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The Toronto Star, Canada
January 6, 2013 Sunday
Church, supporters have got her back
Woman is turned away for surgery in Ontario, finds relief in U.S.
thanks to funds raised
On Sunday to celebrate Armenian Christmas Sevan Hajinian intends to
walk into Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic Church in east Toronto and
give thanks to those who made a potentially life-changing back surgery
possible.
The province of Ontario will not be among them.
Friends and supporters, with the help of the church, raised $120,000
for a Dec. 4 surgery in New York City, which Hajinian says five
Canadian spinal surgeons would not touch and the Ontario Health
Insurance Plan would not fund.
Hajinian, 52, returned home on Saturday after a month of recuperating
in New York to repair the fallout from back surgery performed in
Ontario 14 years ago.
"I want the people at church to see me and that ... the fundraising
that they are doing served its purpose," said Hajinian.
In 2008, Hajinian received an American doctor's opinion that she
required complex surgery to correct failed fusions and pressure from a
bone on a nerve that was affecting the use of her right leg. The cost
of surgery in the U.S. was too great for her family at the time.
She sought the surgery in Canada, but with no success.
Several Canadian doctors told her an operation would not help and that
she would have to live with it, she says. One said to come back when
she was in a wheelchair.
The last Canadian doctor who turned her down, she says, told her the
surgery was beyond his abilities. He recommended going to New York.
OHIP, which can authorize payment for out-of-country medical
treatments, turned down funding. Hajinian appealed to the Health
Services Appeal and Review Board.
The Globe and Mail cited documents from that appeal that noted OHIP
was of the opinion that the operation was available in Canada, and
that no evidence had been shown that a wait would cause Hajinian more
harm.
The appeal was unsuccessful.
Hajinian, a mother of two teenage girls, could have taken a further
step and appealed in court, but expenses were mounting (the family has
spent about $30,000 on legal fees) and her condition wasn't getting
any better.
In constant pain, she was at one point on a morphine pump until a near
overdose that was caused by a malfunction. Prior to surgery, she was
on daily doses of Percocet.
Emotionally, she was a mess.
Dr. Frank Schwab, at the Hospital for Joint Diseases at New York
University's Langone Medical Center, was confident the surgery was
worth it.
So Hajinian and her brother, Aris Babikian, a citizenship judge,
rented an apartment in Manhattan, where she could recover until
well-enough to fly home.
The final bill has yet to come in, but costs may be higher due to
longer than expected surgery time and an extended nine-day hospital
stay. The church is continuing to fundraise.
Hajinian and her brother were amazed by the level of care and both
feel her case highlights a major problem with health care in Ontario
and Canada.
Despite a petition and campaign to get her help, including pleas to
MPs, MPPs and a package Babikian personally delivered to Premier
Dalton McGuinty, "we never heard anything from them," said Babikian.
With all of the money spent on health care in Canada, they don't
understand why they had to put so much effort - for so long - into a
futile hunt for specialized help in Canada.
The quest for care has taken a toll. Her husband suffered a minor
stroke and caring for her has stressed the extended family.
"We don't want any more Ontarians to live through the hell that we
lived through for the past 13 years," said Babikian.
"Why do we need to put hard-working Ontarians and their families
through, to be honest, what is emotional terrorism by our own
government? This is not a third-world country where you hear of such
stories."
If all goes as hoped, the money spent on her surgery may actually save
Canadian taxpayers the added long-term health care and other costs
that Hajinian likely would have racked up without the surgery.
"Our health care system needs a serious revision, serious reform,"
said Babikian. "I don't understand how these bureaucrats make these
decisions."
Within two days of the surgery, which lasted more than seven hours,
Hajinian says she knew that things had changed for the better.
She had improved feeling in her right leg and foot. She can now sit in
a chair for longer than 15 minutes, something that would not have
happened before. Before surgery, she was on Percocet for pain control.
She no longer needs the narcotic.
"Finally, I feel great," said Hajinian. "I wasn't expecting that I
would feel the difference right after the surgery."
While she must use a walker for a while for stability and ensure
proper healing, she is thinking about working again, something she has
not been able to do since 1999, when she managed a dental office.
She intends to become a patients' advocate, specifically in the area
of spinal surgery.
