A Medical Nightmare!!

[tj]

Hi

It has been our unfortunate experience to have been dealing with what can only be described as a non caring money oriented health system, I know there will be the opposite experiences to be told, but is rather irrelevant at this point.

My daughter has had a problem with her eyes since December last year, and has been unable to study since that time as the problem appears to be connected to the concentration of vision ie, reading, writing, even watching television or using a computer.

We have visited and had various treatments prescribed for well, " you name it, we ve had it" all to no avail. The opthamologist referred to the optometrist, optometrist to a clinic in Bordeaux, bordeaux to the senior pediatrician at the hospital here in Saintes, blood tests, allergy tests endless drops and drugs,,,,,,,,,I think you get the idea.

So on Friday my wife and daughter will be going to a clinic in Kiev where the cause will be investigated more thoroughly and hopefully some proper diagnosis will be given and the options for treatment.

   This is not a sickly child we are talking about here, she a normal heathly 16 year old, who suffers eye pain when it is neccessary to read or write or watch TV, seemed like nothing serious to us, no other symptoms etc.....

My real question / point is this, how can a health system send away a patient without diagnosis or treatment, basically washing their hands of the problem ?

My daughter is supposed to do last years study next year, so has fallen a year behind, and having already lost a year previously thru moves this is a nightmare.

I pay health charges like everyone else but might as well not it appears to me! This trip is expensive of course, and hopefully successful, and in the event I will be sending the bill to RAM and expect them to pay it.

sorry for rambling on 

[Cassis]

If the French doctors have actually washed their hands of the case, that is dreadful and I hope that your trip to Kiev is fruitful.  Best of luck.

[tj]

[quote user="Cassis"]If the French doctors have actually washed their hands of the case, that is dreadful and I hope that your trip to Kiev is fruitful.  Best of luck.
[/quote]

Individually they have all said they have no idea what to do next, bizarre I think?

[Cassis]

Absolutely bizarre, I agree with you completely. 

[Poppy]

Oh dear tj you have started me off on my pet subject. My experiences with the French health service have always been to put it politely very negative. I can tell you some real horrors and can recall two occasions when I  have been given the shrug in other words no idea what is causing the problem. I have said several times on this forum ' give me the UK health service any day' but other posters have obviously had different experiences and praised the French system.

Luckily I don't have any longterm health problems and am not ill very often. You said your daughter was also otherwise healthy. Perhaps if there is no ill health history french doctors don't take us seriously. It is honestly beyond my comprehension and being ill in France is my major fear. Hope this doesn't sound too dramatic, but I do fully understand your nightmare. All the best in Kiev.

[Wendy]

TJ I hope all goes well for your daughter. I hate that gallic shrug, Ive nearly committed acts of violence to people behind desks and shop counters here who have done that to me. Anyway, is the UK not an option? I know there are many complaints about the NHS but during my time in Belfast  I couldnt speak highly enough of any treatment I ever had to recieve. And that included having a baby, losing a baby and one of those awful post natal infections that nearly offed me three years ago. Good luck in Kiev.

[Suze01]

I would just like to say, in defense of the French healthcare system, as there have been some very negative comments made here, that my elderly father in law has just died after a six month battle against cancer plus 2 years treatment for other conditions beforehand, and we have had excellent treatment from the local GPs, district nurses, and the hospital, not to mention all the other services along the way.

There are occasions when an illness is very baffling and unusual and difficult to diagnose, but please don't lambast any country's system just because you are in the unfortunate position of not yet getting a diagnosis and suitable treatment. In the UK I have had both excellent and poor treatment for some quite major traumas (ruptured disc with subsequent paralysis, to a two year old with a broken leg as just 2 examples).

I do hope that your daughter is able to get a diagnosis and relief very soon.

[Poppy]

 Suze I am very sorry to hear about your father in law but very pleased that he received excellent care.

My point in my previous posting was that if you havent got any previous bad health history it seems to cause a problem to the French health service. We have been in France for 16 years and never had a positive experience with the French health service. If you pardon the pun it worries me sick the thought of being ill in France.

