Bnh Over Charging Tourists/patients/customers?

[Topprofile]

Story about routine visit to BNH

My nephew went to see a doctor at BNH for what he thought was an infection in his scrotum.

He saw a doctor, who prescribed him some medicine and this didn't take more than 10 minutes.

When he was sitting in the lobby waiting to get his medicine and to pay, he got a an anxiety attack (as he is scared of beeing in hopitals) and so he almost passed out. He managed to grab a nurse who took him in to the ICU where they hooked him up to all these machines to monitor him.

When I arrived about 40 minutes later in the hospital the Doctor said his heartrate had went up to 150 and so they had to inject him with a long list of medicines in order to get his heartrate down to a normal level (which in my oppinion 2 valiums would have done).

They said they wanted to keep him overnight for observation and the cashier came to explain the costs.

The bill so far was already 10.000 and they explained that the room, nursing and food etc would cost 8500thb. I thought, ok it will end up at 20.000thb until tomorrow.

Next day when I come back to pick my nephew up from the hospital, the invoice is 40.000thb instead of the calculated 20.000thb. I'm not sure why I agreed to pay but I did..

Later when I asked for the detailed invoice I could see that 2 more doctors had visited him for the original problem he had the day before, even though he had alread seen a doctor for that and they had insisted that he would do an ultrasound to be sure (not mentioning the costs for this and something they would not have been able to do if he had went home as planned the day before).

Later before he is released the doctor tells him that they want him to wear a "taperecoreder" that will record his heartrate as they "had seen" during the night that his heart was not beating normaly.

Never did they tell him that he would have to pay over 5000thb for the taperecorder nor did they tell him that the "extra" ultrasound would cost him more than 6000thb. Along with oxygen, IV fluids, special physicians evaluation etc etc and this and that, the invoice ended up 20.000thb more than what they told me on the first day.

1. They insisted on performing more treatments to the original problem even though he'd seen a doctor for this problem already. And if he had went home the same day they would never had done an ultrasound...

2. Why aren't they informing the patient about the cost? Of course it's a private hospital and they need to make money, but how far can this go?

1 tourist = 20.000thb, 100 tourists = 2.000.000thb in extra money

I have sent a letter to the GM of BNH but still after more than 2 weeks I have not heard anything back.

How common is this and is there anything I can do about this?

Thanks

Rob

[h90]

Story about routine visit to BNH

My nephew went to see a doctor at BNH for what he thought was an infection in his scrotum.

He saw a doctor, who prescribed him some medicine and this didn't take more than 10 minutes.

When he was sitting in the lobby waiting to get his medicine and to pay, he got a an anxiety attack (as he is scared of beeing in hopitals) and so he almost passed out. He managed to grab a nurse who took him in to the ICU where they hooked him up to all these machines to monitor him.

When I arrived about 40 minutes later in the hospital the Doctor said his heartrate had went up to 150 and so they had to inject him with a long list of medicines in order to get his heartrate down to a normal level (which in my oppinion 2 valiums would have done).

They said they wanted to keep him overnight for observation and the cashier came to explain the costs.

The bill so far was already 10.000 and they explained that the room, nursing and food etc would cost 8500thb. I thought, ok it will end up at 20.000thb until tomorrow.

Next day when I come back to pick my nephew up from the hospital, the invoice is 40.000thb instead of the calculated 20.000thb. I'm not sure why I agreed to pay but I did..

Later when I asked for the detailed invoice I could see that 2 more doctors had visited him for the original problem he had the day before, even though he had alread seen a doctor for that and they had insisted that he would do an ultrasound to be sure (not mentioning the costs for this and something they would not have been able to do if he had went home as planned the day before).

Later before he is released the doctor tells him that they want him to wear a "taperecoreder" that will record his heartrate as they "had seen" during the night that his heart was not beating normaly.

Never did they tell him that he would have to pay over 5000thb for the taperecorder nor did they tell him that the "extra" ultrasound would cost him more than 6000thb. Along with oxygen, IV fluids, special physicians evaluation etc etc and this and that, the invoice ended up 20.000thb more than what they told me on the first day.

1. They insisted on performing more treatments to the original problem even though he'd seen a doctor for this problem already. And if he had went home the same day they would never had done an ultrasound...

2. Why aren't they informing the patient about the cost? Of course it's a private hospital and they need to make money, but how far can this go?

1 tourist = 20.000thb, 100 tourists = 2.000.000thb in extra money

I have sent a letter to the GM of BNH but still after more than 2 weeks I have not heard anything back.

How common is this and is there anything I can do about this?

Thanks

Rob

Rob: if it was just a "normal anxiety attack" and not any other problem, you were ripped off + you were pretty stupid, to leave him in the hospital when he is scared about hospitals. Leaving the hospital as soon as possible would be a good decision. But of course I know it is easier to write smart postings on the computer than doing the right thing at the right moment so please don't be insulted.....

I personaly try to avoid hospitals as good as possible (I am well educated on that, so some things I can fix myself).

If things are not urgent I try to educate myself on that first and question every single step of the doctor and a couple of times I did not aggree and I was right, or I took a different hospital.

For example still very common to give antibiotica when you have a virus infection, but it does not help at all, it is simply wrong, but many docs do and you pay and put unneccessary chemicals into your body....

