Susieque, I am surprised too that Jasdip;s neighbour doesn't even have a clinic doctor. but they may live in an area where there are not many clinics. The Province of Ontario's health care mandate is that everyone should have access to a doctor. I am not absolutely positive but I think they wanted Doctors to devote some of their time to clinic hours so that everyone has access to a doctor that does not have a family physician. In the community where I live I can count more than 3 walk in clinics less than a mile from my house, some are even open nights and weekends. Kathleen, I am sorry you experienced bad health care.Do you live in an under service area. Where I live there seems to be a medical clinic every frew miles and we are a city with a population of just over 200,000. I guess my family and friends have been fortunate. I haven't heard of any horror stories personally but I don't doubt there are problems. I guess until you experience it you don't know how bad it could be. My family members and some friends have had some severe medical issues and have had nothing but wonderful care. My sister was telling me today her one prescription is $700 a month and the senior plan does not cover it but the cancer clinic pays for it. For all the prescriptions she has she only has to pay $4 co pay per prescription. I was at my Doctors just last week for a bug and infection I picked up. Last week I went to the clinic where my Doctor works and was seen immediately. I didn't have to wait 5 minutes. They took my health card number and I was in. My Doctor examined me and arranged for an ultrasound for the next day. After the ultrasound it wasn't even a week before I got the results and was called by my Doctor's office to come in that day but I couldn't so I went in the next day. Thursday I went to my Doctor's office in the same building as the clinic since he was in his office that day seeing his regular patients. Again, I didn't have to wait more than 5 minutes to get in and then got the results and was given a batch of tests to have done. One of the tests is for a mammogram and that is next Thursday - I have never had to wait more than a week to get a mammogram although I know some areas where the wait is longer. Some women are referred here from other cities because of the shorter wait time. My blood tests and x-rays I can just drop in down the street at another clinic to have them done at the same time although I am not looking forward to the blood tests. No appointment is necessary. The other test I have to have done is a mail in test haha not looking forward to doing that one either. One of my family members does not have a family doctor and is a long term patient with one of the doctors at a clinic. I don't have a drug plan so I pay for my prescriptions. If I do need something that is expensive or long term like when I had to take prescription meds for my acid reflux my Doctor;s nurse arranged for the drug rep to drop off boxes of medication for me and I would pick it up once a month. I don't have need for them anymore. I know someone who has degenerative disks in her back making it hard for her to walk. One day it got so bad she went to see the Doctor and she got into see a neurologist right away which was surprising. She was sent for an MRI. After the MRI when she was ready to leave they told her she couldn't go they were sending her for surgery right away. She was shocked at this and wanted time to think so had to sign a waiver to go home. They told her if it gets any worse to come back to the ER and they would get her right into surgery which is what eventually happened. No waiting. Just told to come in. Now I must admit that is a bit unusual but some people are lucky haha As far as foreign doctors from other countries. They just can't come in and start practicing. They may be wonderful knowledgeable Doctors in their own countries but when they come to Canada they have to have the same qualifications that Canadian doctors do. They have to pass Board examines and get their Canadian medical license Sure there are a lot of problems with our medical system but isn't there in other places as well. I have heard of long wait times in American ERs just like here. I just watched ABC's Nightline the other night where a charitable organization set up an outdoor medical clinic in Virginia where some people waited in line for days to see a doctor, dentist, many types of health care because they don't have access to medical care of doctors or can't afford to go. I think we are fortunate none of us in Canada has to do that. If you have the money the US will welcome you with open arms. Many people here take the 15 minute trip across the border for surgery because they have the means to do so. Sometimes OHIP will even pay for needed medical care across the border. Often people in Windsor are sent across the border to trauma centres. I guess we are lucky we can have the best of both worlds. In every walk of life you meet rude people, people do lose patience especially those that have to deal with the public and are over worked. No it is not good to be on the receiving end when you are ill and there is no excuse for it but it happens. If I was so bothered by it I would find somewhere to complain, there are ways to do that. Hospitals have boards, then there is Health Ontario. If the doctor was incompetent I would go elsewhere. I like to know that I can live in a Province that if I or any of my family or friends get sick, we can get health care without worrying how much it is going to cost us or if we can afford it or if we have the right insurance to cover us.. Sure the time will come as it already has that some services are not free anymore like physiotherapy or mole removal but that is a small price to pay for what we do have. Sherry I hope your friend gets the help she needs from a good doctor. Sometimes if you live in a small community it is good to get a referral to a bigger medical centre like London.