[Suze01]

I agree, in any country you can have both bad and good care.  I will give you a very tragic example. My son in in Sixieme.  About 10 days ago a girl in cinqieme went into hospital for a fairly routine knee operation.  From what I can gather something went tragically wrong during the operation and she died very suddenly. She was thirteen. But, this could have happened anywhere, any country at the incompetence or inexperience of the surgeons. It is extremely tragic but it does happen very occasionally.

[LesLauriers]

[quote user="Poppy"]

 Suze I am very sorry to hear about your father in law but very pleased that he received excellent care.

My point in my previous posting was that if you havent got any previous bad health history it seems to cause a problem to the French health service. We have been in France for 16 years and never had a positive experience with the French health service. If you pardon the pun it worries me sick the thought of being ill in France.

[/quote]

Then why on earth do you not move to somewhere with a better health service! It's your life and if you really feel that strongly then you would be a fool to yourself if you do not do something about it!

[tj]

[quote user="Leslauriers"]

Then why on earth do you not move to somewhere with a better health service! It's your life and if you really feel that strongly then you would be a fool to yourself if you do not do something about it!
[/quote]

Very helpful, I dont think!

 

[Poppy]

 Wise words  Leslauriers .Yes unfortunately due to numerous incidences I do feel that strongly about it.  Being ill in France worries me sick. Judging by other posts I may have been unluckly. However there are other factors involved in the equation re moving elsewhere.  Promise I won't moan about it again on the forum.

PS  Thanks TJ . Sorry I was writing when you posted.  Its difficult to comprehend  failings in the French Health system unless you have experienced it. All the best in Kiev

[Gardian]

TJ .........

Have pm'd you.

[Val_2]

Very very sorry to hear of your problems. However good the system may be regarding to the insurance and financial side of things and lack of waiting lists, at the end of the day IT IS the competance and knowledge of the professionals that matter and if they are rubbish or not properly qualified to cope, then the service will be rubbish. It does sound that the doctors/surgeons etc don't really know what to do and are passing the buck,perhaps the gloom and doom in the french system at the moment with cuts in services and increases in charges may be responsible for their attitude towards this case. Hope the russians can find the solution for your daughter and cure her.

[Sunday Driver]

[quote user="Suze"]There are occasions when an illness is very baffling and unusual and difficult to diagnose, but please don't lambast any country's system just because you are in the unfortunate position of not yet getting a diagnosis and suitable treatment.

[/quote]

An objective and balanced view that we should all take a few moments to reflect upon.

[Val_2]

Thinking along those lines, the SIL of our friends here waited for three years before it was confirmed he had Motor Neurone disease and the period from diagnosis to death is on average four years which is what it turned out to be. All along the doctors in the west of england where he lived kept passing the buck from one hospital to another and no one but no one would definately confirm this was the illness until he was completely immobile and could hardly breath without oxygen. When he did eventually die in his sleep, the insurance people with whom he had a life policy with actually hinted at suicide and kept the family waiting for ages until a decision on a payout could be made, this rubbed salt into the wound even more.

[Russethouse]

Isn't the truth that it is something of a lottery in both countries ? 10 years ago my father died from stomach cancer but he had excellent care from his local surgery and High Wycombe hospital. Last year I broke my shoulder and again had excellent care, at the Royal Berks.

I know that not so far away my cousins husband found the John Radcliffe in Oxford, sadly lacking, and another cousin wasn't bowled over with Northampton. It is far too much the luck of the draw.

[PossumGirl]

I agree with you totally, Gay. A friend of ours had bypass surgery at one of the best hospitals in Florida. He was quite well off, great insurance, intelligent, involved in his care, up until that point in excellent health and physically very active.

He came through the surgery well, and was recovering when his wife saw immediately that something was wrong. She tried to tell the doctors and nurses, they wouldn't listen to her. He died from internal bleeding that they should have found.

Sadly, that type of thing happens everywhere and any of us can be its victim...

PG

[Polremy]

just read your blog. have taken an interest since you seem to be the nearest people to us on the Frappr thingie. not sure how far away your are cos my geography is dreadful but we certainly havent had any storms at all. just hot, hot, hot.

am now going to read a bit more of your blog to discover why you decided to leave the west coast and come over to live here.

