Quebec mother being denied full coverage of ultra-specialized brain surgery

A mother of two in Quebec has filed papers requesting that the province's health insurance cover the costs of an endoscopic brain surgery abroad but was denied full coverage.

Celyn Harding-Jones says she is exhausted from dealing with the province’s health insurance plan (RAMQ).

“I feel like I’m being, to be honest, buried in administrative, bureaucratic processes at this point,” Harding-Jones said.

The mother of two filed papers requesting the province’s health insurance to cover the costs of an endoscopic brain surgery abroad, so one of the only experts in the world can remove her extremely rare tumour, a colloid cyst.

But RAMQ has only agreed to pay for the doctor fees, not the hospital fees. The fees can amount to more than $100,000, which Harding-Jones says she can’t afford.

Colloid cysts are fluid-filled sacks that lodge in the brain’s ventricles. They only occur in about three people per million population.

As a result, she claims she suffers from major headaches, cognitive issues, pain and movement issues that she says have sent her several times to the emergency room.

In some cases, a colloid cyst can also cause sudden death.

Harding-Jones’ Quebec doctors say they can’t remove her cyst because they don’t have the expertise to treat her case without major risks.