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Health care woes

The Editor, On November 25, my mom fell and broke her shoulder, along with dislocating it. She was in emergency and the attending doctor ordered an X-ray that indicated a very bad break.


The Editor,

On November 25, my mom fell and broke her shoulder, along with dislocating it. She was in emergency and the attending doctor ordered an X-ray that indicated a very bad break.

He consulted an on-call surgeon at the Pasqua Hospital in Regina and was told they will not operate on an 85-year-old woman, so she can be brought to the cast clinic on Wednesday, Dec. 1 and he would examine her. This decision was made without the surgeon looking at her X-ray. She would have to suffer the pain for six days before being seen by this so-called specialist.

I was not happy with this decision, so the emergency doctor called her personal doctor and received the same answer from him even without looking at her X-ray.

Her doctor told him he would see her on Monday. Again this would be four-and-one-half days of Mom suffering.
I, along with other family, were not happy with this. However, she was admitted into the hospital.

A short time later, we were advised that Dr. Grobbler was looking at her X-ray and he would consult with the family. Dr. Grobbler came to her bedside and told us he was not going to let her suffer with the dislocation, and was willing to put it back into place. We were happy with this, and it was done on Friday morning.

Dr. Grobbler then came up to her bedside on Saturday to check on her and I asked if there was any way to expedite the procedure in Regina. He would check, and the end result was that he had a bed at the General and the surgeon would operate within 24 hours.

She was transported to Regina, and on Sunday afternoon Dr. Rodwan not only did a partial shoulder replacement, but also had to rebuild the shoulder socket that had also been broken.

My mom handled the surgery and is now in the recovery process and will have as much use of the arm and shoulder she had before the accident.

If it wasn't for Dr. Grobbler and the persistence of the family, the outcome of this accidental fall would have seen Mom losing use of her arm and possibly other medical complications would have occurred as a result of her not receiving immediate treatment.

In closing, I would like to thank Dr. Grobbler (who by the way is Mom's new doctor), Dr. Rodwan, who did the surgery and all the staff in Ward 5F General Hospital for their dedication and excellent care Mom received during her stay.

To her former doctor, you should be ashamed of yourself. My mother trusted you with her life and you let her down.

Sincerely,

Clark McClelland
Estevan