Ontario man says he was denied medical treatment because he didn't have a cellphone
A Mississauga man wants COVID-19 safety protocols to be thought through with more compassion after he says he was sent away from a walk-in clinic with a very painful hand because he didn’t have a cellphone.
Pete Vojeckis says he takes the pandemic seriously and was happy to wait in the parking lot rather than the waiting room and be called in. But he’s calling for common sense — because, he says, he could be called in verbally rather than over the phone.
“It seems like it’s pretty unfair if they’re going to exclude people from medical treatment if they don’t have cell phones,” Vojeckis, who is on disability, told CTV News Toronto. “That’s really wrong, you know.”
It’s a case that has observers reminding policymakers that technological solutions that work for many people don’t necessarily work for everyone, and people who don’t have cellphones for a variety of reasons shouldn’t be left behind.
Wayne Sumner, a professor emeritus at the Joint Centre for Bioethics at the University of Toronto, said that’s especially important as cellphones become tools used in COVID-19 contract tracing and could be part of a digital vaccine passport system.
“Something that works for 95 per cent of people, something as important as this, you have to make some provisions for the five per cent of people for whom it doesn’t work,” Sumner said.
Vojeckis says he bent his fingers backwards last week. “It hurt a lot and I thought I broke something. It swelled up like a boxing glove.”
He went to a walk-in clinic at Hurontario St. and Queensway. He says staff asked him to wait outside as part of a COVID safety protocol, and they would call him when they were ready.
But when Vojeckis said he didn’t have a cellphone, he says the staff told him to go to the nearby Trillium Health Partners hospital — something he wanted to avoid in case there were COVID cases there.
He says he suggested calling him verbally, in person, maintaining physical distance — but was shut down.
“She turned me away because I don’t have a cellphone,” Vojeckis said. “It’s not a very good thing to be forced to have technology for the simplest things like health care.”
A walk-in clinic at Hurontario St. and Queensway. (Jon Woodward/CTV News Toronto)
Having patients wait outside is recommended by health officials during the pandemic because the chances of spreading COVID-19 is much lower.
When CTV News Toronto phoned the clinic for comment, and selected ‘land line’ on the touchtone menu, their system sent an automated text.
And when we arrived in person, we were handed a generic note that said in part, “The clinic is proud of the quality of the medical care provided at this clinic. No one in the clinic has any comments for the media.”
Vojeckis said he wants public health officials to update their guidance to include people who don't have easy access to technology.
"Something's got to be done, you know. People are falling through the cracks and it's pretty sad," he said.
Vojeckis was eventually diagnosed with an injured tendon by his family doctor.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Average hourly wage in Canada now $34.95: StatCan
Average hourly wages among Canadian employees rose to $34.95 on a year-over-year basis in April, a 4.7 per cent increase, according to a Statistics Canada report released Friday morning.
From outer space? Sask. farmers baffled after discovering strange wreckage in field
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
This iconic Canadian song is turning 50
Andy Kim's 'Rock Me Gently' is marking a major milestone, as it celebrates its 50th anniversary.
Oprah Winfrey: I set an unrealistic standard for dieting
Oprah Winfrey said on Thursday evening that she has long played a role in promoting unhealthy and unrealistic diets.
Ontario family receives massive hospital bill as part of LTC law, refuses to pay
A southwestern Ontario woman has received an $8,400 bill from a hospital in Windsor, Ont., after she refused to put her mother in a nursing home she hated -- and she says she has no intention of paying it.
Toronto police called to Drake's Bridle Path mansion for another alleged intruder on Thursday
Toronto police say a man who allegedly attempted to access Drake’s Bridle Path property was taken to hospital on Thursday after an altercation with security guards.
Flat tire on a highway? Here's why you shouldn't try to fix it
If you're cruising down a highway and realize you have a flat tire, you may want to think twice before stopping to fix it on the side of the road.
Storm-battered U.S. South is again under threat. A boy swept into a drain fights for his life
Dangerous storms crashed over parts of the U.S. South on Thursday even as the region cleaned up from earlier severe weather that spawned tornadoes, killed at least three people, and gravely injured a boy who was swept into a storm drain as he played in a flooded street.
Broadcaster and commentator Rex Murphy dead at 77: National Post
The National Post is reporting that Rex Murphy, the pundit and columnist who hosted a national call-in radio show for decades, has died.