[Wendy]

Well, to be honest Im not a big fan of this health service. The French I mean. I was neglected in hospital and prescribed a dangerous overdose of a drug. I was admitted to hospital during Easter with pneumonia and was left for 3 hours on a trolley as Id arrived between the hours of noon and 2.00pm. Lunchtime right?. My temp was through the roof, I was dehydrated and delirious but no-one would give me even a sip of water. No-one came near  me. In the end my OH left my side and returned with some water from a machine. Just then, a nurse appeared and said its ok, 'according to the doctor'. The distress I had been feeling was indescribable. And OH says they were not even busy!. And to top it all off, on returning home with my prescriptions, my Mum, a retired A&E Sister, noticed that the amount of prednisone that had been prescribed for me would have wiped out an elephant!. She had nursed my Dad through emphysema and cancer and, even though he took that same medication, his amounts were much much smaller than mine. The local pharmacist said the doctor must have been delirious himself to make such a mistake. Thank god for mum noticing.  Dont even get me started on my experiences with the maternity hospital side of things here!.

[Kitty]

Good health is a most unvalued thing.  Without it, you cannot function properly.

All parents spend a lot on our children's education, especially those privately educated in the UK.  Even those of us in the state system have to buy uniforms, books, extra tuition, sports' clubs, trips etc etc.  So why not do the same for our children's health.  Why rely on the government, French or British, to pay for everything?

My husband and I have a 'health fund' which we have built up over the years for ourselves and our four children, just in case.  We have cut back on other expenditure to create the fund.  We did this when we had a bad experience (in the UK).  We have paid for private care on a number of occasions, including once for the children.

Good luck with Kiev.  You must let us know how you get on.

[PossumGirl]

[quote user="Polremy"]just read your blog. have taken an interest since you seem to be the nearest people to us on the Frappr thingie. not sure how far away your are cos my geography is dreadful but we certainly havent had any storms at all. just hot, hot, hot.

am now going to read a bit more of your blog to discover why you decided to leave the west coast and come over to live here.[/quote]

Believe it or not, the French health care system was one of the big factors for us in moving.  It's all private in the U.S. and ALL expensive.  I know that those of you from the U.K. are used to affordable health care, even if some of you complain about the quality.

Well, in the U.S., we have the same issues with qualilty, but if you can't afford health insurance, or  you're not employed somewhere where your employer pays for it (becoming more and more rare), you're pretty much outta luck.

Mr. Possum and I have been self-employed for a long, long time.  We were lucky to have access to excellent health care, as there is a private hospital available for members of the entertainment industry in L.A.  But, we had to pay for our insurance ourselves.  We have committed the grave sin of both becoming older than 50-years-old, thus our premiums skyrocketed, although neither of us was in poor health.  At the time we moved, we were paying the equivalent of 8,000€ per year, which didn't include deductibles and co-pays for all services and prescriptions.  If the insurance company felt that a drug the doctor ordered was too expensive, they wouldn't pay for it, so it was either pay 100% out of pocket or go without.  EVERY medical procedure that was ordered had to be approved by the insurance company, and could be refused easily.

On top of this, the premiums were rising at about 20% per year, so we would have been unable to pay for it by this year and would then have had no health insurance at all.  That means that in case of serious illness, you risk bankruptcy.  I know of cases of couples divorcing so that the ill partner could get medical assistance.  That is available for the very poor, but the worst care that you've ever received in the UK or France is 1000 times better than the way most poor people are treated in the U.S.

Since we were dual nationals and can continue our careers no matter where we live as long as we have a high speed internet connection, it seemed the right time.  Certainly, there were other reasons (politics played a large role in pushing us over the edge), but health care was a huge factor.

For the first time in many, many years I do not feel as if we have a huge sword of Damocles hanging over our heads medically.

BTW, the storms haven't materialized here as of yet, although neighbors think they may by this afternoon.

PG

[tj]

Hi

Thanks for all your concerns, 

My wife and daughter left from Paris yesterday, they are booked into the clinic in Kiev on Monday, where they are hopeful, from our phone conversations, that the problem will be quickly diagnosed if not so quickly solved, I expect to hear from them midweek so will let you know how they got on!

thanks again

[Debra]

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