'no faith in our system': ottawa woman waits 16 months for mri
3 minute read
lisa kis was turned away from an mri appointment in 2025 because her doctor retired in the six months between booking an mri for kis and her appointment.
jean levac
/
postmedia
more than eight months after her mri appointment was abruptly cancelled because her family doctor had retired, lisa kis finally got her scan.
the ottawa woman was referred by her doctor for an mri in january 2025. by the time she prepared for that appointment last july by fasting and taking time off work, her doctor had retired. she mentioned that as she was checking in at montfort hospital and was told the appointment would have to be cancelled because there would be no way of billing for the diagnostic test without a family doctor.
kis was told her best option was to go to a walk-in clinic and to start the referral process again.
she did so and was left waiting for an mri originally ordered by her doctor because there were potentially concerning spots on her liver.
after waiting an additional eight months — and 16 months after her original referral — kis began phoning to see what was taking so long. eventually, she was told there had been a cancellation and was given an appointment for april 7.
the results were what she was hoping for. the spots, known as hemangiomas, had not changed or grown significantly since her last mri and her new doctor was not worried. it is recommended she repeat the mri every year to keep an eye on them for significant changes.
kis is relieved to finally have her results and that they are good news, but she is concerned about how long it took and worried about others who might be waiting for news that might not be so positive.
she received no information about how long the wait would be or what to expect until she began calling montfort to check on her status.
“i still have no faith in our system,” she said. “i had to hunt (the appointment) down and advocate for myself. we shouldn’t have to. i feel like i am constantly fighting the system. i feel badly for elderly folks who need assistance and don’t have someone to help them.”
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kis’s experience comes at a time when waits for an mri, both in the ottawa area and ontario-wide, are longer than targets set by the province.
as of the end of january, just 31 per cent of patients across the province received an mri within target wait times, according to ontario health.
at montfort, where kis received her scan, 15 per cent of patients received mris within targeted wait times. at cheo, a pediatric health institution that also performs some adult mris, nine per cent of adult patients receive mris within target times, although 33 per cent of children and youth receive their mri within targets.
other ottawa hospitals were slightly higher than provincial averages: 36 per cent at the general site, 37 per cent at the civic, 30 per cent at the heart institute, and 31 per cent at queensway carleton were within target times.
the ontario government set targets based on the priority of patients (more urgent have lower numbers): according to those targets, priority 1 patients are scanned immediately; priority 2 patients should be scanned with a target time of two days; priority 3 patients should be scanned in 10 days; and priority 4 patients should be scanned in 28 days.
kis waited more than 400 days.
editor’s note: this story has been updated to clarify the percentage of pediatric patients who receive mris within target times at cheo.
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