Private hospital's arrogance causes youth to die...

[peaz]

http://www.jeffooi.com/archives/2005...st_21.php#more

An exerpt...

"They wanted me to pay a deposit of RM5,000, saying his injuries were serious. I was not carrying so much money on me at that time," he said.

"They did not want to admit him until I paid the deposit, not even when I pointed out that this was an emergency."

Sallehuddean said he pleaded with the hospital staff but they would not budge.

He then returned to Khairul’s house in TTDI to pick up his grandmother.

"When I returned 30 minutes later, Khairul was still not treated. I had an argument with the hospital staff and when his condition worsened, they took him into the operation theatre.

"He was only treated an hour after he was taken to the hospital."

Sallehuddean said a doctor came out an hour later and told the family that Khairul could not be saved.

He claimed the hospital did not want to release his body until the bill was settled.

And do check out the comments. One reader stated that the private hospital is the Pantai Medical Centre in Cheras... but it's unconfirmed.

I do hope this so-called hospital is named.. it's time they hear what the public has to say.

[aKho]

[zachig]

OMG

[djspinnet]

Oh well, we have private hospital's arrogance and public/semi-public (UMMC & HUKM) hospital's negligence.

Personally, for me, I've had more good experiences in private hospitals than government hospitals/university hospitals. And trust me, I know, hospitals are like my third home (first two being home and campus), and I've been in and out of countless hospitals all over the place for the past 5 years.

Only thing is, it is one of the few negligent/arrogant/lackadaisical officers which gives the hospital a bad name. You can't blacklist the hospital for one mistake an officer or two made, but it's also hard not to ignore that fact and it's something that you tend to remember the next time you go to hospitals.

Take myself for an example...

I passed out in the 9th flr of the private wing of UMMC (aka UH) while visiting a friend, and my BP was rather acutely low. After I came about, the nurses instructed my friends to take me to the Emergency Room in the public wing (they're two different buildings). When one of my friends asked how are they supposed to bring me there...

... the nurses replied, "You dukung dia la!" ("You carry her!")

My friend had to leave his I/C with the nurse in the Orthopaedic ward in exchange for a loan of a wheel chair. And then the waiting started. There were FIVE clerks in Emergency, ONE nurse who didn't know how to take a BP reading, and ONE MO (Medical Officer) who was loitering around casually.

And when you're dealing with a person who just fainted, and has low BP, a proper nurse/doctor would make the person lie flat and prop the legs. No, the nurse lifted the head section of the gurney I was lying on to the maximum.

They wanted to keep me overnight for drips and observation, but I opted to sign my own discharge after seeing their inefficiencies. After all I pretty much know what to do, I've fainted quite often. I asked the MO if there were any charges, and he said, no, no charges.

One week ago, UMMC sent me an invoice for RM20. I called up UMMC to ask what was the RM20 for and why did the MO say there was no charge. Reply: Registration. REGISTRATION!

Fatimah Hospital, Hospital Pantai Putri (both Ipoh), Sunway Medical Center, SJMC, Tanjung Medical Center (Penang) never charged more than RM5-10 for registration.

That's enough to put me off UMMC as far as I can avoid it. This is just a minor case, but imagine if I fainted and hit my head hard and cracked my skull and bleed to death, and the nurses just stood by and laughed and asks people around me to carry me over.

Or another time when I was in a private hospital, and the nurse wanted to insert the IV into my wrist... she failed to insert it, and kept trying every single vein in my left arm 14 times before the head nurse intervened and told her to stop (I was screaming by then) and called the Anaesthesiologist to do it instead. My left arm was swollen and bruised for a month.. and these two are just minor examples again, I press. Imagine if it was a life at stake.

Hospital workers mentality & decisions judgement should take a reality check sometimes, honest. There are lives on the line and in their hands. And soemtimes when it's not life threatening, it could scar someone for life. Or hurt someone emotionally. Or cause unnecessary pain. They're equally bad.

[Adrian Wong]

Wow.. That's a really bad case, but I don't think it's that uncommon. It also happens in government hospitals.

For example, three students from my college went "for supper" recently and smashed their car into a concrete divider. The co-driver was comatose but the driver and the passenger survived well enough to get to the hospital by themselves.

At the hospital, a government hospital, the doctor didn't even take more than a glance at the two fellas because "they appeared to be okay". Imagine that - after a major accident that mangled a car and put one guy into a coma, they don't even bother checking the survivors.

They were told to just sit down. But after a short time, one of them suddenly fainted. Our lecturers were there by that time and quickly tried to revive him, but unfortunately, it was too late. He died.

So, screw-ups like this are not uncommon. Most probably don't reported in the news, not unless they are juicy stories, or if they are well-connected.

[digitalvoice]

Normally, one would have nicer experience with a private hospital...if you have the cash.

[vien]

even in university campus the medical doctors sucked. Some will just issue you aspirins no matter what illness you got, and me and my friends can even identify which doctor we should go to and who we need to avoid at all costs!!

worse...the medicine is not helpful at many times. In the end we rather spend extra money to go seek medication in private clinics.

[Adrian Wong]

Originally Posted by vien

even in university campus the medical doctors sucked. Some will just issue you aspirins no matter what illness you got, and me and my friends can even identify which doctor we should go to and who we need to avoid at all costs!!

worse...the medicine is not helpful at many times. In the end we rather spend extra money to go seek medication in private clinics.

That's stupid, man...

But I wouldn't blame them if they are just too tired to care.