EMRs - Electronic Medical Records. With the exception of many of the younger physicians I have yet to met a physician who honestly likes it. My DH now comes home after a long day at work and spends an additional 2 hours reading all the EMR's that are in his inbox. The cost to his practice to implement this system was over $250,000. Training was not only expensive but time consuming. The software is proprietary and when DH began his office conversion there was only one software program available to medical oncologists. Needless to say this was very expensive. Plus the cost of new hardware for the oncology nurses, techs and physicians. What really bothers him is that it interferes with his patient time. He allots 50 minutes for a new cancer patient. Now he spends the first 15 to 20 minutes asking the questions listed in his software program and typing in the answer. The program won't let him skip a question. Most of his patients dislike it too because they feel the doctor is too busy looking at his laptop rather than looking at them. It's not a good way to begin such an important relationship. In time it should improve. It will facilitate the transfer of important data - but as practices convert it's quite painful. My best friend's DH is simply going to retire when the conversion becomes mandatory. He's a solo family practitioner in a fairly poor urban neighborhood and he doesn't have the extra money nor the desire to switch to EMRs.

the problem with the crypto ... is a very common one ... placement was made.. with no real concept of its future potential ... if we presume that the whole was planted at one time ... just for discussions sake.. everything else was well chosen ... for its future growth .... this one wasnt ... i will guess.. its already pruned up.. because it was interfering with the walkway ... strike one ... now its blocking the window ... strike two.. and lets be realistic.. there is no neighbor 25 feet away.. looking in that window ... you might be surprised how bright the room behind will suddenly become with removal .... and strike 3.. its pissin me off ..lol .. just kidding... im not that invested in your landscape .... anyway ... there are so many better things out there.. that will be much more in tune with the rest ... why put up with this beast ... eh ... but the base problem.. is how small that bed actually is ... and what to put in there ... have it removed... and snap some new pix.. and we could have fun making recommendations with other options ... ken ps: also note... its not going to be easy to get it out of there .... its not like you can chain it to the bumper of the truck.. and just rip it out .. with causing massive stonework/driveway problems ... luckily .... you have a dude that takes orders ... pps: i wonder if a JMaple might not be artistically inserted in there ... such would be much more prunable.. into the shape required by the bed ... and could make a real colorful visual impact ... compared to all the other basically green conifers ... ppps: i might also ponder a way to hide that hose .. and it wont be easy ... might take me a decade to figure that out ... lol ...

For dh's spot, I think a PCP could have done the biopsy and if the results are positive, then go to a dermatologist. It's a 45 min drive to the area of specialists we go to. I need to mention something else which is part of my question about PCP's. I've mentioned I have restless leg syndrome, and I've had it since my 20's. About 15 years ago I finally mentioned it to my late doctor, the one who did the biopsy on me, and he immediately gave me a prescription to take before bed. It was a life saver, because I had no idea a medicine would stop it. My new doctor let me continue the prescription but now I have to take a half pill more a day if I want to lay down to read during the day. My RL hits immediately, even when I'm not sleeping. At my appt. last week he upped the med by a half pill a day. Because I did a lot of research online about RLS I know there are other meds to take and I asked if I could try another one. I could tell he was looking it up on the computer and then he said to me, "I'm going to refer you to a neurologist because I'm not familiar with the medication." Then he continued to tell me they'd probably do an overnight sleep study/whatever. I looked at him and said I'm not going. Referring me to two specialists in one visit? Why couldn't he research the meds, or call his buddy the specialist where they make more money because of the referral and simply ask him what would be a good med for his patient? I'm not a doctor but I found that to be lazy on his part. He still referred me and I had to tell the lady no when she called.