An Ontario woman is paralyzed and stranded in the Dominican Republic after a “catastrophic” water slide accident led to a fruitless search for a hospital bed in Toronto.
“It’s impossible for me to go home,” Corinna McCoy told CTV News Toronto.
On Christmas Day, the 53-year-old Toronto woman was visiting a water park with her 20-year-old son. Soon after, their carefree vacation came to a halt. McCoy was going down a tube slide when someone crashed into her from behind.
Moments later she was drowning. Her neck was broken and a disc in her spine began to bulge.
“I can’t walk, I can’t sit, I only have a little strength to feed myself with my right hand,” she said. “I’m pretty much paralyzed from the chest down.”
McCoy underwent emergency surgery at a local hospital in La Romana, Dominican Republic. Days later, she said her travel insurance claim had been accepted and an air ambulance was ready to take her to St. Joseph’s Health Center in Toronto.
But there was a problem.
“I haven’t been assigned a doctor,” McCoy said Wednesday, 10 days after the accident. “St. Joe says they’re happy to have me as a patient, but I don’t know if it’s for one day, two days, three days, four days.
Corinna McCoy and her son while on vacation in the Dominican Republic before her accident happened. Jennifer Stranges, senior communications advisor for Unity Health Toronto, said they could not confirm or discuss patient information, but expanded procedures for out-of-country medical emergencies as outlined by Critical Care Service Ontario.
“Acceptance of a repatriation request occurs after a thorough review of the patient’s medical records provided by the sending health facility or insurance company,” Stranges said.
The Ministry of Health told CTV News Toronto that it is the insurance company’s responsibility to find a hospital bed and arrange transportation. “The patient’s insurance company can call as many hospitals as possible to find an available hospital bed,” a ministry spokesman said.
Orion Travel Insurance, part of the Canadian Automobile Association (CAA), worked on McCoy’s case.
CAA communications manager Nadia Matos said a request for a bed is launched immediately once a patient is determined to be safe to fly by air ambulance. Each day, they track hospitals in the patient’s “catchment area,” the area of their residence in Ontario, to see if there are any available beds.
“If a bed is not available, as in this case, the search quickly expands and starts elsewhere,” Matos said.
However, she said the process can take time because each hospital has internal guidelines for how beds are allocated, which determines the priority of patients waiting to be admitted.
“Due to the nature of the injuries in these situations, patients often require complex long-term care and cannot be safely returned without a bed provided,” Matos said. “Only after the attending physician has accepted a patient and a free bed has been secured can we begin the repatriation process.”
Corinna McCoy is seen with her doctor at a local hospital in La Romana, Dominican Republic. McCoy said she is grateful for the emergency care she received at Dominican Hospital, but worries she may need a second surgery and that her minimal rehabilitation treatment will have long-term consequences.
“As of Dec. 26, if I had been at home, I probably would have already had 20 to 30 hours of rehab to learn to walk again … I only had 60 minutes,” she said.
Language has also served as a major barrier in communicating with health professionals in the Dominican Republic. Google translate stood in for a human translator, which McCoy said she requested from the Canadian consulate. “They said they don’t offer that service,” she said.
Global Affairs Canada could not speak on McCoy’s case due to privacy concerns. However, a spokesperson said they are aware of a Canadian seeking consular assistance in the Dominican province and are in contact with local authorities.
McCoy says she can see that every person working on her transfer really wants to help her get to a hospital in Toronto.
“It’s just that there’s no urgency,” she said.
“There is no one on the other end of the Canadian health care system.”
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