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Wait time nightmare

BY HEIDI ULRICHSEN [email protected] Russell McRae will never forget the summer of 2003 - but not for a good reason. Russell McRae, 22, still hasn?t received surgery for his ankle, which he injured in 2003.
BY HEIDI ULRICHSEN

Russell McRae will never forget the summer of 2003 - but not for a good reason.

Russell McRae, 22, still hasn?t received surgery for his ankle, which he injured in 2003.
Shortly after he began his summer construction job in May of that year, the young Val Caron man was involved in a workplace accident where he severely injured his left ankle.

More than two and a half years later, he is reminded of that accident with each painful step he takes. For some reason, McRae has been unable to get the surgery he needs to re-attach his ankle ligament and remove a piece of floating tissue.

?We were backfilling houses, and I jumped into the basement of the house, but there were bricks and stuff under loose sand. I landed on my one leg and totally went over on it,? says the 22-year-old man.

McRae?s health care horror story is long and convoluted.

The first orthopedic surgeon he visited in Sudbury shortly after his accident treated him for his injury with a casting, followed by physiotherapy.

McRae was able to return to his job with some restrictions after about 10 weeks. But he was still in pain, and his ankle was so unstable that he had
trouble walking on uneven ground, running and balancing.

He returned to the surgeon several times over the next year or so, and in December 2004, a MRI test finally diagnosed the detached ligament and floating tissue.

The surgeon told him that there is no arthroscopic instrumentation at Sudbury Regional Hospital small enough to remove floating tissue from an ankle joint, and set up an appointment with a Toronto colleague for June 2005.

The orthopedic surgeon in Toronto said McRae?s ligament definitely needed to be re-attached, and the floating tissue could be left in place. He sent McRae back to Sudbury to get the re-attachment surgery.

But the original Sudbury surgeon said he did not do ankle ligament repairs and referred the young man to another surgeon in this city.

This meant waiting for another consultation and operating date. McRae?s family phoned the Toronto orthopedic surgeon?s office again to explain the
dire situation.

The surgeon?s secretary finally admitted the doctor wouldn?t do the procedure because McRae was a Workplace Safety and Insurance Board
(WSIB) case. The secretary didn?t say why that was a problem.

McRae was referred to another Toronto surgeon and obtained an appointment for November 2005.

While waiting for the November appointment, the WSIB got McRae an appointment in October at a foot and ankle clinic in Toronto.

The surgeon at the clinic said he could both re-attach the ligament and remove the floating tissue, but he had the longest wait list for surgery in
Ontario, and would not be able to operate on the young man until 2007, four years after his original injury.

McRae decided to keep the November appointment with the other Toronto surgeon to see if he could beat the 2007 odds. This surgeon said he couldn?t do the operation before the fall of 2006.

In the midst of all the doctors appointments and endless waiting, McRae has tried to get on with his life.

He worked as a cook at a local restaurant, Teklenburg?s, for two years, but recently quit because his ankle, right knee, lower back and right hip were in pain because he has limped for so long.

?It wasn?t so bad there (at Teklenburg?s), because there was not uneven ground there and not a lot of lifting, but I just can?t do it anymore. I was standing for nine or 10 hours a day, just walking constantly and limping,? says McRae, whose dreams of becoming an electrician have been put off because of his injury.

One of the doctors he?s visited told him he?d have arthritis in his ankle because he?s walked on his injury for a long time and has damaged his cartilage.

?I?m definitely upset because of the length of time it?s been. And now it?s doing other things to me, when it should have been done right away,? he says.

His mother Lois, a nurse at Sudbury Regional Hospital, is furious her son is still waiting to have his ankle repaired.

?I?ve written letters to all the local MPs and MPPs, and (Nickel Belt MPP and New Democrat health critic) Shelley Martel was the only one that answered,? she says.

?She forwarded my letter to (Ontario Health and Long-Term Care Minister) George Smitherman, and asked for him to answer us directly. We haven?t received a reply yet.?

Lois has also sent a letter to Sudbury Regional Hospital CEO Vickie Kaminski, asking why the ankle arthroscopic equipment is not available in Sudbury.

Sudbury Regional Hospital spokesperson Sean Barrette said it?s unfortunate that McRae has had such a hard time getting surgery, but not every hospital is equipped with every piece of surgical equipment.

?Sometimes people fall through the cracks in the health care system in this province. There are other factors that can come into play that can cause a person to wait longer,? he said.

?We actually have a very broad-based surgical program here because of our location...We have as much surgical equipment as we can, and we
have as much as we can afford to have.?



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