In An Accident - Take To Private Hospital, Showing Ability To Pay?

[c721671]

A friend was in a motorbike accident a few months ago and died from his injuries. I have some specific questions that I'm having a hard time getting answered. Here is the background .... he was taken unconscious in an ambulance to the nearest hospital (Pattaya Memorial, which it private). Head trauma, broken bones, etc. He received limited attention there before he was sent to Banglamung Hospital (still unconscious). He died there a few hours later as a result of his injuries.

I was told that the reason he was not treated at Pattaya Memorial Hospital was because he showed no evidence as to the ability to pay for his treatment. It appears that they checked his pockets and found a phone, a few thousand baht and a USA drivers license. No credit card and no insurance card. So the procedure the private hospital follows is to send him to a public hospital. The sad part about this is that his net worth was in the tens of millions of baht, so he could have paid. He just wasn't carrying any evidence that he could pay.

I have now heard two other similar stories of people not receiving emergency medical treatment at a private hospital, and being sent to a public hospital.

This post is not to judge the way Thai private hospitals treat unconscious patients with traumatic injuries, but to find a way that if THIS HAPPENS TO ME, then I will be treated immediately at the hospital where I am taken (if it happens to be a private hospital.) I have asked around to Thais and got some different answers, but the overwhelming theme is that most (maybe all?) private hospitals will not treat injured patients unless they show an ability (willingness?) to pay. But if you are unconscious ...

Questions:

1. Does anyone know what a private hospital would consider "payment authorization" or "ability to pay."

2. Is the solution as simple as carrying a credit card that will support pre-authorization for a certain amount? What is that amount?

3. Along with the above, would it be wise to affix a note (written in Thai) stating this credit card can be used to pay for immediate treatment?

4. If there is an insurance card from a foreign country carried, how would the hospital know if there is coverage internationally?

5. Anything else that should be carried on my person to prevent what happened to my friend from happening to me if I am taken to a private hospital?

Thanks for any insight anyone has.

Edited February 22, 2011 by c721671

[H2oDunc]

Sorry to hear of your friends death.

No offence intended but by your own description it sounds like he wasn't wearing a crash helmet ? He may well have been as we have no details of the said accident ?

You seem to be trying to blame the death on the hospital ? The hospitals I know, even the very expensive ones will treat you if your life is in danger regardless of having proof of payment. There is a thread running in the Samui forum where the most expensive hospital on the island treated an unconscious accident victim to the tune of 30,000 GB Pounds so that puts pay to the " just let em die if they can't pay " legend!

Non life threatening injuries are a different matter all together. They tend to just patch you up till proof of insurance or cash is made available.

The loss of life here to motorcycling accidents is very high. There are things you can do to enhance your chances of walking away from an off.

Wear a crash helmet at all times

Never ride when drunk

never ride a bike that is beyond your riding capabilities.

RIP the victim.

[Thanyaburi Mac]

Sorry to hear of your friends death.

No offence intended but by your own description it sounds like he wasn't wearing a crash helmet ? He may well have been as we have no details of the said accident ?

You seem to be trying to blame the death on the hospital ? The hospitals I know, even the very expensive ones will treat you if your life is in danger regardless of having proof of payment. There is a thread running in the Samui forum where the most expensive hospital on the island treated an unconscious accident victim to the tune of 30,000 GB Pounds so that puts pay to the " just let em die if they can't pay " legend!

Non life threatening injuries are a different matter all together. They tend to just patch you up till proof of insurance or cash is made available.

The loss of life here to motorcycling accidents is very high. There are things you can do to enhance your chances of walking away from an off.

Wear a crash helmet at all times

Never ride when drunk

never ride a bike that is beyond your riding capabilities.

RIP the victim.

And carry a credit card, I do, a U.S. based MasterCard. I don't normally use it for anything here in Thailand but do have it in my pocket for just such an instance, at a hospital and being asked how I propose to pay.

