Photo: Contributed - Dean Muscardin

Emilia Muscardin, before her operation.

Estherlee Muscardin sat by her daughter's bedside at Kelowna General Hospital for five days.

Her daughter, Emilia is 18-years-old and a student at Okanagan College, she shattered her left arm at the elbow with the humerus split in two places while snowboarding. She was admitted on Monday Jan. 23, and had to wait until Friday Jan. 27 for the operation.

Emilia was on morphine and various other medications to help her deal with the pain while she waited for surgery.

Muscardin says she understands that Emilia's injury was not life threatening, but can't comprehend why patients are made to wait for days when they are in  excruciating pain. 

Before the operation Muscardin said, "We are being told there are more pressing cases ahead of hers (my daughter's) and that there isn't enough operating rooms or doctors to attend to all the trauma patients."

After days of sitting in a hospital room waiting to be told Emilia would finally have surgery,  Muscardin says she realized the issue is not with the doctors or availability of a surgeon, but instead with how KGH handles trauma patients.

"There is only enough funding for one lone surgeon to operate at one time, and their cut off time is 11 o'clock at night , they can't operate past then so they close the room."

Muscardin believes KGH won't let surgeons operate pass 11 o'clock because of a funding related issue.

"The doctors seem ready and willing to do the operation, but they don't have the time and the space to do it. I know why she keeps getting bumped they don't have enough room to handle everyone, people just keep coming in and need attention."

Tracy McDonald, the Health Services Administrator at KGH, says there are actually eight operating rooms and the surgeons perform surgery on both elective and non-elective patients.

"An Elective surgery is for patients who have a booked procedure. The other primary use for operating rooms is to manage trauma or people that come in with unexpected surgical needs, for an example someone with appendicitis who needs surgery."

Photo: Contributed - Dean Muscardin

Tough break for Emilia Muscardin

According to McDonald there are two operating rooms which are available for an evening shift up until midnight and then after that time there are two teams that are available to deal with trauma patients who present a life threatening situation after hours. 

"The difficult thing that presents its self from time to time is that a person, who is in need of an operating room who falls under the non-scheduled procedure, will need to be prioritised. The surgeon will look at every patient on the list and the patient that is the most urgent or most in need of surgery goes to the top of the list."

Which means, part of what Muscardin says is correct;, if there are no more 'life and limb' surgeries to be performed and it is close to the midnight hour, those who can wait, will be put off until the next day.

Muscardin says she spoke with doctors in the hospital who say they cannot cancel elective surgeries as it will cost the hospital money.

"A surgeon told me that if he bumps an elected surgery then the hospital will be fined $10,000, so no one wants to do that, and they try very hard to keep those surgeries, but the only way a trauma patient gets in, is if there is a cancellation of an elected surgery."

McDonald disagrees saying she has never heard anything like that.

"Many times doctors will cancel elective surgeries to deal with the influx of trauma patients, but if someone has been waiting for an elective surgery and preparing mentally and has to be canceled that is not patient centred on how we handle things. No one wants to cancel a surgery, but again priority is always given to the most urgent patient that presents (itself)."

McDonald says the way KGH handles trauma patients is similar to all other hospitals across the province if not the country.

"Every day the doctors look at who is the most urgent and they re-prioritise everyday, it is always based on clinical need."

Waiting for surgery is a very difficult situation for anyone, says McDonald, and she can appreciate Muscadin's frustration.

"At a broad level we are always monitoring how long people are waiting, the province of BC is always monitoring how long people wait, but at my finger tips I can't tell you how long each person will have to wait, but everyday it is being reevaluated, you have to wait to a certain point."

In the meantime another pressing issue on Muscardin's mind is the price tag for the days her daughter spent lying in a hospital bed.

"I'm sure the bed Emilia is in does not come cheap." Emilia's mom said they received excellent care as far as pain management and the team tried to meet her daughter's needs.

McDonald says the cost to hospitalise a patient waiting for surgery differs depending on the bed, but estimates a ball park number of $1000 a day.

Unfortunately after Emilia came out of surgery Friday afternoon, it was evident that something was wrong. 

Doctors discovered that Emilia could not move her fingers or lift hand at the wrist. Emilia's father Dean Muscardin says his daughter was taken back into the operating room to open the wound and look at the radial nerve.

"They told us they did not find any pinching or bruising, of the nerve, but they also said that she had full mobility prior to the surgery."

According to Dean, the surgeon told the Muscardins to let Emilia rest for a day or so to see if movement returns, as this lack of movement can happen in upwards of five per cent of surgeries although it is not common.

"So we will work with Emilia and her physio therapist to try and get movement back into her wrist and fingers."

A light that maybe shed on this dark issue of surgery wait times could come in May of this year when a new tower will open at KGH and McDonald says the hospital will receive funding for three new operating rooms and she says the new ORs will help to address patient needs within the community.