The family of a Canadian woman who fell critically ill due to a severe asthma attack in Mexico says that health officials in Canada are refusing her a hospital bed in Toronto because of unfounded swine flu fears.
Victoria George, 29, has been on life support in a Cancun hospital since Wednesday. Her mother says that her insurance provider has been repeatedly told there are no intensive care unit beds available for her to be transferred to in the Greater Toronto Area.
"Doctors in Mexico told (Victoria's) husband, 'She has no symptoms or pathologies of the swine flu-virus and she never did: her condition is a direct result of her asthma,'" Pauline George told CTV.ca in a telephone interview late Sunday evening.
George says that an insurance provider has arranged for an air ambulance to take her daughter home and that doctors say she should be stable enough to make the long journey to Toronto.
"The doctors have made sure she would be stable so she could come home, so that if her family needed to say goodbye, she would be on Canadian soil," she said.
"None of the hospitals in the metropolitan area or the areas outside Toronto will accept her in the ICUs -- they are saying there are no ICU beds available," George said. "But that does appear to be the truth, we actually had a bed in one of the hospitals and it was nixed by the infection control doctor."
"We believe the Canadian doctors have made an association with the swine flu and will not change their decision."
Andrew Morrison, a spokesperson for Ontario's Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, said Monday that the ministry is unaware of any shortages of intensive care beds.
As well, hospitals in the province have not been told to turn away patients travelling from swine flu-infected countries, Morrison told CTV.ca.
Victoria George is classified as a life-threatening asthmatic, her mother says, and has been in and out of hospitals all her life. She was in Mexico for a one-week vacation with her husband and son.
Doctors in Mexico say she had a severe asthmatic attack, combined with a serious allergic reaction, in their resort near Cancun.
The Ontario Ministry of Health did not immediately return a message on this story left late Sunday night.
So far the majority of swine flu cases have been in Mexico City. More than 100 deaths have been linked to the outbreak.
A Facebook group called "Bring Victoria Home" has more than 315 members as of Sunday night. On the webpage, Victoria's sister, Katherine, says in a message that "it appears my sister will not make it."
