Ageism in Healthcare

In the summer of 2021 I started dropping things and feeling very dizzy., developed breathing problems associated with asthma and my AFIB and AF worsened. By November I was unable to work due to increasingly problematic symptoms in my hands, feet, lungs, heart and brain. Until then I had been active, swimming most days, had a busy social life and worked full-time as a library consultant.

My GP (very young) announced in the fall that she was leaving general practice. She had not made herself available throughout COVID, so I had no one to consult with concerning the worsening symptoms in the summer, fall and winter. I attended the same large hospital ER three times in December and January, and was sent home each time without assistance and after my symptoms were dismissed.

It was a very scary time during COVID and not being able to see a doctor in person. and being dismissed by ER doctors and refused service at a local Urgent Care Centre. Difficulty breathing from asthma was equated at that time with possible COVID symptoms and I was told multiple times to stay away. I consulted with virtual doctors but all they could do was tell me to see my family doctor, who was completely unavailable. One desperately wanted to help but other than encouraging me to go to ER there was nothing he could do. He even tried liaising with ER and they ignored him. One doctor said I was too complicated to assist and needed to go through a GP. Given I was now so limited in functioning, new doctors didn't believe that I had been so active and functional until recently. One said that it takes time to deteriorate that much, basically gaslighting me.

It was discovered in early February, after I fell several times in the previous month, that I had multiple compression fractures in my spine. After diagnosis, I was sent home from the local ER, after being encouraged to stay the previous night. I was told to leave the next day as multiple compression fractures were not taken seriously and their concerns were about me contracting COVID, not with the fractures. The health authority provided home health supports, but I was largely bedridden and my health worsened dramatically rather than improving over the next month.

In early March I went back to the same local hospital, and was kept for a week. I was pumped full of opiates and placed in a hallway with no call button. By this time (I discovered later at a different facility) I had an infected fracture that resulted in life-threatening sepsis. This diagnosis was missed at this hospital. The test for sepsis, despite my state of mind and worsening health, was not conducted. I was also paranoid, delusional and hallucinating while in the hospital. The doctor had me assessed for commitment, the assumption being I was mentally ill, not sick and being affected by an infection and the opiates. The psychiatrist disagreed and said I was overwhelmed by being ill and on the drugs. The doctor told me that it didn't matter why I had been falling and that I was "too old for rehabilitation". By this point I could not walk and was so dizzy I could hardly move in the bed. I left the hospital through a hospital transfer arranged by the social worker, leaving against doctor's advice. I was told by that doctor that I would never get healthcare again in Canada, if I left. The next day I called 911 and went to a different local hospital, and remained there for three months.

My stay in hospital was lengthy (3 months) and the complications were numerous. The first hospital had missed the sepsis as they were completely focused and made assumptions about my mental health based on my age and gender. By the time it was diagnosed at the second hospital I was on intravenous antibiotics for several weeks. I also was prescribed opioids for the compression fractures. The drugs changed my personality, made me paranoid and resulted in hallucinations. I had two spinal MRIs to ensure the sepsis had not settled there and a transesophageal echo on my heart. And when the sepsis was resolved I was transferred to ICU with double pneumonia, where I crashed and was given the highest levels of oxygen and given a feeding tube, The hospitalist later told me I was one step away from intubation and my family informed me after that they were asked to make a decision about what interventions I would want.

My adult child had to insist on further investigation when the neurologist kept resisting electromyography (EMG) testing. The other doctors (cardiologist, infectious diseases and hospitalists) had been very thorough but this one did not believe there was a neurological explanation nor that it was important to know why I had been falling. The tests were positive for polyneuropathy in my feet and hands. According to that doctor this explained why I was dropping things, falling and was too dizzy to function.

I still have a long way to recovery. I am learning how to walk again, regaining my balance and getting back my life. I am currently medically stable, did a rehab program through the local health authority after coming home. I had to fight for help every day for the past year. For diagnosis and rehabilitation. Assumptions were made about my mental health and the focus of many was on ignoring and dismissing me, based on my age and gender and from that whether I was a viable candidate for rehabilitation.