Text 5781, 55 rader
Skriven 2010-03-10 07:56:02 av Robert Bashe (2:2448/44)
   Kommentar till text 5765 av Ward Dossche (2:292/854)
Ärende: Hospital
================
Ward Dossche wrote to Robert Bashe on Tuesday March 09 2010 at 21:32:

RB>> Gallbladder? How old is she? My dad had his gallbladder out when he
RB>> was in his early 30s, but that isn't really a normal procedure at
RB>> that age.

WD> It is fairly common among young women after childbirth...

Didn't realize that.

WD> In the case of my daughter there were about 50 the size of pin-heads,
WD> these risk clogging the gall-channels which is mortal and then the
WD> gall-bladder needs to come out. The simptoms are extreme abdominal
WD> pains.

If she was already having colics, it was probably necessary to remove it.
Luckily you can live without one - my dad lived another 60 years after his was
removed.

But it's not always necessary to remove it surgically. I have gallstones myself
- diagnosed by ultrasonics in 2003 or so. Nothing large, just what the doctors
term "sand" ("Gries") here. They've never given me any problems, and luckily
can be dissolved by medication - although that's a lengthy process, you have to
take pills every day for at least a year. I dissolved them once, then they
built up again and now I'm taking pills to dissolve them again. I guess I'll
have to take these pills off and on the rest of my life - but I'm still lucky
the gallstones can be dissolved that way.

RB>> Private = single room, no other people? Total luxury. Costs upwards
RB>> of EUR 450 a day here in Germany.

WD> Here too.

And that's paid for by government health insurance? I don't really understand
how the insurance system can be financed if the care is that luxurious - here
in Germany you get a ward bed only, and if you want a private or semiprivate
room, you have to pay for it yourself or have separate private insurance. And
even so, the German health care system has been on the brink of bankruptcy for
at least the last 30 years.

The only explanation I can think of is that your taxes must be sky-high to keep
such a system afloat, but even then I wonder that it's possible.

Or maybe the Belgians have some kind of central purchasing agency for medicines
(the Germans don't) and can save money by negotiating with the pharmaceutical
companies - medicines are a major factor in health care cost in Germany.

Still an amazing situation - it wouldn't have surprised me if you'd said the
health care system paid for the operation - but in a _private_ room??!!??
That's what flabbergasts me.

Cheers, Bob

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