Hospitals can make you sick
When Stéphanie Verge went in for a minor surgery last January, the plan was that she’d be in and out within a day. One year later, she is just now recovering from a gruesome infection she developed after contracting MRSA at a health-care facility in Toronto. Verge suffered boils that burst into weeping sores that eventually turned into deep abscesses that took rigourous swabbing and gauzing to heal, besides painkillers, antibiotics and countless medical appointments. Relatively speaking, Verge was fortunate: MRSA is one of a few “superbugs” that kill an estimated 8,000 Canadians annually.
Get the Best of Maclean’s straight to your inbox.
Sign up for news, commentary and analysis. Join 60,000+ Canadian readers.