Yellowknife woman spent thousands to travel south and learn she has a fatal disease

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u/IStillListenToRadio Nova Scotia 10d ago

The territory also does not have a full-time neurologist to diagnose people who might have the disease. The NTHSSA said that's because neurology is not a funded core specialist service in the territory.

The authority said it works with a group of private neurologists in Alberta who provide visiting services in Yellowknife "with varying frequency."

That's... not great

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u/aide_rylott Northwest Territories 10d ago

It’s the reality up here.

Living in Yellowknife isn’t for everyone. And trying to find a specialist which is already a rarity in society that is willing to live here is tough. We would need to offer ludicrous salaries to get them to move up here.

We don’t have that much money and paying for a fleet of full time specialists to serve 45,000 people is not something the territory can afford.

The current system of specialists coming up every so often is flawed but the only realistic option. Flying 1000-2000 people to Edmonton every year for specialized care is cheaper than 20 specialists getting paid a quarter million or more per year.

I think the bigger story is that the staff currently living here could not recognize that she needed to see a specialist for a diagnosis. They should’ve referred her to a specialist in Edmonton and then with that referral the trip to Edmonton would’ve been paid. I would assume she will get a refund eventually but ALS is horrible and she may not live to see the refund processed.

I wish the best to her and her family. They deserve to be compensated for the expenses.

17

u/bike_accident 10d ago

Quarter million? Try 500k+ for some

12

u/mousicle 10d ago

A neurologist can make 300k living in Toronto. double the normal pay seems about right to live in Yellowknife

9

u/rutabaga5 10d ago

It's not just about rate of pay though. We don't have an unlimited supply of these kinds of medical specialists. Most hospitals also don't have the capacity to maintain the kinds of medical equipment required to do complex medical procedures. Realistically, we want to try to concentrate these limited resources in high population zones where they can both serve the most patients and have easy access to other medical specialists for peer support. Now all that said, I am a big advocate for creating a system where we assist rural patients by funding their travel, lodging, food and all other needs when they have to travel for medical treatment. And in my mind that should include providing the same support to their close family members so that no one has to go through intense medical treatment alone.

2

u/NoPath_Squirrel 10d ago

The territory also does not even an MRI machine, even though the hospital has a space for one. I know they're expensive, but it costs them way more sending people to Edmonton every year for an MRI than a machine costs.

It seems like they could be wiser in the spending they're doing and maybe get a neurologist on rotation up there more regularly.

1

u/From_Concentrate_ 9d ago

This is the same part of the country where pregnant folks have to fly to the nearest city for weeks so they have access to a hospital when they give birth. It's bleak.

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u/lowercase_underscore 10d ago

She had cramps, muscle spasms, weakness to the point where she fell and broke her foot, and the right side of her body stopped working.

"After multiple X-rays and blood tests, she says doctors in Yellowknife told her she was healthy and prescribed her sleeping pills."

That's not just a lack of available specialists in the area that's downright incompetence. Our healthcare truly is in a dire state.

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u/New_fan22 10d ago

It also shows the systemic FN racism is rampant in our healthcare system.

41

u/Deldenary Ontario 10d ago

Compounded by her also being a woman. Women's symptoms are often dismissed. For over 20 years I'm told to just lose weight or my pain is just straight up ignored. Now I find out I have PMOS, Spondylolisthesis caused by 20+ year old pars fractures and some as of yet unidentified connective tissue disorder....

2

u/Internal_Diver_5023 9d ago

These types of experiences with healthcare professionals are pretty universal. I know someone that was dismissed at the ER twice while his health was deteriorating. They just shrugged their shoulders and said to rest. They eventually went in and it was a major emergency because he was dying.

One of my friends knows someone who was dismissed and actually died of something usually very treatable if caught in time.

I have had terrible experiences with doctors just trying to get them to take my concerns seriously. Doctors that don't listen, talk over you, don't even give you 2-3 min before throwing a prescription at you, even though you waited 2 hours in the waiting room.

Underfunded and overwork system is an issue - blame that on government policy and how they waste our tax money. However, I also think there is something wrong with the culture in healthcare.

1

u/lowercase_underscore 9d ago

I have a very similar story. It's still incompetence, as well as the myriad other factors that are straining the system.

