Month: July 2010

Where would you rather get sick – in the U.S. or in Canada?

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 5 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas

I have an ever-so-slightly jaded view of American health care since spending time at Mayo Clinic. While there, I met an alarming number of heart attack survivors from across the U.S. – yes, even those who thought they had good health insurance coverage  – who had lost their homes, their businesses, and faced collection agencies at the door or even imminent bankruptcy because they’d had a cardiac event that had left them with crushing medical debt.

Last month in Toronto, the 5th semi-annual Munk Debate featured the Great Health Care Debate resolution: “I would rather get sick in the United States than in Canada.”  Here are some of the pros and cons raised by each side during this debate:

I would rather get sick in the U.S. because:

  • The U.S. spends 87% more per person than Canada on health care ($7,290/patient vs. $3,895).
  • 54% of American men had PSA tests for prostate cancer. Only 16% of Canadian men did.
  • There are 34 CT scanners per million citizens in the U.S. In Canada, only 12.
  • There are 27 MRI machines per million citizens in the U.S. compared to just six in Canada.
  • Canadians wait twice as long as Americans for elective surgery like hip replacements.
  • The U.S. is responsible for the vast majority of health care innovations, both medically and technologically. They are the world’s undisputed leaders in biomedical research and diagnostic treatment.

But on the other hand, here’s why it’s better to get sick in Canada:  Continue reading “Where would you rather get sick – in the U.S. or in Canada?” →

Women heart attack survivors may be as psychologically traumatized as victims of violence

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 10 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥  @HeartSisters

I’ve sometimes heard doctors describe a heart attack as “small”. But only doctors – you’ll rarely hear a heart attack survivor say it. Doctors who talk this way are looking only at blood tests that assess heart muscle damage, angiograms for coronary artery blockages, EKG readings for erratic heartbeats, and echocardiograms for valve damage or reduced heart function.

If these test results on paper aren’t too deadly – well, it must be only a “small” heart attack.

But a study reported in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology last month reinforced what all heart attack survivors already know but their doctors may not: a heart attack can leave people as psychologically traumatized as victims of violence. Continue reading “Women heart attack survivors may be as psychologically traumatized as victims of violence” →

The seven levels in the ‘Hierarchy of Heart Disease’

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 9 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥ @HeartSisters

During my first evening at our “Heart to Heart” support group, the man sitting next to me leaned over and asked me: “What are you in for?”

I told him that I’d had what doctors call the “widowmaker” heart attack two weeks earlier, and that I now had a stainless steel stent implanted in a major coronary artery that had been 99% blocked.  He interrupted me with a cheery:

“Me too! But I have THREE stents!”

As he went on and on in exquisite detail about his cardiac event, I felt like my own was suddenly pretty puny by comparison. Three stents? How could I possibly compete with that? My previously-fascinating heart attack misdiagnosis story now seemed hardly even worth mentioning, really.

I came to observe during the  following weeks and months that heart patients, consciously or not, seem to slot themselves arbitrarily into what I call the unspoken Hierarchy of Heart Disease.  Continue reading “The seven levels in the ‘Hierarchy of Heart Disease’” →

Heart disease: which countries have the highest and lowest rates?

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 62 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥ @HeartSisters

Prepare to scratch your head in confusion as we consider the subject of geography for a moment.

In the U.K., the Brits’ high daily consumption of saturated and trans fats – chief suspects among risk factors for heart disease – is actually topped by those living in Germany, Belgium and France. Yet these three salami-eating countries boast fewer heart disease deaths than the U.K., according to the British Heart Foundation.

Even more confusing are the people of France. Although the French smoke more, eat more fat, and consume only slightly more fruit and vegetables than the British do, the French have the lowest heart death rate in the European Union – only about one-quarter of the British rate. This is the notorious “French Paradox“, which epidemiologists have puzzled over for decades.

Although French hearts appear to be the healthiest and best preserved in Europe, they are certainly among the worst on the risk factors of diet and smoking.

The Spaniards, Finns, Italians, and Portuguese all eat less harmful fat and consume more fruit and vegetables than the French – yet die in greater numbers from heart disease.

How can this be?  Continue reading “Heart disease: which countries have the highest and lowest rates?” →