A Montreal woman who was told by health-care professionals that she was too young for breast cancer but later diagnosed with it, has died from the disease. Valerie Buchanan was 32 when she died at the end of February.
“I keep asking myself why anyone, but selfishly, why her?” Chris Scheepers, Buchanan’s husband told CTVNews.ca in a telephone interview. “She was a beautiful person. She was extremely driven, talented and positive. What really breaks me is our son won’t know the truly remarkable woman she was.”
Throughout 2020, Buchanan sought answers for a lump in her chest but had said she was reassured by multiple health-care professionals in Ottawa and Montreal that it was a benign cyst without sending her for imaging to confirm.
After 13 months, Buchanan eventually went to a private clinic and was diagnosed with Stage 3 triple-negative breast cancer – a biologically aggressive subtype of breast cancer. Just a few months later, she learned it was Stage 4.
The strange thing here is that in America there’s a better chance they might have found it earlier–if only because they’re gung-ho on testing because they can bill for it.
Agreed, if she had insurance. And it didn’t get denied by AI.
I hate this place
In America, you’re more likely to get the test ordered (for a myriad of reasons, billing is one, but also malpractice) but also to have it be denied by insurance.
In a country like Canada, the challenge would be getting the test ordered but once you do, the only question is when it can be done.
This is very accurate. Highlights the cons of each system. The grass isn’t always greener.