Figures from the Cardiac Care Network of Ontario show that more than 1,500 patients were on the waiting list for bypass surgery between April 1996 and March 1997. The situation is hardly better in Britain, Frogue says. In 1998 more than 1.3 million British patients were on waiting lists for medical care. The idyllic picture some critics of U.S. health care paint of Canada's drug situation is false as well, Frogue says. Between 1994 and 1998, the Canadian government approved only 24 of 400 new drugs.
Many drugs are available in the United States months before they are approved for use in Canada.
A survey of teaching hospitals in Washington, Oregon and British Columbia found that 18 medical procedures widely available to U.S. patients are not available to Canadians. In Britain, lack of access to modern technologies and medicines poses high risks for patients, especially in cases involving cancer and cardiovascular disease, Frogue says. Recently, the World Health Organization estimated that 25,000 British cancer patients have died unnecessarily. Three days later, he was hospitalized and given a complete blood transfusion. After 10 more days and several more transfusions, he was able to leave the hospital.