Agonizing wait times unacceptable

Re Now, health care is failing me, Letter, June 26 At Ovarian Cancer Canada, we read with great concern and frustration Gisele Ackland’s letter. Her all-too-familiar story brought to life the impact of an agonizing, and frankly unacceptable, nine-week wait time between being told she likely has the most fatal women’s cancer and being granted access to the health care required to treat the disease.

When ovarian cancer is suspected, surgery is essentially the first step in diagnosis, required to determine the specific sub-type of this complex disease. Once the sub-type is identified, appropriate treatment can be pursued. But until this information is determined through surgery, nothing can be done.

Surgery is also how a patient is initially relieved of excruciating pain caused by malignant masses impeding the performance of organs located in the abdominal and pelvic cavities.

For patients including Gisele to be told they likely have a cancer associated with a five-year mortality rate of 56 per cent is devastating enough. For these patients to then be told they need to sit and do nothing for nine weeks is cruel, both emotionally and physically.

Ovarian Cancer Canada is keenly interested in why such long wait times are viewed as acceptable in our health-care system and further demands that something be done to reduce operating room wait times. Cailey Crawford, Ontario regional director, Kelly Grover, VP programs and partnerships, Ovarian Cancer Canada, Toronto