Canadian Premies Being Brought to U.S.

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Canadian Premies Being Brought to U.S.

Monday, October 15th, 2007 | Health Care |

“I’m a born-bred Canadian, as well as my daughter and son, and I’m ashamed,” Jill Irvine told FOX News. Irvine’s daughter, Carri Ash, is one of at least 40 mothers or their babies who’ve been airlifted from British Columbia to the U.S. this year because Canadian hospitals didn’t have room for the preemies in their neonatal units.

“It’s a big number and bigger than the previous capacity of the system to deal with it,” said Adrian Dix, a British Columbia legislator, told FOXNews.com. “So when that happens, you can’t have a waiting list for a mother having the baby. She just has the baby.”

“The Canadian healthcare system has used the United States as a safety net for years,” said Michael Turner of the Cato Institute. “In fact, overall about one out of every seven Canadian physicians sends someone to the United States every year for treatment.”

And from Sky News:

Bliss’s new study - Too Little Too Late - Are We Ensuring The Best Start For Babies Born Too Soon? - was based on surveys of 195 neonatal units across the UK.

It found that units were forced to refuse new admissions for an average total of two weeks out of a six-month period. And 10% closed their doors to new admissions for eight weeks or more over six months. The study also found that most units were operating above the 70% average occupancy level recommended by experts.

Although some new nurses have been recruited, the service is still 2,600 nurses short of the recommended number, the study said.

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