Shirley Greggor doesn’t care if her legs look beautiful, she just wants to walk on them.
The 81-year-old has a medical condition known as Factor 5, an inherited disorder of blood clotting, and needs to have the veins in her legs treated so is facing surgery or laser treatment.
While the province’s Medical Services Plan (MSP) will cover the cost of the surgery, the less invasive laser surgery is not covered because it is considered to be a cosmetic procedure.
According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, people with Factor V (Leiden thrombophilia) have a higher than average risk of developing a type of blood clot called a deep venous thrombosis.
Greggor has suffered with blood clots since she was 20 years old. Fifteen years ago, one of the clots made its way to her heart.
At that time, her doctor prescribed the blood thinner, Warfarin, to help control clotting, but Greggor says her legs are now very painful, walking is difficult and her doctor has recommended she get treatment.
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The Salmon Arm resident says her doctor referred her to a clinic in Vernon but as that private facility is not available at the moment, she consulted with a Kelowna facility where she was quoted costs of between $4,000 and $7,000 depending on the type of laser treatment she decides on.
Following a consultation with a Kelowna clinic, Greggor began reading up on possible options and learned that an in-hospital surgical procedure would require a few days in hosptal and as much as three weeks of recovery.
As well, she would have to stop taking the Warfarin for several days and give herself five injections of another anti-coagulant prior to surgery, and five more painful injections in her stomach, plus resume Warfarin following her operation.
She has been advised the surgical procedure requires general or spinal anesthetic, is more invasive, produces more scarring and has a higher chance of recurrence of clots than laser treatment.
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Greggor says the laser option she had decided upon treats the majority of the vein, has a high success rate, the lowest recurrence rate, is performed in-office with local anesthetic and little post-procedural discomfort.
“The advantages are that you have the ability to walk right after the procedure and there is a much shorter recovery,” she says. “The disadvantage is that the $4,975 cost is not covered by MSP.”
In a July 20 email, a rep from the Ministry of Health pointed out it is the doctors of B.C. who determine whether a treatment is a medical necessity or cosmetic and offer advice regarding procedures and treatments that could be covered by MSP.
“Currently, MSP insures the accepted standard of care for the treatment of varicose veins, which is the surgical or injection method of treatment,” reads the email. “To date, no alternative procedures for treating varicose veins are considered for public funding at this time.”
Greggor knows of two other seniors who were also turned down by MSP so paid for laser treatment out of their own pockets rather than undergo surgery with anesthetics.
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