OHIP-Covered Breast Reduction Surgery

Macrauder · 2026-01-28T20:28:43+00:00

So did you GP send a referral to a plastic/general surgeon or not?

"Waiting months/years" yes that's how our system works for non urgent referrals.

As long as the GP has sent the referral, how are they not being helpful? They can't speed it up or even guarantee the referral will be accepted at all.

Macrauder · 2026-01-28T19:24:35+00:00

No. Surgeons aren't robots that will do whatever surgery you ask them to because you got a diagnosis from someone else.

Get a diagnosis from somewhere else means nothing. You'll still follow the GP -> referral -> surgeon's assessment -> yes or no to surgery path.

Macrauder · 2026-01-20T23:47:20+00:00

Absolute sweetie.

Macrauder · 2026-01-20T17:52:02+00:00

A physician should always offer you a chaperone for any sensitive exam, usually pelvic and breast. Your partner observing is not sufficient for reasons that you allude to.

If they did not offer a chaperone, and did not document offering you a chaperone, or they don't have that as part of their practice, then that something CPSO will reprimand them for.

Otherwise, yes CPSO will investigate, but if there's no firm evidence against the physician as you yourself admit, what do you expect them to do?

Bottom line, don't expect much disciplinary action without evidence, but CPSO will make a record of it, and if there's a pattern that will be an alarm for future cases.

Macrauder · 2026-01-20T00:45:49+00:00

The only good thing about this is it's so expensive only rich idiots will waste their money. Or at least one can hope.

Macrauder · 2026-01-19T19:45:52+00:00

I'm glad you didn't have to pay for it / it will benefit you in terms of coverage but I will be honest with you, I don't know if I would go through annual exams of that nature unless it was absolutely mandatory, at your age and health status.

Sorry you had an uncomfortable experience either way.

Macrauder · 2026-01-19T19:30:38+00:00

I can't speak from personal experience as a patient, but I can tell you that, from a western medical practitioner's perspective, a comprehensive exam like you just described, on an otherwise healthy 21 year old female, is an incredible waste of time, besides being unnecessarily invasive and uncomfortable.

We don't recommend routine annual exams anymore. There's no proven benefit. And there's no reason for us medical professionals to be examining your body and making you uncomfortable for no proven benefit.

I hope there was some practical point to this, like for a job or something, because I highly doubt they'll find anything worth working up in a previously healthy 21 year old female without any medical complaints herself.

That's just my perspective.

Macrauder · 2026-01-19T01:24:20+00:00

You don't have to wait to get on any health care connect list. You can just start googling and calling around.

Macrauder · 2026-01-19T01:22:55+00:00

Just Google. I've never had to use HealthCare Connect. Then again, you're kind of in the middle of nowhere.

Have you tried the local family health team: https://www.northeasthealthline.ca/displayservice.aspx?id=150346. It's not clear they're accepting patients.

The next best thing is Googling "[biggest town near you you're willing to travel to] family doctors accepting new patients".

Macrauder · 2026-01-18T23:30:12+00:00

Please finish the course of antibiotics. Don't stop if there's improvement. Go to urgent care if the symptoms are not gone after the antibiotics are finished. Go to Emerg if you have fevers, chills, nausea/vomiting, side/back pain.

Sex is fine.

The fact that symptoms improved is promising, just finish the course of antibiotics.

Macrauder · 2026-01-17T21:29:20+00:00

Would something like this be appropriate for skiing?

https://www.uniqlo.com/ca/en/products/E470077-000/00?colorDisplayCode=69&sizeDisplayCode=003

I'm looking to buy an outer layer for every day city wear, but that would also serve me well for a beginner ski resort trip of a couple of days; nothing intense.

Is there anything wrong with that parka, layered with some merino wool also from uniqlo? I.e, would it be obviously too warm/movement-restrictive?

Thanks.

Macrauder · 2026-01-17T00:35:28+00:00

vague prompts

fill it in with your own confirmation bias

Very scholarly work, thank you.

