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Ontario man claims dying wife stranded in Mexico over unfounded swine flu fears
By Tamara King, The Canadian Press
TORONTO - The family of a Toronto woman on life-support in a Mexican hospital said Monday that they believe she's being blocked from returning to Canada because of false fears over swine flu.
Victoria George, 29, has been in a Cancun hospital since Wednesday after suffering a severe asthma attack that sent her into cardiac arrest. She was on vacation with her husband and their five-year-old son.
Her prognosis is grim and loved-ones want her flown back to Ontario to say their goodbyes, efforts that relatives claim have been repeatedly denied because of the swine flu outbreak that's suspected of killing more than 140 people and sickening more than 1,000 others in Mexico.
"We feel as if there's a strong, improper association with her and the swine flu... It has thwarted her ability to be brought back into Canada," the woman's mother, Pauline George, said Monday.
George's husband, Dylan Pazzano, said he was initially told there were no intensive-care unit beds at hospitals in the Greater Toronto Area. However, Pazzano said the family later received assurances that there was no shortage of space at hospitals in and around Toronto.
As of Monday, he had not received any update on why his wife could not return to Canada.
"It's just been an excuse after excuse," Pazzano said in a telephone interview with The Canadian Press from Cancun.
"We've been stranded by our own country, by our own government. I've always been so proud to live where I have and so lucky to live where I have. I'm ashamed to be a Canadian right now," said Pazzano, 33.
Ontario's Health Ministry dismissed those suggestions Monday, saying no one travelling from countries affected with swine flu are being barred from Ontario hospitals.
But, Steve Irwin, a health ministry spokesman, declined to comment specifically on George's case.
In general, there are occasionally delays in transferring patients to Ontario hospitals from other countries, Irwin said.
Health officials routinely decline to speak on specific medical cases, citing privacy laws.
As of Monday, Canada had a half-dozen confirmed cases of the illness while there were 40 confirmed cases in the U.S. Spain also confirmed one case of swine flu - the first in Europe - and health officials in Scotland confirmed Britain's first two cases.
The World Health Organization has raised its pandemic alert for a new strain of swine flu by one level, two steps short of declaring a full pandemic. The organization says the phase four alert means there is sustained human-to-human transmission in at least one country.
The Public Health Agency of Canada has issued a travel advisory for Mexico, urging travellers to take precautionary measures such as getting a flu shot, frequently washing their hands and covering coughs and sneezes.
-With files from The Associated Press
By Tamara King, The Canadian Press
TORONTO - The family of a Toronto woman on life-support in a Mexican hospital said Monday that they believe she's being blocked from returning to Canada because of false fears over swine flu.
Victoria George, 29, has been in a Cancun hospital since Wednesday after suffering a severe asthma attack that sent her into cardiac arrest. She was on vacation with her husband and their five-year-old son.
Her prognosis is grim and loved-ones want her flown back to Ontario to say their goodbyes, efforts that relatives claim have been repeatedly denied because of the swine flu outbreak that's suspected of killing more than 140 people and sickening more than 1,000 others in Mexico.
"We feel as if there's a strong, improper association with her and the swine flu... It has thwarted her ability to be brought back into Canada," the woman's mother, Pauline George, said Monday.
George's husband, Dylan Pazzano, said he was initially told there were no intensive-care unit beds at hospitals in the Greater Toronto Area. However, Pazzano said the family later received assurances that there was no shortage of space at hospitals in and around Toronto.
As of Monday, he had not received any update on why his wife could not return to Canada.
"It's just been an excuse after excuse," Pazzano said in a telephone interview with The Canadian Press from Cancun.
"We've been stranded by our own country, by our own government. I've always been so proud to live where I have and so lucky to live where I have. I'm ashamed to be a Canadian right now," said Pazzano, 33.
Ontario's Health Ministry dismissed those suggestions Monday, saying no one travelling from countries affected with swine flu are being barred from Ontario hospitals.
But, Steve Irwin, a health ministry spokesman, declined to comment specifically on George's case.
In general, there are occasionally delays in transferring patients to Ontario hospitals from other countries, Irwin said.
Health officials routinely decline to speak on specific medical cases, citing privacy laws.
As of Monday, Canada had a half-dozen confirmed cases of the illness while there were 40 confirmed cases in the U.S. Spain also confirmed one case of swine flu - the first in Europe - and health officials in Scotland confirmed Britain's first two cases.
The World Health Organization has raised its pandemic alert for a new strain of swine flu by one level, two steps short of declaring a full pandemic. The organization says the phase four alert means there is sustained human-to-human transmission in at least one country.
The Public Health Agency of Canada has issued a travel advisory for Mexico, urging travellers to take precautionary measures such as getting a flu shot, frequently washing their hands and covering coughs and sneezes.
-With files from The Associated Press
