A Calgary columnist takes his ailing wife to hospital and finds the experience worthy of Dante’s Inferno
Ever have a long, frustrating emergency room experience and wished you could tell the world? Don Braid, a columnist with the Calgary Herald, has the pulpit, but also a sense of urgency sparked by Health Minister Ron Liepert’s moves to cut and delist health services in a system already rocked by privations. For his part, Braid takes his sick wife to emergency and spends 14 hours in purgatory. “My wife is stretched out pale as a ghost with strangers all around. I had to beg for a blanket. They couldn’t spare a pillow. This ‘reformed’ system feels like a nightmare where you’re screaming for help but nobody sees or hears,” he writes. “Wish you were here, Ron.”