‘I had 3 months to live if I didn’t do this’: Ontario man travels to United States and pays $600,000 for life-changing surgery

One Ontario man chose to head south of the border for quicker access to an operation he needed. Pat Foran reports for Consumer Alert.

An Ontario man is speaking out after being operated on nine different times in Ontario hospitals.

Despite the nine procedures, he says his health problems were not resolved so he opted to travel to the United States last year and pay $600,000 for a 10th - and hopefully final - operation.

“I had three months to live,” said Di Pietro Gregorio, 78, of Maple, who has a history of Crohn’s disease.

It was in 2019 when Gregorio had a bowel obstruction that required emergency surgery, however he claims after the operation was completed he was told the surgery wasn’t necessary.

“They operated on me the same night and when they finished, they said, ‘We really didn’t have to do this’,” Gregorio said.

He was left with a colostomy bag, but was told it could be reversed.

The next four years led to eight more operations to correct the initial procedure.

In the end, Gregorio said the issues remained and he ended up with two bags and severe pain. The doctors told him nothing more could be done.

‘I was looking for a way to end my life’

“If I didn’t go to the U.S., I wouldn’t be talking to you today,” said Gregorio, who felt he had no choice but to go to the U.S. for an operation to try and correct the previous procedures.

“It was really bad. I was looking for a way to end my life,” Gregorio said, adding “I didn’t want to live like that.”

After doing some research, Gregorio travelled to the Cleveland Clinic located in Ohio. There he was told an operation could improve his life, but it would cost him CAD$600,000.

After an 11-hour procedure, he said he finally felt relief.

“They couldn’t have done a better job. I don’t have a colostomy bag now,” said Gregorio.

Gregorio said he’s not impressed with Ontario’s health-care system because what took a U.S. doctor one operation to fix, Ontario doctors couldn’t in nine surgeries.

“Why did it take nine attempts to fix the same problem? They fixed it [at the Cleveland Clinic] in one. Plus, all the pain I went through over four years,” he said.

Gregorio said he’s paid health-care taxes all his life and believes Ontario’s Ministry of Health should cover his $600,000 hospital bill.

In a letter from the ministry sent to Gregorio, obtained by CTV News Toronto, he was told his out-of-country medical treatment does not meet the “regulatory criteria” for the province to consider it an emergency.

“As a result, payment for health services received has been denied,” the letter reads.

Gregorio felt he didn’t have a choice but to go south of the border, and believes at least a portion of the bill should be paid.

“What’s fair is fair, but just to say ‘we can’t help you anymore?' That’s not fair,” said Gregorio.

If an Ontario doctor recommends out-of-country care, you may be able to have U.S. hospital bills covered. However, you must have written approval from the Ministry of Health in advance, before receiving the services.