The kid who was roasted in Sierra Leone can't get help because of this????

[rambling man]

A 10 year old kid who was roasted alive and survived was flown by well-meaning doctors from Sierra Leone to Britain, but the hospitals will not allow him to be treated because there is the lack of an agreement guaranteeing that a British citizen can be treated in their hospitals.

Seriously, y'all in England have some major issues with your health services. Fly him to a Shriners hospital in the US or A.I. DuPont if you all won't help...

 

[MissTaken]

and....

Doesn't that ring a bit like HMO practices?

It could and does happen. Health care has become too immersed in politics and business. Thereby, the patient's right to chose as well as quality care have been placed on the back burner in order to meet the requirements of this contract or that criterion for payment.

 

[rambling man]

it usually doesnt happen when the doctors and everyone else have agreeed to donate everything to save a third world kid from some horrible situation...we bring siamese twins and kids with similar problems up here all the time from Latin America

But your point was about HMOs and treatment at home. The only hope for our malady is that the HMO system is an evolving beast, inching closer and closer towards a balance that helps everyone...hopefully anyway...

 

[p_p_man]

I saw this this news item...

...on TV this evening for the first time and was disgusted by the actions of the UK Government.

But after intervention by our Home Secretary, (Minister of Internal Affairs), he's coming now.

 

[Laurel]

Re: and....

Doesn't that ring a bit like HMO practices?

It could and does happen. Health care has become too immersed in politics and business. Thereby, the patient's right to chose as well as quality care have been placed on the back burner in order to meet the requirements of this contract or that criterion for payment.

No kidding! It cracks me up when people talk smack on other countries' health care systems when ours is such a complete mess. Don't even get me started on HMOs...

 

[Always]

Cahlash lives in us all, and in a world like this, he only festers and revels.

 

[pabloback]

the boy will be treated in the uk

 

[Closet Desire]

It raised some interesting...

...issues.

The UK has a serious shortage (16 burn centres nationwide) of both beds and specialists for burn victims, particularly for children. In fact, the one in our town is the only one in the south of England and it is usually full. Many do not have intensive care units and others do not even have burn specialists assigned. This could have contributed to the awkwardness of treatment for this boy.

Only caught part of the report which was on BBC last night. I had never thought about it. I think I'll buy a couple more fire extinguishers.

 

[Merelan]

I read this yesterday, and when I prayed to my Creator I thanked them for giving me the luck to live here in Central New York where you can't go 20 miles without hitting a hospital, burn unit, medical university or what not.

I am spoiled and i know it. Poor guy, burns are the most painful and he cannot even begin to understand why he is suffering. Treat him, then worry about who pays and all that. But glad someone stepped in, too bad he had to.

 

[LadyDarkFire]

Well, for the childeren of the US, the only real way they lucked out was the Shriner's Hospitals. Most regular burn units are not as capable of dealing with pediatrics, and usually refer people to the Shriner's hospitals. In Sacramento they just opened up their newest burn unit in California, and it serves all the way to San Jose excluding San Francisco which has a small burn unit in the Pediatrics unit of their main hospital.

 

[BlondGirl]

Yep-I agree with LDF,

When I first read this, I was wondering why he was not sent to Galveston--the Shriner's Pediateric Burn Hospital is there-and is the untilmate in pediatric burn care. (This is where the new techniques in burn care and plastics are often begun.)

I used to work there and the tradegies you see along with the miricles are incredible.

On a side note--be sure your water heater is turned to 120 degrees and NO HIGHER. At 140, it takes less than 2 seconds to have a major scalding burn to human tissue and at 120 it takes around 8 to 10 seconds--enough time to jump out of the tub or have your baby scream full blast and pull him out.
120 is more than enough for washing dishes and taking your own baths--one of those safety things where there is no excuse that covers the risk to kids who live in or visit your house. (It amazes me when I go to someone's home and they have the water heater turned so high that I yelp when washing my hands. I like my water HOTHOTHOT for washing my hands or my showers and I see overkill all too often. If you are too silly to turn it down for safety reasons, do it for ecomony and ecology.)

