Tips for the hospital
In our recent story Doctor do little we reported that doctors often treat female patients differently than they do male:
“Good research indicates that even when women present [to doctors] with the same symptoms as men they are often treated very differently,” says Anne Rochon Ford, coordinator of the Toronto-based national advocacy group Women and Health Protection. A recent Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) report, for example, indicated women over age 50 were 32 per cent less likely to be admitted to intensive care units than men. To top it off, even after adjusting for the severity of the illness, when women presented with heart failure and other critical conditions they received less life support and were 1.2 times more likely to die in the ICU. Another study published in the CMAJ this past March found that men were twice as likely to leave the doctor’s office with a recommendation for knee replacement surgery as women who reported the same level of pain.
So how do you ensure you get the right care for your complaint?
At the hospital
Get to the right place Research that compares volume of surgeries to outcomes has made one thing clear, says Toronto's Michael Decter, co-author of Navigating Canada's Health Care: A User Guide to Getting the Care You Need: 'Practice makes perfect.' Check the Canadian Institute for Health Information’s website (cihi.ca) for data on volumes and outcomes of procedures such as cardiac bypass and cancer surgery. "In the past, patients were referred to a surgeon and that was that,' says Decter. 'Now you can influence your referral by asking your doctor to refer you to a particular centre or hospital."
Bring someone capable of representing you When Kathleen Sacks’ sister developed a nerve condition as a result of a drug interaction, the ER docs treated her as if she was crazy. "They were trying to send her home," says Sacks. "They thought she was delusional because she was visibly agitated and she was having these tremors and twitches." Fortunately Sacks was able to intervene and point out that this was not normal behaviour for her sister Mary. The hospital staff agreed to keep her overnight for observation and give her medication to alleviate the agitation. "I wouldn’t go to a hospital without an advocate," says Decter. "You need someone to ask the important questions, represent your interests and make sure the continuity of care is there."
