Daniel Schutstar says the Canadian health system has failed her mother by forcing her to wait for the list while she needs emergency heart surgery to save her life.
The organization is currently seeking new laws that will let patients know if they will be on the waitlist longer than experts recommend.
Muselstar’s mother, Debbie, lived in Nieberville, Manitoba, about 40km south of Winnipeg. She lost her final Thanksgiving after waiting more than twice as long as the doctor was advised to be safe.
She was diagnosed with angina pectoris in the summer of 2024, and doctors said surgery would need within three weeks due to the severity of her condition.
Debbie was still on the waiting list when she passed away on October 13th, 2024.
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“She went home and rested, and that was the last time I saw her alive,” the boy told the Epoch Times in an interview.
Debbie had three children and 10 grandchildren.
He said his mother was given medication in August to control her condition and received a call from a nurse on September 4th.
“The preoperative nurse said they’ve been catching up since the staff’s summer break, probably October,” the minority said during a phone interview.
“Debbie’s Law”
Sumperster and his family are now joining Secondstreet.org and seeking change. They propose “Debbie’s law.” This requires health authorities to notify patients if they cannot provide the necessary care within a specific timeline.
The minority said Debbie’s laws were in place and doctors told his family he “hadn’t been trying to see you for more than two months.” I can assure you that we’d found a way. “The family probably found private care in the United States, he said.
“Whether we reorganized our home or asked friends or family for help, we’d have found another way to get our private work done,” he said.
The family trusted the health care system and didn’t realize “how badly it was” and he said his mother wasn’t “forced.”
“She was going to be a good citizen. She was going to wait for her turn. She believed she would show up for her in the health care system, but that wasn’t the case.”
Data from SecondStreet.org shows that between 30,000,000 Canadians are on healthcare waitlists. Of these, 1.5 million people are waiting for diagnostic support, another million are waiting to meet experts, and over 600,000 people will need surgery.
