Jenny Reiderman is not sure she will live to see her next birthday.

Jenny Reiderman is not sure she will live to see her next birthday.
Photo Credit: CBC

Hospital delays informing patient of potential cancer

So we’re sitting here on a holiday in one of the richest countries in the world only to hear news that a hospital did not inform a patient about a spot on her lung for 11 months. CBC investigated the case and reports that Vancouver resident Jenny Reiderman now has lung cancer which has spread to her lymph nodes. She wonders if she had received the initial X-ray results sooner could doctors have prevented the spread.

‘I really want to survive’

“I really want to survive,” Reiderman told CBC reporter Erica Johnson. The 63-year-old went to the emergency room at Vancouver General Hospital in August 2014 after feeling dizzy and with high blood pressure as detected at her local pharmacy. An emergency doctor ordered a chest x-ray and she was sent home.

It was only 11 months later that she got a letter from the doctor saying “there is a suggestion on the X-ray that there may be a lung nodule.” Reiderman asked why it took so long for her to be notified.

Reiderman told her story to CBC reporter Erica Johnson in hopes it would spur improvements in the health care system.
Reiderman told her story to CBC reporter Erica Johnson in hopes it would spur improvements in the health care system. © CBC

‘Pitfalls in the overall system’

In a letter of response, ER physician Heather Lindsay said she didn’t remember the specifics of the case, but added the case suggested there are some “pitfalls in the overall system.” The doctor said it was likely she tried calling the patient for several months but wouldn’t have left a message out of privacy concerns. Reiderman told CBC she is always home and didn’t get a phone call.

An opposition member of the provincial legislature called the delay completely unacceptable. In Canada, medical services are managed by the governments of each province and territory. Several have some form of integrated electronic health-records whereby health-care providers can access patient information. The province of British Columbia, where Vancouver is situated, does not but is said to be “moving in that direction.”

An emergency doctors at Vancouver General Hospital said it was likely she tried calling Reiderman for several months.
An emergency doctors at Vancouver General Hospital said it was likely she tried calling Reiderman for several months. © CBC

Nurses, staff burn out, quit

On-going budget cuts to health care services have left nurses and other staff with heavy workloads. Some burn out. Others quit. It has become routine to wait long hours to be seen at hospital emergency. In December 2014 a man died after spending 34 hours in the emergency waiting room of a Winnipeg hospital. Canadians may well be discouraged when they hear stories like this.

Reiderman is now undergoing radiation and chemotherapy treatments but told Johnson she does not know whether she will see her 64th birthday.

CBC Reporter Erica Johnson investigates complaints from her audience for an investigative news segment called Go Public.

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