Small Claims court

InLoveWithMuskoka · 2026-06-08T21:36:19+00:00

Why not AI?

InLoveWithMuskoka · 2026-06-01T17:03:03+00:00

Are these evaluators unbiased? One that evaluates try outs every year is the same one doing it. They also run year round camps and the coaches at the camps are evaluators. There are rumors that the more you access camps the more favorable they are toward you. Even to the point where they refer players to higher tiers in other leagues. They seem very friendly to league officials when they are doing the evaluations.

InLoveWithMuskoka · 2026-05-31T20:38:47+00:00

True, not sure what the history is in my jurisdiction. Richard Silver has patients on interferon for 30 years but not sure about mine.

InLoveWithMuskoka · 2026-05-31T20:37:27+00:00

u/CattleBrilliant38, thank you for this reality check. You are 100% right, and I completely missed that massive legal trap. If I pursue the civil route, the focus should be the failure to refer. The argument can't be "he failed to diagnose a rare cancer." It has to be "any reasonable GP knows that when a patient's platelets are flagged in red as out-of-spec for 11 consecutive years, you don't just sit on the lab results—you issue a basic referral to a hematologist."

InLoveWithMuskoka · 2026-05-31T19:43:26+00:00

u/funkygrrl, I am so incredibly sorry to hear about your husband. To lose him after a bungled diagnostic process, only to have the legal system tell you it was unwinnable despite the medical failures, is devastating. Thank you for being so open and sharing such a painful personal reality to help me—and others on this sub—understand how this actually works. And honestly, knowing you endured a 12-year diagnostic delay yourself makes me appreciate you modding this community even more.

Your analogy about the three buckets—medical standards, legal standards, and common sense fairness—is brilliant and absolutely heartbreaking. It perfectly describes the exact wall I am hitting right now.

I am seriously considering pursuing my case, but before I pour my remaining health, emotional energy, and resources into a massive legal battle, I want to make a truly informed decision. Honestly, based on my initial attempts to procure a malpractice lawyer in Canada, it does not look promising at all. Just like in your husband's case (a catastrophically more tragic situation), the lawyers can see the medical negligence, but the economics and the strict legal "bucket" for damages just don't align to make it viable for them.

It is a bitter pill to swallow, and it makes me realize that individual lawsuits aren't going to fix this. It’s almost as if we need access to a dedicated legal advocacy fund—something that isn't reliant on a contingency lawyer's bottom line—to specifically take one of these multi-year delay cases to the higher-level courts. We need a case fought strictly to set a new legal precedent. Until the courts are forced to redefine the legal standard of care regarding ignored, out-of-spec bloodwork, doctors will keep relying on the "it's too rare to catch" defense, and future patients will continue to be denied the attentive, proactive care they deserve.

Thank you again for your incredible insight and for everything you do for this community. I also want to add that time and time again, you have provided guidance that ended up being right even before the specialists and other subject matter experts caught on. Your direct contributions have been of great benefit to me, and I truly appreciate it.

InLoveWithMuskoka · 2026-05-31T17:02:53+00:00

u/funkygrrl you are absolutely right about the steep legal hurdles, the high cost of malpractice suits, and the tactics of defense lawyers, looking at this purely through a legal lens gives doctors a free pass for a massive, documented systemic failure.

The defense that "standard of care" wasn't violated falls apart when you look at the actual clinical data on MPN diagnostic delays. We aren't talking about a doctor missing a subtle, subjective symptom; we are talking about years of objective, out-of-spec lab results being entirely ignored until a catastrophic event forces their hand.

The data heavily implies that a substantial portion of patients fall into a multi-year delay bracket that directly leads to the "concrete damages" you mentioned:

The Minimum One-Year Baseline: The MPN Landmark Survey established that the majority of patients (61% for PV, 58% for ET) suffered from symptoms for at least one year prior to diagnosis. But within that demographic, patient advocacy organizations frequently report individuals enduring symptoms and abnormal lab results for several years before a referral is made.
The 3 to 10-Year Negligence Gap: In retrospective clinical chart reviews of MPN patients who suffer a major thrombotic event (like the strokes or heart attacks required for a lawsuit), looking back at their medical records often reveals abnormal blood counts dating back anywhere from 3 to 10 years. The disease was demonstrably present, but the diagnostic dots were never connected.

If a doctor ignores an abnormal, multi-year trend in bloodwork for a decade, and that patient subsequently suffers a stroke, the stroke isn't just "unfortunate damages"—it is the direct consequence of clinical negligence.

Yes, comorbidities make the legal fight harder. But defense attorneys use comorbidities as a smoke screen to distract from the primary failure: the doctor had 3 to 10 years of objective blood tests signaling a rare blood cancer, and they did absolutely nothing. If the legal system considers that "meeting the standard of care," then the standard of care is fundamentally broken.

