Liver transplant considered elective surgery?
A 35-year-old Ladner, B.C., woman with end-stage liver disease says she and her doctors have been desperately trying for weeks to schedule a transplant operation at Vancouver General Hospital but without luck.
Michelle Way says she’s been told the reason for the delay is because health officials decided to reduce elective surgeries during the Olympic Games.
“Because my liver transplant is considered elective surgery, it’s gone into the cooking pot with all the other elective surgeries, even though we are in a race against time,” she told CTV News Wednesday night.
Anna Marie D’Angelo, a Vancouver Coastal Health official, said elective operations are being reduced by 30 percent during the Games because history has shown that demand for medical services goes down during the Olympics.
Surgeries are also being reduced to allow doctors to attend or volunteer during the Games.
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