 

[LadyDarkFire]

Probably he needed to be taken to a good burn unit that was closer, and they did not want to risk transporting him over to one of the Shriner's units. As for the plastic technique they are using, I have seen it and I have seen the results, and have been amazed. The burn unit up in Sacramento has an onsight fitting station, and is two floors, plus they help the kids out with toys, games, visits (Including animal visits), and a tutor to keep them up on their schoolwork. The kids I saw there were getting the best care that could be provided, and most of their parents will never have to spend a dime.

 

[rambling man]

In the US there is the good samaritan law whereby hospitals have to treat for serious injuries whether the person can pay or has insurance or not. Then they have to worry later whether they collect the bill or not

I would not say that our system is a mess, either. It needs improvement in a lot of areas but it isn't a mess either.

There are several programs that, if the parents would just get there and register, would insure at least every child in poor families. The problem is that the parents for whatever reason won't sign up for them. Between the medical cards and the CHIPs program, the only reason for a kid not being insured in the US is mommy and/or daddy

Insuring the adults is going to require a little more work

 

[Closet Desire]

Hmmmm...

I think the fact that he was being transported suggests he was already stable enough for that. Many US hospitals have a documented track record of turning away indigent patients for long term care, rehabilitation, reconstruction, or care that is not of an immediate life saving variety. There was a report issued just a couple of months ago on this very issue. It's probably still in the archives on CNN.com.

The Shriners is, as I recall, a charity hospital whereas the hospitals in question in the UK are not charities but part of the NHS which is, in fact, intended for registered residents and Europeans with whom a reciprocity agreement exists.

Horror stories like this happen in every country regardless of their system. It just happens.

 

[LadyDarkFire]

In the US there is the good samaritan law whereby hospitals have to treat for serious injuries whether the person can pay or has insurance or not. Then they have to worry later whether they collect the bill or not

I would not say that our system is a mess, either. It needs improvement in a lot of areas but it isn't a mess either.

There are several programs that, if the parents would just get there and register, would insure at least every child in poor families. The problem is that the parents for whatever reason won't sign up for them. Between the medical cards and the CHIPs program, the only reason for a kid not being insured in the US is mommy and/or daddy

Insuring the adults is going to require a little more work

Alot of people do not know about these sort of programs, and there is also the fact that the Good Samaritan Laws do not state "treat them for free." Yes, they have to treat you, but that does not mean you can just walk away without a bill for the services. And while the insurance that you can get for children does provide for basic medical coverage, it generally does not provide as much money as is needed for the best treatments. That is why Shriner's hospitals are so wonderful, they have specially desinged protocols to deal with childeren, including therapy for the trama to a young child's mind as well. Just because a hospital has to treat a child does not mean they will get specially designed treatments for childern, because alot of hospitals do not have the capability to treat a child in such a specific manor.

 

[rambling man]

I think the thing that strikes many Americans is that even a hospital like Johns Hopkins would have enough autonomy to decide to take in a patient like this...you are also right that if he was stable enough to go to England, he's stable enough to go to Texas.

In the US, hospitals take such cases partly for charity, but mostly for PR and recognition. I'm surprised a major US hospital wasn't on this from the start

 

[LadyDarkFire]

There might have been a question of survival rating. Most of the major hospitals are reluctant to take on a case that is that public if they do not think that they can pull the patient through, especially when it is a child. As for the Shriner's not taking the child, could be due to the fact that they did not have a bed to put the child in. Problem is, this child has to suffer that pain no matter what the situation is. That is the real tragedy, not the HMOs or anything else. But a child's pain.

 

[rambling man]

Need to take the people that did it and roast them over an open fire for about an hour or so

 

[LadyDarkFire]

Need to take the people that did it and roast them over an open fire for about an hour or so

Agreed