Don’t you just love socialized medicine?

Ottawa Hospital turns away sex assault victim
…
A 21-year-old Ottawa woman who had been sexually assaulted was refused immediate treatment at the Ottawa Hospital over the weekend, the Sun has learned.

The woman was taken to the Civic hospital early Sunday [July 4] morning to have a rape kit completed but Ottawa police were told there were no sexual assault nurses available.

The victim was given three options: Lie in a bed until Monday morning when a nurse would be available — but she wouldn’t be able to shower — or go to either Cornwall or Renfrew hospitals.

She ended up being taken to Renfrew [some 100 km, pop. 10,000] to get treatment…

The hospital is going through staffing shortages with their specialized sex assault nurses said Mike Tierney, vice-president of clinical programs.

“We have had some challenges recently in staffing this specialized program and that has resulted in us not always being able to provide service in as a timely manner as we would like,” said Tierney, who declined to comment on the specific incident.

He said the staffing shortage was due to illness and happened about three weeks ago [emphasis added]…

Ah, those beloved “challenges”.  Welcome to the … (your ordinal) world.

Mark
Ottawa