doctors bills/medical aid

[Sieg]

I agree with Dave about the "older than 50" bit. And, check out the doctor's car: if he / she drives a fancy one, stay away or you will end up paying for the next service.

[Dave A]

Hopefully I'm cutting this out right:

A bed in ICU on a ventilator costs you R 12 000.00 per day. That is not including the blood tests, dr's fees, medicine,x-rays etc.
...
I had to pay off a lot of bills, and starting with my mother, who died after 6 weeks in the ICU, I couldn't believe the cost left over after the medical aid had paid their bit.

... I would have been left with a private fund minus 1/2 a mill, if I did not know what rights I were entitled to.

At the risk of being really morbid, it is damn expensive to die slowly nowadays. When it comes to terminal illnesses, would it be going too far to say the medical expenses are taking first bite out of the estate - and to some extent they have a hand in just how big that bite is?

[murdock]

a friend has just been paid out R250 000.00 in damages for a mistake made by a doctor...it took a couple of years but they settled.

[Alta Murray]

In some instances yes, Dave, the patient is terminal, hooked up to life support and then all the other law issues kick in, so you can't just remove the patient from the life support. I quote from a medical convention (non-verbatim) we need to get back to basics and determine just why life support was invented, it was for operating theatres, and to support a patient when the disease takes longer to heal than the human's natural defences can stand, and where someone has been in an accident.

My experience has shown me that doctors are not prepared to get involved in the legal issues when making a decision when to remove life support, they seem to regard that as a grey area as their only function is to heal and to save a life.

My question is at what cost? What would the long term outlook be for that patient, and what would the quality of life be? And what would the cost be afterwards to take care of the disabled patient? My question has always been this -- What is the use to save a life, only to *not* have the funds to take care of the patient afterwards?

It might seem that we will never have to deal with these issues, as we are still fairly young, but we all have parents, and if it comes down to the crunch, it becomes your responsibility. You have to stand there and make decisions about another human life.

My mother is a case in point -- she had heart, lung and kidney failure yet was hooked up to life support for 6 weeks, and when the medical aid was exhausted, they switched off the life support?

My father was a different scenario, in that the doctor constantly drew graphs for me, so I could understand the predictable outcomes, and he was also willing to sit down and take the costs into account, and discuss that with me. So I knew that my dad was going to be faced with diminishing quality of life. There will be no further medical intervention with him, but his care costs between R 10 000.00 - R 15 000.00 per month.

We are fortunate that we have the ability to take care of him, but what about all the adult children who can not, or are not willing to? It breaks my heart that.

Also my dad invested wisely in his life time, so that there is a fund available, but not in my wildest dreams, nor in his, would we have thought the cost so immense. Why? Because we didn't check, and we thought that it would never happen to us. Not this.

Sit down with your parents, discuss the financial issues with them, take into account that R 500 000.00 per annum for hospital care is *not* enough, get them on a good medical aid, and budget for after care.

They did it for us, after all.

[Alta Murray]

Thanks for the tip Murdock, you make me so lis to go after that butt munch and at least get something for the pain I suffered, and use the money to pay for my dad Your friend was very fortunate, and I am happy for him.

[murdock]

i was told to to make arrangement to collect and move my daughter to a state hospital from ICU when the medical aid ran out or sign over all my assets to the hospital

[Alta Murray]

No, what should have happened is that your *medical aid* not you, should have made arrangements to move your daughter to a state hospital. The hospital was using a scaring tactic.

The truth is that what happens then is that the State Hospitals do not have beds availabe in the ICU's, so the medical aid then needs to pay from a fund they have available for just such cases, until a bed can be found,which in our case was never. A patient may not be moved just because your medical aid has run out.

Don't worry, I also didn't know this. My father couldn't be moved as there were no beds available, and his medical aid had to pay up. The State Hospitals are filled to capacity in their ICU wards, and I was told that it is because of a slower turnover rate of patients due to AIDS as a contributing factor. A healthy person without AIDS recover more quickly, so you have beds available in a shorter time span. This is not the current case.

Also remember that no private hospital may send you away if you have no money and arrive in a critical condition. They have to stabilize you first. If you don't know this, you will be turned away. If you are on a medical aid but your hospital fund has been depleted, you may still be admitted to a private hospital, but then your medical aid has to cover the cost as stipulated by the Department of Health, it will most certainly not cover all your cost, but at least it is something.

If they had a bed available for your daughter in a State ICU as determined by your medical aid, and your doctor had confirmed that she was stable enough to be moved, then and only then, are the hospital allowed to make such a call.

I hope with all my heart that your daughter is better.

[murdock]

she is 17 years old now this happened when she was 3 months old...i must say something...i know it is years since it happened but i am gona say it...thank you again and again and again to all the people from the baptist church in westville who went out of their way to help in many ways.

it is amazing how people from church groups make life a little easier for you in times of need...again recently i moved into a house and the neighbours came over with dinner and to help with anything they could.

i take my hat off to all true christian people...i am not one unfortunately but hopefully one day i will become one.

[Alta Murray]

Hi Murdock,

I don't know what I would have done this past year without the support of others and my faith. Faith does not mean that you have to be a Christian as portrayed by the world man, you can find your own space and the love in your own heart. God is the only one who will ever understand, so that's cool.

I had people helping me out from different denominations,and you know what?

Above all remains love. So don't worry, your probably a Christian without knowing it

[murdock]

i went to see angus bucham on saturday afternoon...i was amazed at the turnout...and the dedication of people...i was however a bit dissapointed because i thought he was the speaker for the afternoon but instead he only spoke right at the end... and i had not seen faith like potatoes...someone gave me the dvd on saturday night...if you plan on going to one of gatherings make sure you see the dvd first so you can have a better understanding of what he is all about.