The Waiting Room

On Wednesday, some CreComm friends and I went to see The Waiting Room at Cinematheque. For those unfamiliar with the film, it's a documentary about the American health care system. It chronicles a day in the life of the doctors, nurses and patients at Highland Hospital in Oakland, California.

I had a basic knowledge of the American healthcare system going in, but I found that the film really brought to life some of its flaws and deficiencies. That being said, however, many statistics have shown that Americans have better quality healthcare than Canadians - it's just that not all Americans can afford it.

A 2010 Commonwealth survey reported by the Health Council of Canada found that 42% of Canadians waited 2 or more hours in the emergency room, where only 29% of Americans have had to wait that long. The study also found that 43% of Canadians waited 4 or more weeks to see a specialist, versus only 10% in the United States.

This improved service comes at a price, though. A 2007 Consumer Reports study stated that 16% of Americans have no coverage or insurance at all, and an additional 24% are under-insured, working with insurance that barely covers their immediate medical needs and would not leave them prepared to deal with any additional medical expenses. Compare this to the Canadian system, where all essential medical services (aside from prescription medications) are covered for all citizens, and you begin to see where the imbalance lies.

According to the Congressional Research Service, the United States government spent $6,102 on healthcare per person on average, which is more than double the average of OECD countries and 20% more than the second-highest country, Luxembourg. And this considering most healthcare in the United States is privatized.

This might be a result of the gross inefficiencies of their system. The New England Journal of Medicine published an article in 2003 stating that medical administration costs in the United States were more than triple the amount they were in Canada, and that Canada's provincial single-payer system had overhead costs of 1.3%, versus a whopping 13.2% in the American private insurance system - more than ten times the cost. 

OK, that's enough analysis of the healthcare systems.

As a documentary, I think The Waiting Room worked well. It definitely told a story, following a number of the patients from admission through to discharge and following the staff throughout their shifts. I think the film portrayed the stories of the patients and staff in a very natural, engaging way, simply by observing and capturing the right moments. There was no narration, no text overlays, no additions of any kind; there was only the words and actions of the people at the hospital, in a natural and relevant context.

Within the context of a single hospital, I think the documentary maintained objectivity. However, as a commentary on the American healthcare system as a whole, the fact that it was only documenting the one hospital definitely narrows its scope. It was obviously a conscious choice, and I think it worked.

My one complaint with the film was the shooting. Much of the time I would attempt to focus my eyes on a certain person in the shot, but the camera would be focused on something else, or on nothing at all. It would then shift focus to something else, and then back, and then to nothing, and so on. There was no end to the refocusing, and there were too many moments where nothing was in focus, or where only one small irrelevant piece of furniture would be in focus, instead of the faces or hands or other important things in the shot.

I thought that most the people the director chose to show and to interview were great. The staff members in particular were immensely helpful to the story, and made the film easier to engage with. They had great insight, even subtly through their stories, and their personalities were shown through their various scenes. I felt that the interviews were well placed, and felt very natural - they just came and went, without the viewer really noticing a definite change in tone from candid to interview.

The audio was also tasteful. Music was sparse to non-existent; I only noticed it at the very beginning and during the end credits, as well as in one brief scene where the waiting room is almost empty and is being cleaned. I thought that bit of music added some colour, interest and reprieve without pushing the story in any one direction. The rest of the audio was neither here nor there - some good ambient sounds were included, but nothing spectacular or out of the ordinary.

Overall, I enjoyed The Waiting Room, and for me it sparked some interesting analysis and reflection on our own healthcare system.