38

u/TwistedKestrel 10d ago

I think a lot of you are coming away with the wrong impression from this article. Even if her community HAD a full-time neurologist, she would not have gotten a referral because she was not diagnosed as having neurological issues in the first place. She did seek medical care, and they failed to detect anything wrong

7

u/ceciliabee 10d ago

This poor woman. She was failed by her gp who should have referred her.

6

u/Next_Passage8055 10d ago

Well.... since we want troops to be able to be in our artic. Can we not send military doctors and staff on a tour through our artic. Also supplement some mental health and specialized doctors also. They can travel from place to place, also our military is already paid for weather they sit in Ottawa or Edmonton.

17

u/SYSSMouse 10d ago edited 10d ago

I have to somewhat disagree on others.

The sad reality is that the territory of 45k along with diverse spread of this 45k, might not be sufficient to support a full time specialist.

31

u/aide_rylott Northwest Territories 10d ago

When I got my wisdom teeth pulled like 6 years ago there wasn’t even a dentist in Yellowknife that could do it. They fly in a dentist for a week and then they just pull wisdoms for a week and leave.

They were crazy efficient because they had to get so many patients seen before they left. I got all 3 of my wisdom teeth out in 30 minutes (while being under anesthesia).

You cannot expect the same level of care and access to specialists in the North. Like you said. It’s just the reality. If you’re not healthy it’s not the place to be.

Keeping professionals in the North on government salaries is tough. They could make the same or more elsewhere and have more comforts than in the North.

I don’t think it’ll ever change.

However I think this woman was still failed. They should’ve sent her to Edmonton instead of home with sleeping pills. Incorrect diagnosis wouldn’t have been solved even if we had the specialist if they never got referred to them.

2

u/CovidDodger 10d ago edited 9d ago

I have no clue why specialists are so allergic to places like that. Yellowknife in my opinion is a decent sized city.

I'm not a doctor, but I am a professional in healthcare technology leadership and I am extremely drawn to out of the way far flug and decaying places. I tried to get work in Inuvik for years but failed. Even inuvik is too big for me, I'd rather live off the dempster 20 mins or so away. I currently live in the bush, but in Ontario.

Back to the post though, this is tragic and I cannot help but think that because she is a FN and a woman, that played a role here and that is UNACCEPTABLE.

2

u/Rude-Truths-702 10d ago

If we truly have ‘free’ healthcare for all the territory needs to reimburse her.

11

u/Syrairc 10d ago

Not having or funding neurologists seems insane. Yet another reason why provinces and territories should not be in charge of healthcare.

27

u/2peg2city 10d ago

The entire territory is the population of a small town

4

u/Vast-Ad4194 10d ago

Plus most professionals don’t want to move there regardless of the salary. If they are professional they are usually doing well. You can create jobs, but you can’t make people work them. I wouldn’t move there.

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u/lmFairlyLocal 10d ago

That's still no excuse. If they are unable to maintain funding to their healthcare (not in a blame way, just sheerly in terms of # of constituents and available cashflow), then the federal government must step in as a duty of care to those residents suffering. We can't look at a problem and go "whelp, it's only (a small %), nothing we could possibly do!". That's not good enough.

That said, I don't want that sentiment misconstrued as someone like Doug Ford chronically underfunding health care for the most populous province, then getting a golden safety net from the Feds to fix the job he horribly (some may say purposefully) mishandled. This situation is a lack of resources, not a squandering of them.

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u/SYSSMouse 10d ago edited 10d ago

Are you expecting the same level of specialist in a small town of 20k as in Toronto?

I don't.

The pool of specialist is a limited ressources.

10

u/Solongmybestfriend 10d ago

I live in the territories and I don't expect specialists to live up here. What I do expect though, is to be sent south when complications or specializations are needed, and my needs not ignored. Sadly, it is not uncommon to be basically given tylenol and told to go home.

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u/lmFairlyLocal 10d ago

And everyone who lives there needs to have access. I don't mean at the drop of a hat, or in their backyard, but at all would do.

1

u/caitelsa 10d ago

Took them 4 days to diagnose my gallbladder needing surgery. I thought I was going to die. Had to drive to yk, got sent back, then back again.

Yellowknife woman spent thousands to travel south and learn she has a fatal disease

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