My boyfriend, Mario, was diagnosed with sudden sensorineural hearing loss while we were in Mexico. This is a time-sensitive medical emergency where prompt treatment is critical to prevent permanent hearing damage.
In Mexico:
He saw a specialist the same day.
He received an immediate diagnosis.
Received written instructions, prescriptions, and a treatment plan.
The doctor even gave us his WhatsApp and responds if we have questions
He told us clearly:
“Go straight to the ER when you land in Canada. This cannot wait.”
He also shared medical literature explaining the urgency:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8855894/
We followed that advice.
We landed and went straight to Ottawa Civic Hospital ER. He waited 10 hours overnight. When he finally saw a doctor, we were told they would not call an ENT specialist because he is a Quebec resident and should go get treated in Quebec.
My boyfriend explained this was urgent and even said he was willing to pay out of pocket for whatever it cost just to be treated immediately and avoid permanent damage.
The doctor responded:
“I KNOW IT’S URGENT. IT’S NOT MY FAULT. I CAN’T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT. ALL QUEBEC RESIDENTS COME TO OTTAWA. I CAN’T REFER YOU TO A SPECIALIST.”
Then left the room. He later came back and gave him a printed note , which we now have confirming:
The diagnosis, that it is time-sensitive, That he needs urgent follow-up But still no treatment.
We then went to Gatineau Hospital.
We have now been here 22 hours.
Total: 32+ hours in ERs without receiving treatment
And here’s what doesn’t make sense:
When we arrived in Gatineau, there were only about 7 people ahead of him.
It has now been almost two days in ER and he still hasn’t seen a doctor.
After 26 hours we finally see a doctor but it's a GENERAL DOCTOR, not a specialist. The specialist never came in, and after showing them the diagnosis and some graphics that resembles his hearing loss, the general doctor says: " this means nothing to me I'm not a specialist" 😬..
I don't even know why they even allow general doctors to lookbthee cases when they have no idea. She did a quick test that lasted 3 min and apparently was texting and ENT. Then she said they we should remove 4/5 medications that where prescribed by the Mexican doctor. Yo keep taking just one and I'm two weeks an ENT will follow up. That's litterally what we got after waiting 25, hours in the hospital.
I don't evennl know how the ENT got that diagnosis when he didn't even show up to take a look at my boyfriend ears. I know how the ears look in the inside because when we were in mexico at the private hospital they checked with a camera, they did some tests and got a real diagnosis and got explained detai by detail what was happening to him. At the same time the Mexican doctor was watsapping with me and was telling me that my boyfriend needed to get some.
We went to the hospital because he was diagnosed with sudden sensorineural hearing loss, and we were told that this condition requires urgent treatment within the first 3 days to improve the chances of recovery.
The ENT doctor in Mexico prescribed multiple medications and also explained that the prognosis can improve with intratympanic steroid injections. When I mentioned this to the general doctor here in Canada, she told me that there are no studies that support that this treatment works.
However, I contacted the doctor in Mexico again, and he sent me a study and a link to support the use of intratympanic injections:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23378346/
I showed this to the doctor here, but she still said that she couldn’t do anything. In the end, they removed 4 out of the 5 medications that were prescribed, and they did not provide the injection either.
So essentially, we spent a long time at the hospital and nothing was done, even though this is a time-sensitive condition. The biggest concern is that we lost valuable time, since early treatment is critical for recovery.
I understand triage exists and more urgent cases come in —
but it’s hard to understand how that turns into this level of delay for a documented, time-sensitive condition.
This is not about skipping the line.
This is about a medical condition where timing matters, and still having zero access to care after 32+ hours.
We have:
Diagnosis
Prescription
Written instructions
Proof of urgency
And we are still just waiting.
What’s even more concerning:
This isn’t just us.
I’ve watched multiple people leave because they couldn’t keep waiting anymore.
People clearly needing care just giving up.
I don’t understand why there isn’t more real exposure of what’s happening.
We hear complaints about the healthcare system —
but this is real-time inability to access care.
Healthcare is funded by our taxes.
But what is it for if you can’t access a doctor when it actually matters?
This isn’t about convenience.
This is about quality of life and preventing permanent damage.