Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams left a U.S. hospital last week, after receiving heart surgery there earlier this month.
Newfoundland Deputy Premier Kathy Dunderdale said Williams decided to go to the U.S. for surgery after weeks of consultation with his doctors. The treatment he was seeking was apparently not available in his home province.
However, there doesn’t seem to be any answer as to why he couldn’t go to another province to have the surgery done — provinces like Quebec, Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia surely also have the same medical expertise and highly-skilled surgeons working at their hospitals?
Not surprisingly, this has turned into a bit of a PR nightmare for the premier. One school of thought is that he has the right to receive his medical care wherever he wants to, and the fact that he is a premier should not matter. Others think that it sends a bad message to the rest of the world (especially to the U.S. where there is an ongoing health care debate going on) that the provinces’ health care systems are not up to par.
It has not been made public where in the U.S. Williams went for the surgery.
Here’s the question: What does it say about health care in the provinces if someone like Premier Williams is heading south to receive medical treatment?
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