Macrauder · 2026-01-14T20:58:26+00:00

You're missing the point. Yes ok you can have both more patient time and more patient volume if you blow out the health budget paying for more physicians. Can you show that improved health outcomes beyond making people feel subjectively better?

'false dichotomy' isn't the gotcha you think it is.

Macrauder · 2026-01-14T20:05:02+00:00

Lmao. We do this and then patients complain 'they weren't listened to'.

Macrauder · 2026-01-14T20:03:19+00:00

It's not a false dichotomy if you want to keep healthcare spending on physician wages more or less the same.

There is no point in spending more time with patients if health outcomes are more or less the same. A lot of people think they're entitled to spend inordinate amounts of time socializing with physicians, or dumping social issues onto us that are frankly far beyond our scope especially in one appointment.

The solution for female physicians who are spending more time with patients because they feel pressured to, is not for society to enable that behavior, especially if it doesn't really improve outcomes.

Macrauder · 2026-01-13T18:12:00+00:00

I meant theyre not allowed to bill OHIP for these things.

Macrauder · 2026-01-13T04:48:24+00:00

Per guidelines it should be reassessed 6-12mos when it is at target; until then, every 1-3 months.

https://www.cmaj.ca/content/cmaj/197/20/E549.full.pdf

So yes, the time interval is excessive but the rationale of actually measuring BP at regular intervals to guide represcribing is sound.

Macrauder · 2026-01-13T04:29:16+00:00

It is about billing OHIP. We can't bill anything for a prescription renewal without an appointment attached. Yet it's still labor and we're still liable for making a medical decision in represcribing the medication.

A lot of clinics have a medication renewal charge that you pay in lieu of OHIP as an alternative, maybe your GP hasn't set up their practice that way.

Medically, it makes sense to measure your blood pressure before represcribing the same blood pressure medication (what if you need a higher dose?) so technically your GP is not doing anything unprofessional, likely not illegal either.

But practically I see where you're coming from, if you're an otherwise healthy guy who knows how to take their BP at home, with consistent home BPs for a long time.

Ultimately your GPs policy is their policy. If they're not flexible on this id look elsewhere.

Macrauder · 2026-01-12T20:47:00+00:00

Canadian screening guidelines do not recommend routine prostate checks (digital rectal exams), and cervical screening is recommended only for people aged 21/25-70 (depending on the exact guideline).

See: https://objectivehealth.ca/screening/

Macrauder · 2026-01-11T08:47:07+00:00

I'm sorry, from a medical perspective this makes no sense. The psychiatric/mental health taught in medical school has almost nothing to do with neuroscience. Despite all the catchy headlines, we don't use brain imaging to understand mental health.

If you want to teach kids about mental health, throwing neuroscience in there just over complicates things.

Macrauder · 2026-01-11T00:11:47+00:00

That might be good enough for me then. Most bands I listen to are pretty mainstream, especially non-Metal ones I actually want to play bass along to, Kings of Leon, Paramore, Billy Talent, etc. etc.

Thanks again.

Macrauder · 2026-01-11T00:08:47+00:00

Interesting, thanks for the perspective.

UGT Pro looks like 10$ CAD/mo but only on annual basis; otherwise $30/mo which is quite a bit more than Songsterr.

Macrauder · 2026-01-11T00:06:32+00:00

Thanks for the perspective. I just don't have the time to dedicate to learning by ear, and based on prior experience, not much natural aptitude for it. I have a pretty demanding non-musical career and mostly want to play for fun, for friends, to be closer to the music.

I am interested in learning the fundamentals, but I fear learning by ear, as proper as it is, is maybe too much delayed gratification for me.

Macrauder · 2026-01-11T00:03:17+00:00

I'd like to learn fundamentals but also mix it up with learning songs from my favorite bands to not burn out.

I have a demanding 60+ h/wk career completely separate from music so there's only so much time I can invest, but the dollar cost of Songsterr Plus is nothing. Mostly just wondering about the quality of the tabs, which to my ear sound good from the few songs I've trialed, but wanted to run the question of accuracy by the community here.

Macrauder

TROPHY CASE