Cancellation of cancer surgery opens eyes to health system woes

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This article was published 19/12/2022 (690 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After speaking publicly about his unexpectedly cancelled cancer surgery, a Winnipeg man now has a new appointment and first-hand knowledge of the health-care system’s lack of capacity.

David Gaboury, 60, was diagnosed with prostate cancer six months ago and had surgery scheduled for Dec. 16 to remove his prostate.

However, after he arrived at Grace Hospital, donned a gown and waited about three hours for his IV to be put in, the surgeon informed Gaboury he would have to go home. A surge of emergency patients meant there were no available beds for Gaboury post-surgery.

Grace cancelled all but one elective surgery that day. There were 10 patients who needed emergency surgery on Dec. 16 and not enough in-patient beds, the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority confirmed in a statement.

Postponing cancer surgeries is exceedingly rare, a WRHA spokeswoman said.

The last-minute move initially left Gaboury in disbelief and opened his eyes to the stretched-thin reality in hospitals.

“I guess that there is just no surge capacity for these places, or anywhere in our health-care system. We don’t have the capacity to handle emergency cases. It kind of makes me wonder what would happen if a real disaster happened,” he said.

“It’s scary to think we’re at this stage.”

Until Gaboury’s story aired Monday on CTV News, he had heard nothing about rescheduling — even though the longer he waits for surgery, the more chance the cancer could progress.

On Tuesday, he received the rescheduling call from the surgeon’s office and is set for surgery later this week.

“Maybe my case is more trivial than other cases, but any case, I think, needs to be documented through the public forum. That’s kind of the way I see it; the squeaky wheel gets the grease,” he told the Free Press.

Gaboury was diagnosed in June; the disease was caught early and his prognosis was good at the time. He was informed his type of cancer was relatively slow-progressing, but he would need surgery as soon as possible. The recommended course of action was the timely removal of his prostate.

After completing all of the required medical scans in October, surgery was scheduled for two months later.

“At no time did the doctor say, ‘We should wait a year to see what happens.’ It was, ‘No, we need to operate,’” Gaboury said.

Three cancer surgeries have been postponed at Grace Hospital within the past seven months, the WRHA said. Postponement normally happens after consultation with the patient’s surgeon and the hospital site lead in charge of surgery, a spokeswoman stated.

“Both would need to agree that delaying the surgery would cause the patient no long-term negative medical outcomes. Any delayed cancer surgery would normally be urgently rebooked in consultation with the patient’s surgeon.”

Additional data on the total number of cancer surgery cancellations in Winnipeg over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic was not available Tuesday afternoon.

As he prepared to leave the hospital after the “roller-coaster” day last week, Gaboury said he saw an elderly woman in tears. Her surgery had also been cancelled.

He said he knows the problem is impacting Manitobans.

“When I left there on Friday, I was still kind of in shock about this, just kind of in disbelief,” he said. “I’m not the person that’s going to sit there and complain. Stuff happens, right? But I really think they could have done a better job of explaining it.”

His message for other patients: be prepared in case your surgery is cancelled; “And I guess… don’t sit back and let it happen.”

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca