Sask. MS patients who leave province for Liberation Therapy want equal treatment

Vince Garland is angry patients with multiple sclerosis who receive provincially funded Liberation Therapy treatment in New York state are entitled to followup care after the procedure, but not patients who pay for the treatment out of their own pockets.

"My wife had the same procedure and so have hundreds of other people in Saskatchewan and all we're asking for is the same thing," Garland said Thursday.

For several years, his wife, Roxane, battled MS. The 37-year-old died July 22 from complications that included a bladder infection. Vince said the homecare nurses were excellent, but he is frustrated nurse practitioners and doctors aren't part of the homecare team. That would ease the process of getting lab tests and scans ordered.

The couple spent around $40,000 so Roxane could have two Liberation treatments in Mexico in 2010 and one in California the next year. The couple didn't expect a cure, but Vince said it was worth the money because Roxane got relief from some symptoms.

Michelle Walsh, an MS patient who has gone to Bulgaria and California for treatment, is a friend of Garland and is advocating for improved treatment. She said by the time Roxane was taken to hospital and lab tests were done, she had developed a severe infection.

Walsh said those who have privately paid for CCSVI treatments have "been orphaned in the medical system."

"We have nowhere to turn to," she said.

Walsh is pressing the province to hire an endovascular specialist in Regina and Saskatoon to treat all MS patients who have undergone venous angioplasty.

Walsh believes the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan (CPSS) is "really holding the key to this because they're saying our doctors don't have to see you if they don't want to."

Bryan Salte, the CPSS associate registrar and legal counsel, couldn't speak about individual cases, but said: "The only thing we can address as a college is the expectation for physicians to provide appropriate care to patients."

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Sask. MS patients who leave province for Liberation Therapy want equal treatment