surgery before people who’d been waiting for hours for some semblance of care…

By: habsman

habsman — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 23:35:49 +0000

Dr. Recchi could have fixed the tendon, looked after this guys mother, and delivered a baby…all at the same time.

What a guy.

By: jpelle82

jpelle82 — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 23:20:22 +0000

i’d be willing to bet momma was on govt healthcare and karlsson was not

By: mj2sexay

mj2sexay — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 22:47:38 +0000

Call 1-800-DOCTORB

The B is for bargain!

By: modellforprez

modellforprez — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 22:31:14 +0000

Cookie should have clipped both of his tendons. hope he never recovers.

By: 19to77

19to77 — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 22:26:22 +0000

Tim Thomas, get in here, we need you for something.

By: esracerx46

esracerx46 — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 21:19:37 +0000

Hi Doctor Nick!

By: r8rbhawk

r8rbhawk — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 20:36:20 +0000

Not one comment criticizing socialized medicine? Either this truly is a hockey site or the trolls have taken the day off.

By: jaredphi

jaredphi — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 20:20:47 +0000

I feel bad for the guy and his moms….but I concur with the other comments (so far) in this thread.

Deferring to this board’s EMT/firefighter, who would definitely be the one to consult for a ruling on this issue.

Thanks for sharing your medical expertise, phillyphann83.

By: Simon

Simon — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 20:08:40 +0000

Did you go to the Hollywood Upstairs Medical College too?

By: digbysellers

digbysellers — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 20:02:01 +0000

Hi everybody!

By: sportsfreak13

sportsfreak13 — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 20:01:07 +0000

Was the man who brought his ailing mother in for attention last name cooke? Jokes aside i dont think this guy has any claim here and this should be a non story.

By: thecheeman

thecheeman — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 19:45:11 +0000

Doctor Nick Riviera of the Ottawa Medical Review Board will surely have the final say in this exquisitely Canadian caper.

By: withseidelinn

withseidelinn — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 19:30:33 +0000

“You can’t tell me his achilles tendon isn’t urgent”. This is a case of someone just showcasing their stupidity.

By: phillyphannn83

phillyphannn83 — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 19:20:21 +0000

I’m a firefighter/EMT and a sliced Achilles, while not dire by any stretch, is still more urgent than elevated blood pressure, which is extremely common in the elderly, especially if there is a family history of it. Sorry pal, coulda, shoulda, woulda, doesn’t rule the ER.

By: xflyersx

xflyersx — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 19:11:49 +0000

He’s clearly not a Sens fan!

By: Stiller43

Stiller43 — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 19:10:05 +0000

I actually side with the hospital on this one. Sounds like his mother was in a hightened state of worry, but nothing was too wrong at that point. Then someone comes in who has a huge slice in their leg which also cut 70% of their achilles…i think thats the more urgent case at that point.

By: chicagobtech

chicagobtech — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 19:03:34 +0000

Sounds like a case of a famous person needing urgent care versus a guy’s mother needing moderate care. Sorry dude, you may love your mother but if the hospital followed established guidelines then you’re out of luck.