January 6, 2013 Sunday
Church, supporters have got her back
Woman is turned away for surgery in Ontario, finds relief in U.S.
thanks to funds raised
On Sunday to celebrate Armenian Christmas Sevan Hajinian intends to
walk into Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic Church in east Toronto and
give thanks to those who made a potentially life-changing back surgery
possible.
The province of Ontario will not be among them.
Friends and supporters, with the help of the church, raised $120,000
for a Dec. 4 surgery in New York City, which Hajinian says five
Canadian spinal surgeons would not touch and the Ontario Health
Insurance Plan would not fund.
Hajinian, 52, returned home on Saturday after a month of recuperating
in New York to repair the fallout from back surgery performed in
Ontario 14 years ago.
"I want the people at church to see me and that ... the fundraising
that they are doing served its purpose," said Hajinian.
In 2008, Hajinian received an American doctor's opinion that she
required complex surgery to correct failed fusions and pressure from a
bone on a nerve that was affecting the use of her right leg. The cost
of surgery in the U.S. was too great for her family at the time.
She sought the surgery in Canada, but with no success.
Several Canadian doctors told her an operation would not help and that
she would have to live with it, she says. One said to come back when
she was in a wheelchair.
The last Canadian doctor who turned her down, she says, told her the
surgery was beyond his abilities. He recommended going to New York.
OHIP, which can authorize payment for out-of-country medical
treatments, turned down funding. Hajinian appealed to the Health
Services Appeal and Review Board.
The Globe and Mail cited documents from that appeal that noted OHIP
was of the opinion that the operation was available in Canada, and
that no evidence had been shown that a wait would cause Hajinian more
harm.
The appeal was unsuccessful.
Hajinian, a mother of two teenage girls, could have taken a further
step and appealed in court, but expenses were mounting (the family has
spent about $30,000 on legal fees) and her condition wasn't getting
any better.
In constant pain, she was at one point on a morphine pump until a near
overdose that was caused by a malfunction. Prior to surgery, she was
on daily doses of Percocet.
Emotionally, she was a mess.
Dr. Frank Schwab, at the Hospital for Joint Diseases at New York
University's Langone Medical Center, was confident the surgery was
worth it.
So Hajinian and her brother, Aris Babikian, a citizenship judge,
rented an apartment in Manhattan, where she could recover until
well-enough to fly home.
The final bill has yet to come in, but costs may be higher due to
longer than expected surgery time and an extended nine-day hospital
stay. The church is continuing to fundraise.
Hajinian and her brother were amazed by the level of care and both
feel her case highlights a major problem with health care in Ontario
and Canada.
Despite a petition and campaign to get her help, including pleas to
MPs, MPPs and a package Babikian personally delivered to Premier
Dalton McGuinty, "we never heard anything from them," said Babikian.
With all of the money spent on health care in Canada, they don't
understand why they had to put so much effort - for so long - into a
futile hunt for specialized help in Canada.
The quest for care has taken a toll. Her husband suffered a minor
stroke and caring for her has stressed the extended family.
"We don't want any more Ontarians to live through the hell that we
lived through for the past 13 years," said Babikian.
"Why do we need to put hard-working Ontarians and their families
through, to be honest, what is emotional terrorism by our own
government? This is not a third-world country where you hear of such
stories."
If all goes as hoped, the money spent on her surgery may actually save
Canadian taxpayers the added long-term health care and other costs
that Hajinian likely would have racked up without the surgery.
"Our health care system needs a serious revision, serious reform,"
said Babikian. "I don't understand how these bureaucrats make these
decisions."
Within two days of the surgery, which lasted more than seven hours,
Hajinian says she knew that things had changed for the better.
She had improved feeling in her right leg and foot. She can now sit in
a chair for longer than 15 minutes, something that would not have
happened before. Before surgery, she was on Percocet for pain control.
She no longer needs the narcotic.
"Finally, I feel great," said Hajinian. "I wasn't expecting that I
would feel the difference right after the surgery."
While she must use a walker for a while for stability and ensure
proper healing, she is thinking about working again, something she has
not been able to do since 1999, when she managed a dental office.
She intends to become a patients' advocate, specifically in the area
of spinal surgery.