Mac

[whybother]

Definitely carry your insurance card. That should be plenty to get emergency treatment.

[c721671]

Thanks for the replies

You seem to be trying to blame the death on the hospital ? The hospitals I know, even the very expensive ones will treat you if your life is in danger regardless of having proof of payment.

My post was not about blame, but about trying to understanding the procedure that private hospitals use to treat accident victims. And maybe all private hospitals do not follow the same procedure.

Definitely carry your insurance card. That should be plenty to get emergency treatment.

When I look at my insurance card (Blue Cross Blue Shield from USA) there is no indication that there is International coverage (even though I know there is). How would they know there is coverage?

And carry a credit card, I do, a U.S. based MasterCard. I don't normally use it for anything here in Thailand but do have it in my pocket for just such an instance, at a hospital and being asked how I propose to pay.

So is it true that the presence of a credit card in your pocket (able to handle a large authorization) is enough for the private hospital so they will not consider sending you to a public hospital for treatment?

.

Edited February 22, 2011 by c721671

[whybother]

Thanks for the replies

Definitely carry your insurance card. That should be plenty to get emergency treatment.

When I look at my insurance card (Blue Cross Blue Shield from USA) there is no indication that there is International coverage (even though I know there is). How would they know there is coverage?

I think they would be pretty good at contacting insurance companies.

And carry a credit card, I do, a U.S. based MasterCard. I don't normally use it for anything here in Thailand but do have it in my pocket for just such an instance, at a hospital and being asked how I propose to pay.

Mac

So is it true that the presence of a credit card in your pocket (able to handle a large authorization) is enough for the private hospital so they will not consider sending you to a public hospital for treatment?

There was a recent thread where a kid couldn't pay for his dad's treatment (unconscious too, IIRC) with his dad's credit card, so I am not sure if the credit card in your pocket will work.

[Farang0tang]

Logic tells me if the hospital find insurance card on the person, they shall proceed, whilst admin dude chases up said insurance company.

But note I started this sentence with the L word.

TIT

[catwho]

As what happened to a friend of a friend who was bar finded and the man she went with had a stroke in the room [hotel on tour]she rang my friend as she did not know what to do,friend came and some how got him in the car and took him to bkk pat hospital,he had 2/3 visa cards on him, but could not talk or write to give them pin numbers,bkk P,H SAID NO MONEY NO LOOK AFTER so they sent him to bunglamung hospital, [no facilitys for strokes[ so they sent him to chonburi,where friend and friend went with him, he was keeped in hall on trolley ,as we know strokes must be dealt with within the hr as least,friend rang me i rang hospital i said he had insurance or i would pay, so they sent him back to bkk p h,after ringing his embassy and stating his prob, they said up to him, that next day i sent friend to hotel to check he's bags [maybe insurance]low and behold they found policy[had to get permission from hotel]he was on tour and no one knew nothing of it as hotel did not tell tour opp till too late.

bkk p h,all of a sudden became angles put him isu, and was looked after till sent back to sweden, he was visited nearly every day by friends for month or more till they sent him back,one day my friends came to me and were crying,

saying he was crying when we visited,cause he could not belive people he did not know helped him ,where he's EMBASSY WOULD'NT...MORAL YOU MAYBE NOT SO LUCKY ALWAYS CARRY SOME SORT OF ID OR CONTACT NUMBER.

CAT

[c721671]

Thanks for the feedback. Had the discussion with a long-time BKK-resident expat yesterday (his wife's sister is a nurse at a private hospital in BKK) and he suggested carrying an insurance card with the words "International coverage" written in Thai language, as well as a credit card that you are sure will take an authorization of 100,000 baht. Doesn't sound like bad advice to me.

He also suggested that the procedure followed at a private hospital in Pattaya might be different than somewhere else in Thailand, because of the payment (or non-payment) history that a particular hospital has faced.

.

Edited February 25, 2011 by c721671