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'My heart, my choice,' Williams says, defending decision for U.S. heart surgery
By Tara Brautigam (CP)  20 hours ago

An unapologetic Danny Williams says he was aware his trip to the United States
for heart surgery earlier this month would spark outcry, but he concluded his
personal health trumped any public fallout over the controversial decision.

In an interview with The Canadian Press, Williams said he went to Miami to have
a "minimally invasive" surgery for an ailment first detected
nearly a year ago,
based on the advice of his doctors.

"This was my heart, my choice and my health," Williams said late
Monday from
his condominium in Sarasota, Fla.

"I did not sign away my right to get the best possible health care for myself
when I entered politics."

The 60-year-old Williams said doctors detected a heart murmur last spring and
told him that one of his heart valves wasn't closing properly, creating a
leakage.

He said he was told at the time that the problem was "moderate" and that he
should come back for a checkup in six months.

Eight months later, in December, his doctors told him the problem had become
severe and urged him to get his valve repaired immediately or risk heart
failure, he said.

His doctors in Canada presented him with two options - a full or partial
sternotomy, both of which would've required breaking bones, he said.

He said he spoke with and provided his medical information to a leading cardiac
surgeon in New Jersey who is also from Newfoundland and Labrador. He advised
him to seek treatment at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami.

That's where he was treated by Dr. Joseph Lamelas, a cardiac surgeon who has
performed more than 8,000 open-heart surgeries.

Williams said Lamelas made an incision under his arm that didn't require any
bone breakage.

"I wanted to get in, get out fast, get back to work in a short period
of time,"
the premier said.

Williams said he didn't announce his departure south of the border because he
didn't want to create "a media gong show," but added that
criticism would've
followed him had he chose to have surgery in Canada.

"I would've been criticized if I had stayed in Canada and had been perceived as
jumping a line or a wait list. ... I accept that. That's public life," he said.

"(But) this is not a unique phenomenon to me. This is something that happens
with lots of families throughout this country, so I make no apologies for
that."

Williams said his decision to go to the U.S. did not reflect any lack of faith
in his own province's health care system.

"I have the utmost confidence in our own health care system in Newfoundland and
Labrador, but we are just over half a million people," he said.

"We do whatever we can to provide the best possible health care that we can in
Newfoundland and Labrador. The Canadian health care system has a great
reputation, but this is a very specialized piece of surgery that had to be done
and I went to somebody who's doing this three or four times a day, five, six
days a week."

He quipped that he had "a heart of a 40-year-old, so that gives me 20 years new
life," and said he intends to run in the next provincial election in 2011.

"I'm probably going to be around for a long time, hopefully, if God
willing,"
he said.

"God forbid for the Canadian public I won't be around longer than ever."

Williams also said he paid for the treatment, but added he would seek any
refunds he would be eligible for in Canada.

"If I'm entitled to any reimbursement from any Canadian health care system or
any provincial health care system, then obviously I will apply for that as
anybody else would," he said.

"But I wrote out the cheque myself and paid for it myself and to this point, I
haven't even looked into the possibility of any reimbursement. I don't know
what I'm entitled to, if anything, and if it's nothing, then so be it."

He is expected back at work in early March.

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