By Evan Falchuk

When Danny Williams, the Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, mysteriously disappeared to the United States for heart surgery, it was a scandal in Canada.  Why, asked many Canadians, would a government official abandon the Canadian health care system in his own time of need?

The secrecy surrounding where he went and why only added to the sense that he knew the was doing something bad for his political health.

Now he’s talking, and he’s saying things that I suspect sound pretty radical for Canadians.  Politically, he’s almost forced to say it.  But I wonder if he really needed to be in the fix he is in.

The problem was that Williams needed a heart valve replacement.  He decided he wanted it done in a way that involved a small incision in his arm-pit instead of using the more traditional, sternum-cracking technique.  They don’t do the minimally-invasive approach in Newfoundland and Labrador, so he knew would have to leave his home province one way or the other.  After talking to a doctor in New Jersey, he decided that the right place to go was Mt. Sinai Hospital in Miami, Florida.  There is a doctor there who has apparently performed thousands of these surgeries.

As Williams put it:

“This was my heart, my choice and my health,” Williams said late Monday from his condominium in Sarasota, Fla.”I did not sign away my right to get the best possible health care for myself when I entered politics.

Well, ok.  But what about the fact that the same surgery actually was available in Canada?

“I would’ve been criticized if I had stayed in Canada and had been perceived as jumping a line or a wait list. … I accept that. That’s public life,” he said.  “(But) this is not a unique phenomenon to me. This is something that happens with lots of families throughout this country, so I make no apologies for that.”

Here’s where I wonder if the Premier actually knew that the same surgery could have been done in Canada.  For example, there is a major hospital in Vancouver which does these procedures.  How much better would it have been for him to go there?  He could have had his surgery and been released from the hospital just in time to go to the Olympics.

You know, there are a lot of TV cameras at the Olympics.  The Premier could have used this as a chance to talk about how the Canadian health care system had served him.  It would have been a political gold mine for him, and not just in Canada.   Instead, he announced he’s going from Florida to Vancouver tomorrow, where he will be hounded by controversy.

How could this happen?

Well, the problem of figuring out what to do when you’re sick is hard, no matter who you are, or what health care system you live under.  You suddenly have to try to become an expert in your condition.  Of course, you really can’t.  There’s no way you can replicate all the years of education and training and experience that a doctor has.  And so there will be big gaps in your knowledge about your condition.  Do you have the right diagnosis?  Are you looking at the right treatment options?  Are you with the right doctors?  Do you really understand the risks and benefits of the treatment?

In our work at Best Doctors we have collected a great deal of data from the several million people we cover in North America.  More than half of those who call us are people, like Danny Williams, who are facing surgery and aren’t sure what to do.  It’s a serious problem, and one for which there are very few solutions.

So in this sense, Premier Williams is right.  His problem – how to make sure you are getting the right diagnosis and treatment – is not unique.  It’s something that families thought the country and throughout the world deal with every day.