Jennifer Brady is both relieved and angry that she’s finished part of her fight to get the health care she needs.
After a years-long fight over her medical bills, a judge ruled last week that the province discriminated against her.
“That brings some relief,” she said. “Definitely. At least that part of the fight is over,” Brady said. “I think it also made me really angry.”
“I’ve lived with a really serious and worsening health condition for five years that’s put my life at risk, and paying out of pocket for surgery has had, you know, obviously it cost me a lot financially.”
Brady spends hours every day trying to manage lymphedema, which makes her legs swell and causes her extreme pain.
Her condition has cost a lot financially, emotionally, mentally and physically.
She couldn’t take her kids on vacations or pay to send them to summer camp, she said. She missed out on spending time with them, being able to take them to the park or to the beach for a day. She missed out on her career, too. She’s on leave from her position as a professor at Acadia University.
“The judge confirming everything that I’ve felt and known kind of doesn’t make that anger go away. In a way, it makes it worse, because it should never have come to this.”
Two years ago, she and Crystal Ellingsen applied for a judicial review of how the province was treating them.
Brady could not get the lymphedema treatment she needed in Nova Scotia, and the wait lists were too long elsewhere in the country, so she sought treatment internationally.
But the province’s insurance provider, Medical Services Insurance or MSI, denied her coverage several times. They told her she needed a specialist in Nova Scotia to refer her for out-of-province surgery, but there are not any specialists for that kind of surgery in the province.
Brady remortgaged her house so she could travel to Tokyo, Japan, and have a surgery on her legs. That cost her $60,000.
After the judge made the ruling last week, the premier called her to apologize.
But she said, while Houston has ultimate responsibility, this could have been handled by the Minister of Health, Michelle Thompson. Brady said she sent “many, many emails” to the department, but none got any replies.
“This whole situation has been caused by incompetence and a lack of care and compassion from the Department of Health and minister.”
If anyone lese in the province has issues getting the care they need, Brady said people should stick up for themselves, and if they need help or guidance, she would be willing to help in whatever way she can.
“A lot of the battle has been hope and a prayer and some good luck, somewhat. So I think it’s really important that we know that we deserve to be heard by our elected leaders, and we deserve for them to act when we need them to.”
In a statement, PC Leader Tim Houston apologized for how the province treated Brady and Ellingsen, and he promised the government would pay for any expenses they incurred while travelling for surgeries, and they would pay for any more in the future, as well as any unnecessary legal fees they had during the judicial review process.
