Canadian Couple Drives 325 Miles to U. S. for Health Care

People who want Universal Health Care in the United States should read this story about a couple who drove 325 miles from Calgary, Alberta to Great Falls, Montana because all the hospital beds in Calgary (Universal Health) were full!

No reason was given why the couple drove past Ft. Macleod, Alberta, which has a hospital and is only 108 miles from Calgary!

No reason was given why the couple by passed Lethbridge, Canada, a town of 81,000 people and only 140 miles from Calgary, which has the Lethbridge Regional Hospital. Was it full also?

I wonder if the Canadian Health Care will pay the Great Falls hospital, or will the American taxpayer eat the costs?

Imagine having to drive hundreds of miles to get medical care under a free market health care system. There would be wailing and gnashing of teeth as the politicians pontificated about how health care is a right and only the government can provide it. This story just proved the government cannot provide health care.

Why is there no outcry to privatize the Canadian health care when it forces someone to drive 325 miles to another country for care? Someone should make a move about the faults of government health care and title the movie, "Sicko, The Sequel"!

Charles Tolleson

Woman has rare identical quadruplets By SARAH COOKE, Associated Press Writer Thu Aug 16, 2007

35-year-old Canadian woman has given birth to rare identical quadruplets, officials at a Great Falls hospital said Thursday. Karen Jepp of Calgary, Alberta, delivered Autumn, Brooke, Calissa and Dahlia by Caesarian section Sunday afternoon at Benefis Healthcare, said Amy Astin, the hospital's director of community and government relations.

The four girls were breathing without ventilators and listed in good condition Thursday, she said."These babies are doing grand," said Dr. Tom Key of Great Falls, the perinatologist who delivered the girls. The babies were born about two months early and were conceived without fertility drugs, he said. They weighed between 2.6 pounds and 2.15 pounds. Jepp and her husband, J.P., declined to be interviewed by The Associated Press. "The parents have been a little bit shy about the press. ... We agreed to handle it in a way they were comfortable with," Astin said. The couple have a 2-year-old son, Simon.

J.P. Jepp works for Shell Oil Co., and both worked for nonprofit groups until recently, Astin said. The chances of giving birth to identical quadruplets is about one in 13 million, Key said. "This is a very big medical event," he said. "Identical quadruplets are extremely rare. "Medical literature indicates there are less than 50 sets of identical quadruplets, said Dr. Jamie Grifo, director of the NYU Fertility Center in New York. The last reported set were born in April 2006 to a 26-year-old Indian woman.

The Jepps drove 325 miles to Great Falls for the births because hospitals in Calgary were at capacity, Key said.

"The difficulty is that Calgary continues to grow at such a rapid rate. ... The population has increased a lot faster than the number of hospital beds," he said. Two of the girls were to be transferred to a Calgary hospital later Thursday. The other two could be moved Friday if their conditions remain favorable, Key said. They will likely remain hospitalized for four to six weeks, he said. "These quads are special," Astin said. "The fact that she carried them 31 weeks and three days is excellent."

Copyright © 2007 The Associated Press.