“Where’s Mom? was my first question to my Dad when I came downstairs for breakfast. I was puzzled that my hard-working Mom, who at this time was running a Boarding-House just so we could get by, was absent.
He looked up with deep concern. “In the hospital, I hope.”
“What?! What happened?”
“She got a terrible pain in her abdomen in the night. Come and eat your breakfast before it’s cold then go to school.” And that was all I was going to find out. I could see he was really upset. I was in Grade VII and too young to go wandering around the city looking for her.
Staying with us at that time was her elderly Uncle Alex and his daughter, Cathy. He was the person that she first stayed with when she arrived from Scotland, and cousin Cathy and my mother had always kept up a friendship.
So I quizzed her when I rushed home and found out she had phoned some man she knew who had a car (she knew a lot of men, for some reason) and they had taken Mom to St. Paul’s Emergency and it was likely that she would need surgery.
Cousin Cathy went down to see her by streetcar before dinner and reported back that, yes she had had emergency surgery for gallbladder inflammation and was resting comfortably.
Some time later she got a bill from the Surgeon for $80 for his services – due immediately.
Wow! Where was that going to come from? To put that amount in context, a one gallon can of skim milk which we got delivered to the door each morning) cost 10 cents.) and running a Boarding House allowed us to eat low-cost hamburger meat occasionally. It was a good thing that my mother was a good cook. We often had Scotch broth for dinner. Butchers threw in soup bones for free.
The next notice from the Doctor was that he was suing her through the Small Debts Court.
She went to court and explained to the judge that she could not pay. But the judge said that that being the case he would reluctantly have to turn it over to the Bailiff to come to our house and seize any furniture or fixings for sale at Auction and any money raised would be paid to the Doctor.
My mother came home rather dejected. She had already pawned her wrist watch and diamond and emerald engagement ring some time ago and never was able to reclaim them.
But Cousin Cathy had lots of friends and so did Mom. When they contacted back they told her that the Bailiff could not take our beds or bedding, our kitchen table or our four kitchen chairs.
So—-they found a truck somewhere and emptied our house of everything else. Pictures, good dishes, chesterfield, all went to various friends’ basements.
When the Bailiff came, he just looked around and smiled broadly. ‘Nice work” was all he said.
Later when income increased slightly my mother made a deal with the Doctor to pay $ 5.00 a month and though it took sixteen months to clear the debt. She faithfully made every payment.
Thank you for this. It really shows us how hard life was without medical insurance. I don’t remember not having it, and although I knew it was hard, this story really shows us how anyone with one illness can be set back for years.
I don’t blame people who take medical care for granted. We’ve had it for decades now. But it’a a good idea to share the experiences of another time.