A new documentary is challenging the image of Canada as a progressive model for the United States, with filmmakers traveling across the country and interviewing more than 4,500 Canadians as they examined mounting concerns over healthcare, affordability, drug policy, immigration, crime and government spending."Broken Country," directed by Canadian filmmaker Mira Metter and coproduced by her husband, Mike Werry, takes a critical look at how life in Canada has changed over the past two decades and the government policies the filmmakers argue helped drive that transformation.The filmmakers also interviewed more than 70 policy experts for the project.Among the Canadians featured is a man who suffered a spinal injury and waited 15 hours to see a surgeon.
According to materials provided by the filmmakers, his doctor later told him that surgery within an hour could have resulted in a full recovery.Three years later, he lives with chronic pain, can walk only a short distance without a walker and was subsequently offered Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) while seeking treatment for his pain and disability.AMERICANS WAIT OVERNIGHT FOR ACCESS TO FREE HEALTHCARE AS COSTS SOAR ‘OUT OF REACH’A new documentary on Canada's healthcare system features a man who suffered permanent spinal cord damage after being injured and having to wait over 15 hours to receive care.
(iStock)"One of the people that I interviewed for this film was a gentleman who had simply slipped and fallen on ice," Metter said."And he was rushed to emerge in an ambulance and ended up waiting over 15 hours just to get admitted.
And in that time, he was given multiple bags of morphine drips to sort of soothe the pain.But by the time he had gotten to see his surgeon, he was unable to feel anything below the waist, and he ended up having spinal cord damage that was permanent."Metter said from the time of recovery it took over 10 months to see someone at a pain clinic to discuss managing his pain."And when he fi...