Gaye Horn sat in the B.C. Legislature Monday as the NDP opposition questioned the government on delays getting her husband Lee’s hips replaced. (Richard McGuire file photo)
An Osoyoos man’s long wait for a hip replacement was raised in the B.C. Legislature Monday by the NDP opposition.
NDP health critic Judy Darcy called attention to the case of Lee Horn, who has been “languishing in pain for 903 days.”
Horn’s wife Gaye was in the legislature Monday when Darcy questioned Health Minister Terry Lake about the situation.
“Will the Minister of Health please tell Gaye and her husband Lee if he thinks it’s acceptable that Lee has to wait almost three years in excruciating pain to get his hip surgery,” Darcy asked.
Lake attributed the problem to a growing and aging population and acknowledged that in some parts of the province wait times can be unacceptable for MRIs (magnetic resonance imaging) or surgery.
“We are working very hard to get to the people that have waited the longest,” Lake told her.
He said the government last year spent $25 million on a surgical initiative on top of hundreds of millions of dollars spent on surgery alone and additional MRIs.
Horn waited nearly two years for diagnostics to pinpoint the reason for his pain and he’s waited another 538 days since he was told his hip needed to be replaced.
The Horns had a photo tour operation in the South Okanagan, but Horn’s pain left him unable to perform tasks that were routine, Darcy said.
“We know that under Christy Clark’s government, B.C. has the second worst wait lists for both hip and knee replacements,” Darcy said in a news release. “Lee puts a human face to those troubling statistics.”
Lake said knee replacements have gone up 176 per cent and hip replacements 100 per cent since 2001 and this is outpacing population growth.
There are no waits for emergency surgery, he added.
He promised “continued investment in the health care system” in B.C.
“I want my husband back,” said Gaye. “Imagine being a former college football player sitting inside watching his wife with two bad knees shoveling the driveway. That’s what waiting for health care looks like.”
Darcy said the government ran a pilot project in Richmond that reduced wait times for him and knee replacements by 75 per cent, but then it stopped funding it.
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
NDP Health Critic Judy Darcy challenged the government Monday about the long delays faced by Lee Horn, who is waiting for hip surgery. (Supplied photo)