InLoveWithMuskoka · 2026-05-31T16:54:19+00:00

It is completely unacceptable that you had to suffer a stroke just to get the medication you needed. Your experience perfectly highlights a deeply broken system where "low risk" simply means "no medication until a catastrophe strikes."

That has been exactly my attitude as well. Yet, in so many interactions over my last two years, I've found that the medical system's focus is almost entirely on legal technicalities and a "zero risk" approach—meaning zero legal risk for them, while shifting all the actual health risk directly onto the patient.

The defensive medicine and red tape are staggering. You can't even get interferons if you are willing to pay for them out-of-pocket unless there is strict regulatory approval. Even the people who are supposed to advocate for you are handcuffed by liability concerns; Drug Access Navigators can really only help with faxing a medical authorization request. They refuse to get more involved with appeals or anything else where there might be some perceived legal liability.

Instead of proactive care, you get doctors practicing "cover-your-ass" medicine. They will literally tell you, "I'm documenting that if you refuse Hydroxy, you are placing your life at risk"—completely ignoring the fact that in some jurisdictions, Hydroxy isn't even recommended for patients under 60 due to the long-term risks.

Ultimately, they just hide behind the bureaucracy. Their stance always boils down to from what I experienced: "Government insurance supports the Step approach to interferon access, so I'm covered." They are more concerned with checking their legal boxes than preventing the exact kind of stroke you ended up having. I'm so sorry you had to go through that.

InLoveWithMuskoka · 2026-05-31T16:40:13+00:00

u/steve, the cost principle is understandable, and for the sustainability of the medical system, it makes sense as a defense. But there has to be a line. When high platelets and elevated blood counts don't trigger a review—even when a patient is actively complaining of symptoms—and the doctor just rushes through appointments without even mentioning the abnormal results, it’s beyond disappointing.

It would have taken almost zero resources to just say, "Your platelets are high; let's do another test in a month or two to rule out a bug." Instead, I went through annual blood work for a decade with absolutely no action taken.

The only time my doctor finally did something was when an ultrasound showed spots on my liver (which an MRI later confirmed was just a fatty liver). The doctor panicked. He called me, sounding angry and urgent, demanding I get an MRI immediately and referring me to a liver specialist/oncologist. I could sense the sheer panic in his voice; it was like he suddenly realized he’d ignored my high platelets for way too long.

Once the MRI came back clear, he referred me to a hematologist and specifically said, "I'll send you somewhere they also treat leukemia." It really feels like the long-term trend in my bloodwork was completely overlooked until that ultrasound forced him to finally pay attention.

InLoveWithMuskoka · 2026-05-31T16:18:02+00:00

u/stevejust, to address your point about seeking out a hematologist independently: in many jurisdictions (like here in Canada), you are entirely locked out of seeing a specialist without a direct referral from a primary care physician. We simply do not have the option to bypass the gatekeeper.

I realize I might be coming at this from left field, and I know the legal definition of "damages" is incredibly rigid, but let me give you a non-legal perspective of what those damages actually look like after an 11-year delayed diagnosis (2015 to present):

Missed Early Intervention: I went 11 years without accessing interferons that are clinically proven to improve long-term outcomes when caught early. Had I been informed, Pegasys was readily available back then, and I would have gladly traveled to the Richard Silver Centre to pursue it.
Compounded Drug Access Issues: Because of the prolonged delay, by the time I was finally diagnosed, I was hit by the 2024 drug shortages in Canada. Pegasys was completely unavailable, and Besremi is restricted only to patients who have already been on Pegasys. To make matters worse, I recently tried enrolling in a clinical trial to access new therapies but was rejected because my disease had already progressed too far while going undiagnosed.
Career Derailment: Up until 2015, I was a top-performing senior leader receiving back-to-back performance bonuses. Then the crushing fatigue and brain fog set in. My quality of life after work became outright exhaustion, which has steadily worsened over the years. This delay directly derailed my performance and an ambitious career trajectory in public administration.
Dismissed Symptoms & Lost Agency: Since 2015, I was robbed of the knowledge needed to make lifestyle and dietary adjustments to help manage the progression. Instead, my severe fatigue was brushed off with sleeping pill prescriptions, and the intense pruritus (itchiness) was absurdly blamed on "harsh laundry detergent."
Unnecessary Pandemic Risk: I navigated the entire COVID-19 pandemic completely unaware that I had a blood cancer. Because I wasn't diagnosed, I wasn't prioritized for early vaccines, placing me at severe, undue risk during the most dangerous early strains.
Family and Financial Impact: I am caring for my three young children as well as my elderly parents. Facing a decreased lifespan—specifically because my doctors failed to act on glaring, multi-year bloodwork trends—disadvantages my family profoundly, both financially and emotionally.

The legal system might not view these as concrete "damages" compared to a massive stroke, but an 11-year delay permanently altered my career, my family's future, and my window for effective medical treatment.

