To Macleans: veterinary care is not health care
When print journalism dies I won’t miss Macleans. Not after reading this crap, anyway. Hey Macleans: veterinary care is not like health care.
I think the implication with this article (or at least the teaser on CNW) is that if you get something quickly it’s got to be good, and damn if this whole medicare thing isn’t bad because I have to wait for some things.
Yes, if you want to pay the full shot for every single medical procedure you undertake, you can get served right away.
But… ah… have you ever actually added up the cost of looking after a seriously sick animal?
The whole veterinary care comparison – while it’s spurious, inane and really just a re-hashing of the same old ‘private good, public bad’ argument that doesn’t actually stand up to much scrutiny – is helpful because it illustrates what happens under privately funded and delivered medical care.
To wit:
- Care is severely self-rationnned. Since each checkup costs $80 to $100 you don’t take Fluffy to the vet until…
- You notice a serious problem. And if you can’t afford to pay $800 to biopsy that growth on Fluffy’s nose you don’t. Instead…
- You wait until it’s an emergency or an urgency and then you decide if you want to pay $4000 to have it removed.
- You don’t, and Fluffy’s led a long happy life anyway so you have the animal euthanized before it suffers too much more pain.
- Fluffy doesn’t get the care she needs, and you pay too much. Sounds great huh?
That’s on the micro-level. On the macro level, we have handfuls of private clinics performing the profitable operations, each with their own marketing, financing and bill collection department (three necessary forms of bureaucracy that do nothing to improve patient care), while public health issues like euthanizing strays, or if we’re lucky/compassionate, sterilize and release programs are left to private fundraising and volunteer animal rescue organizations.
When I’m old and my body is riddled with tumours and otherwise falling apart, I will trust my care to the public system because I would like to be treated better than your average house pet.
May 23rd, 2008 at 10:01 pm
I hope you don’t have a pet, if you do – please adopt it out to someone who will treat it with care and respect.
For the record, I completely agree with Macleans, especially after reading this “crap”.
May 23rd, 2008 at 10:21 pm
Yeoouch. For the record, when my former cat, Wick, developed some sort of tumour in her nasal passage, I took her in, paid the $800 for the biopsy, bloodwork, etc whereupon my veterinarian told me that she was too old and too sick to survive general anaesthetic.
They gave me surgery as an option but told me that the risks were very high, and gently told me that they believed it wouldn’t work and would just prolong suffering.
I took Wick in for checkups and shots yearly, traumatizing her each time because I felt it was for her own good.
But she was 16 years old, in failing health with an inoperable tumour. I decided to have her euthanized.
The vet wrapped her in a blanket and administered the injection. I held her in my arms as her tortured breathing slowed and then stopped.
I cried uncontrollably. After a time, the vet took Wick away and I stayed there sobbing until I felt okay to drive.
I loved Wick as I love my cat Edgar and am in the embarassingly enviable position of being able to pay for his care whenever he needs it, which I have done and will continue to do.
As to thinking private health care would be better for all of us we will just have to agree to disagree.
cmkl