Maybe we (meaning hubby and I) should pay for a private health insurance. One visit to the emergency room in my hometown is enough to realise our social security system has many many flaws. To begin with, it's usually jammed, to the point that you'll find patients waiting on stretchers or beds in corridors and halls. And tests take forever to be done. Sometimes you get pitiful evidence that this just does NOT work. Unfortunately yesterday we had to visit this wonderful hospital again, since my husband had another seizure (this time at work) and his co-workers called an ambulance, because they were quite scared. So they took blood samples again, put it in those tiny tubes and.... FORGOT to take them to the lab. So his blood just sat there for one hour until I realised it was still there and told a nurse. She apologised (said they had had a big crisis with another patient) and took the tubes. ONE HOUR later she returned and had to apologize again: the tubes had sat there for so long that the blood was no longer useful for testing so we were back at the beginning! I could have killed them. On top of that, some protocols are plain stupid, in my humble opinion. About 20 days ago hubby had his MRI. The results are at his doctor's desk, in another part of this huge building, and apparently they CANT check on them from Emergency. They just don't have access to them. So crazy, since it's the best test they had taken on him, but... no access! Will have to call his doctor on monday! I'll check about prices of private health insurances... I have one for the girls but luckily we haven't needed it so far. For check ups and routine visits we always rely on the pediatrician at Social Security. And We like him a lot. But this is entirely something else... and it makes you think, are we really in good hands?? We left the Emergency room at 2.00AM and they didn't even give him dinner!. Not to mention, at 10pm I told the nurse "should I give my husband the pills he takes at night? He always takes them at the same hour..." She said: "Let me check with the doctor" came back later and said yes. But you'd think they SHOULD know and REMEMBER to give him his pills without my telling them, right??? I hate that place. We'll do our very best NOT to go there again, I can tell you. Maybe the American TV series about hospitals have influenced me too much. You watch HOUSE and wonder if that's the type of health care Americans get! It all looks luxurious and Oh, I love it when a team of doctors go to the patient's house to check for possible causes of his disease! They check all rooms, all kinds of bottles! If I go to the doctor and complain of a bad cold or something, they'd just send me home with a prescription, but they would never ask for the keys to my home to check for a possible cause there!!!! (DO I REALLY MAKE SENSE??) I'm nervous/anxious/worried. I want his Epilepsy to be under control... why is it so hard??? (sigh*)
2 comments:
Boy, this post opens up many areas for discussion.
First, I take it that your health care system is government provided, but can be supplemented with private insurance??? Our term for that is "socialized medicine," and I believe the U.S. needs to avoid it like the plague (no pun intended!)
I love "House" (Cameron is a fox!, Cuddy is very sensuous!, Wilson can be very funny, and House is a riot.), but the program doesn't represent medicine in the U.S., at least not for 99.999 percent of the hospitals in the country.
ER visits in the US also take a lot of time. Here, because of government interference and an increasingly litigious society, health insurance has become very expensive, so we have a fair number of people who can't afford it. For the elderly we have Medicare and for the poorest we have Medicaid which takes care of much/most of their costs.
The others often go to ERs for their health care, even basic stuff, which adds traffic where it is least needed, because the indigent patients are not that sick, and they gum up the process for those that truly need emergent care.
I can only speak for my own hospital and some in the area, but except in unusual circumstances they are not as spastic as the one you reported on.
Our health care system is indeed government provided and absolutely everyone is entitled to it, from the poorest to the rich. But there's also a network of hospitals/clinics and doctors linked to private health care. Most Spaniards just don't see the need to pay for a private health insurance, though, since they're reasonably happy about the government health care, so it's still a minority of people who pay for private health. I think the numbers are rising, though... When my daughters were born I know I felt more comfortable knowing there was another possible route in case they were sick... but haven't really used it so far...
Anyway, my experience with my husband hasn't been so good, I think. The ambulance has been the best thing so far. They're really fast and efficient. But once you get to the hospital, it's another matter. Not to mention, with our visits to the neurologist, he always seems to be in a hurry. He has a good reputation, but I just sense that to him, my husband is patient number 7.60358 or whatever...
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