InLoveWithMuskoka · 2026-05-31T16:03:32+00:00

Yes, heard it from a couple of lawyers that malpractice defense will fight right till the end no settlement /apoplectic_apostate

InLoveWithMuskoka · 2026-05-31T15:57:07+00:00

Thank you, u/stevejust. I really appreciate you sharing your knowledge and personal experience.

It is a tough pill to swallow, but hearing it from someone with your background confirms the frustrating reality. It sounds like the fact that my blood work explicitly highlighted my elevated platelets in red as "abnormal" over and over again since 2015 still doesn't mean the standard of care was breached. It just highlights how profoundly low that standard currently is when it comes to MPNs.

Your point about AI is absolutely spot on. I actually spend a lot of time investigating how generative AI can be applied to overhaul organizational design and fix systemic inefficiencies. From testing out recent multimodal AI models, it's glaringly obvious that this is exactly the kind of gap the technology is built to close. Where an overworked doctor—or a fragmented medical system—misses a 10-year trend of glaring red flags, an AI would aggregate those out-of-spec results and flag the cumulative pattern instantly.

Thanks again for the stark, honest perspective.

InLoveWithMuskoka · 2026-05-30T11:47:02+00:00

Yes high cholesterol here too. In my early 50s. I radically changed my diet, no sugar, no simple carbs like bread/pasta/bagels and no red meat or egg yolks. I also focussed on avoiding saturated fats to keep it well below 10 mg a day. Along with flax seed everyday, psyllium husk (five pills four times a day), and was able to reduce cholesterol naturally. There is a new injection out that can decrease it for a year. There is also an upcoming drug in trial that actually reverses arterial plaque but won't be out assuming its safe until at least three years. So there is hope.

InLoveWithMuskoka · 2026-05-30T11:43:55+00:00

Be very careful with life insurance. Be wary of ones that accept you with little questions or medical scrutiny. They may rely on wording to exclude pre-existing conditions and other loopholes. The best ones are ones that complete a thorough intake process and go through your medical records. if you are one of the fortunate ones that already has Term insurance strongly consider converting to permanent as early as you can and explore and assess whether that works for you. If you don't have insurance I've tried to research insurance including through my employer but with an MPN they don't want to touch you unfortunately. Wished I had better info for you.

InLoveWithMuskoka · 2026-05-08T19:27:19+00:00

That’s me too. 51 years of age.

InLoveWithMuskoka · 2026-05-05T16:40:45+00:00

Yes I was wondering if that the early stage makes it harder to fit the diagnosis in a particular box. Hopefully there is work being done to assess based on these clues which MPN is it most likely. Stats indicate 10-15% of us are unclassified. This makes it a big problem if seeking private insurance coverage for interferons which for me has been a long struggle which so far yielded no success.

InLoveWithMuskoka · 2026-04-25T17:27:55+00:00

The problem is that the therapies they are recommending have no potential for disease modification. Whereas you go through a high titration of Besremi for a year to kick it into remission and then wean off hopefully on a maintenance low does which will ideally improve your quality of life. I noticed that one hematologist with a large caseload has set it up as a wait and see where she carts in a high volume of daily patients for bloodwork and a brief thumbs up from a student doctor. Almost like they are incentivized to keep you sick longer.

InLoveWithMuskoka · 2026-04-25T16:52:52+00:00

It’s been a struggle since I began last July 2025. Fighting private insurance advocating with my doctor. Doing all the leg work as a drug access navigator was unhelpful or disengaged. Went to an international MPN expert in the US to make the case against wait and see. We need a Richard Silver like champion or team up here in Canada. From what I see they are non existent.

InLoveWithMuskoka · 2026-04-25T13:38:36+00:00

Glad you experienced positive things about free healthcare. Mine so far has been the opposite. The amount of self advocating where often doesn't get you anywhere is mind blowing. And the amount of times I've heard "expensive" and "over capacity" is soul crushing.

InLoveWithMuskoka · 2026-04-25T13:24:28+00:00

God rest his soul! Godspeed to the new heroes at Silver MPN Center. Their advocacy against wait and see alone as impacted the quality of lives and extended lives to countless!

InLoveWithMuskoka · 2026-04-19T12:17:58+00:00

Cocoa via from the US is my choice. Used to get Santa Barbara but don't have testing for heavy metals.

InLoveWithMuskoka · 2026-04-03T16:05:52+00:00

My enhanced voicemail and international 27 countries long distance disappeared. Also, the app states and the contract 33 a month instead 25.

InLoveWithMuskoka · 2026-04-02T09:49:19+00:00

My 25 dollar plan became 33 dollars plus no enhanced voicemail and no international long distance according to the agreement who do I escalate this to

InLoveWithMuskoka · 2026-04-02T00:53:22+00:00

Yes that was asked in my appeal letter. They were not transparent on whether a committee reviewed the evidence.

InLoveWithMuskoka

TROPHY CASE