Papirex
Jan 18, 2006, 9:59 AM
Post #11 of 19
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Hospital Care in Mexico-real life experiences.
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Like all things in Mexico, hospital care varies from the sublime to the ridiculous. Four years ago my wife’s grandmother was visiting us over the Christmas holidays, and she became very ill. We took her to a local hospital for emergency care, which was very good. She had left her IMSS card in Mexico City so we had to pay the local hospital expenses. I don’t remember the costs, but it was not high.
Since she was going to need hospitalization for a few more days it was decided to transport her to Mexico City via an ambulance. My wife and her mother went to Mexico City so they could get her IMSS card to have her admitted to a hospital there. The ambulance crew told my wife which hospital they were going to take her to, it was the closest one arriving from Cuernavaca. My wife told me later that she was too shaken up to remember at the time that it was the worst hospital in Mexico City.
I stayed home to arrange for dog sitters, etc. I went to Mexico City the next day. The hospital Abuelita was in was a beautiful building. It was a house of horrors. Only one visitor at a time was allowed in her room, and the visiting hours were very limited. A family member staying with her was out of the question. We had to get special permission for my wife to accompany me when I went up to visit her. My wife told them that I spoke no Spanish. (Pretty close to being true.)
When we saw her she was in pitiful shape. She was not able to feed herself, and no one would help her eat. She said the attendants, I don’t think they were enfermeras (nurses), would just leave her food beside her bed, and return in a couple of hours and remove her tray with all the uneaten food on it. They refused to help her when she asked for them to help her. She told us she was starving, and she was obviously getting weaker from hunger, besides being very ill.
She was too weak to get out of bed, and no one would help her go to the bathroom when she asked them to, or bring her a bedpan. She had relieved herself a couple of times in her bed. The hospital staff then gave her holy hell for doing that. Abuelita was 94 years old at that time.
When we left her room, my wife tried to stop several hospital workers to try to have them help her Grandma. Every one of them simply said something like “It’s not my job, or I don’t work on this floor.” They all just kept walking faster down the hall when she tried to talk to them. It took quite a while to see him, but we finally talked to the hospital administrator. He said he was shocked at what we told him, and that he would see to it that proper care was provided for all patients in the future. I did not believe a word he said. No competent administrator would have ever let subordinates neglect their duties as much as we had seen there.
The bottom line is don’t go to any hospital thinking they are all alike in the care they provide. Talk to people that have had treatment in any particular hospital before you go to one for any treatment. If it is a government owned hospital, remember that government employees in this country often do not get their jobs because they are competent, or willing to work.
Grandma is still with us, she just passed her 98th birthday.
Rex
"The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved" - Victor Hugo
(This post was edited by tonyburton on Jan 18, 2006, 1:11 PM)
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