Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Discharge to Canada
I had an interesting encounter last week with a patient who is from Canada. He is here in the lovely Rio Grande Valley for the winter. He developed a heart rhythm problem and he needed a pacemaker. It wasn't safe for him to leave the hospital until the pacer was placed. He was admitted on monday and we were ready to do the procedure on Tuesday, but there was a hitch...... his insurance would not pay for the procedure in the United States. The problem was resolved after 3 days of paperwork. He was flown in a medically equipped Leer Jet to have the procedure done in Canada. Is everyone positive that Universal health care is the way to go?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
LinkWithin
1 comment:
gotta love the bureaucracy! quick story... I took care of a guy from Guatemala, who came in with bacterial meningitis, ended up being diagnosed with HIV too, and last time I checked was working on day 188 in the hospital. The hitch? Well he was in the country illegally, so the hospital had to get the Office of Homeland Security involved to negotiate deportation.
Post a Comment