Keep in mind the private hospitals are commercial things, and even the majority of the doctors are honest, there are some who act like a second hand car salesguy.

When a mosquito bites you I can tell you:

a)it itches for 30 min and than it will be better and charge you 250 baht

B)I can sell you additional one tiger balm for 800 Baht=1200 Baht

c) I can tell you that it is possible that you get malaria bacterial infection and dengi-fewer from it and sell you tablets for 5000 Baht.

d) to prefent everything I can additional cut the finger (and such things happen, I know a doc who makes kidney operations (cut) instead of destroying the stones with ultrasound (and he is also proud of it telling his friends he has to do so, to earn some more money.....)

Last time I was in BNH, I had pain in one ear, he checked and something went into my ear, he removed it and also cleaned my second ear. He told it is a little bit red inside, but he don't belive there is an infection, so I don't need anything.

He charged me 800 Baht and I was in his office for 30 min.

[Topprofile]

The risk by "educating" yourself via Internet for instance is that your symptoms always looks like HIV, Cancer or some other deadly disease... I personally don't think it's a good idea to diagnose yourself.

My nephew is 22 years old and has never had a heart problem or any other problems for that matter... He probably just worked himself up due to the fact he was in the hospital alone..

He asked me to go with him but I was stuck in the office and he went alone.. when I came to see him he was already hooked up to these monitors and he was actually making jokes and laughing when we came to the hospital. Still the Doctors wanted to keep him overnight, and as my nephew was "OK" again we left hospital after 1 hour.

The thing is that they on the 2nd day performed additional "evaluations and examinations" for the first original problem that he already had got medicine for. They wouldn't have done that if he hadn't still been in the hospital. If they thought that was needed why didn't they do it to start with on the first day?

And sure there was nothing wrong with his heart after looking at the taperecording... That cost him another 6000thb

The policy is to not tell you what things will actually cost you...

I've had only good experiences with BNH before this as my wife has been going there for some time as we're having a baby. However after this we decided to change hospitals even it's only 4 weeks before delivery.. I can't support a hospital that "cheats" customers and were the policy is to take as much money from people.

In Sweden they want to get you out of the hospital as soon as possible because the patients cost money. With privatized hospitals they want to keep you as long as possible.

I've heard that there is a government agency that monitors the hospitals in Thailand. Anyone have an idea about this?

Thanks

Rob

[Sheryl]

From what you say, they noted an arrythmia (abnormal heartbeat due to abnormal electrical conduction within the heart) on the monitor during the night, which is presumably why they then did additional tests and interventions. Now some arrythmias can be harmless, some are life-threatening and others can be either depending on severity. Without knowing what arrythmia it was and associated information (like whether his blood pressure remained stable or dropped while it happened), I can't say whether or not what they did was justifiable. It may or may not have been.

If he did have a potentially life threatending arrythmia while in the ICU, this is important information to know for the future, iso t would be worth demanding his records or at least a discharge summary with the details. This will also make it easier to determine if you were in fact ripped off.

[Sheryl]

P.S. Forgot to ask, is he an athlete/serious jogger or a smoker? Both of these can affect heart rhthym

[backflip]

topp,

How would you have felt if the doctors allowed your son to pass out, and left him there on the floor? Better, or worse than you do now?

[pop_corn]

I been many times to BHN, my sister hv cancer and she got already 4 operations there. I MUST say that, they really have good doctors there (if you are informated u can llok their profiles even online, educational background, specialities and inform your self)

I know that they really like to came with "extra things" like FOOD in the room. to say an example, but I also know that they respect your right to say "NO I dont want it" they dont force you to make all the examinations.. and if you are there all the time, and infrom your self about wots going on, and what they want to make, how much it is and more you can say: yes, do that.. no dont do that!

but if you dont even hv the time to go with him the first 10 minutes.. dont complain much.

you are not in the obligation to accept everything they offer. and your big enough to know that I guess.

[Topprofile]

Sheryl - Thanks for your information and suggestions. I will ask the hospital for the exact details about his arrythmia and what it was they saw during the night that caused concern to make him wear the taperecorder.

My nephew has been a semi-professional soccer player at top division up until about 6 months ago when he broke a leg and had to quit.

Backflip & pop_corn - you are not reading the story... It's not so much about what they did when my nephew felt dizzy and almost passed out. It is about saying that they want to monitor him over night and that the room and service fee would be about 8500thb (for a total of about 20.000thb) but when he is discharged the invoice is 20.000thb more than estimate BECAUSE they did extra tests for the original problem that he already got medicine for (where ultrasound and doctors fees alone were almost 9.000thb on the second day) and for a taperecorder that they never told him would cost him 7.000thb including doctors fees.

Pop_corn - So it is my fault that BNH charges him 20.000thb extra from the time I left the hospital in the evening until I came to pick him up at lunch time the next day? What does that have to do with the first 10 minutes? And even if I had been there the first 10 minutes it might have ended up in the same way anyway...

Sure I'm grown up, but when a 22 year old tourist comes to visit and not used to privatised hospitals you are almost certain to get ripped off unless you know exactly what they should do and not do. If you are not a doctor...

But you would probably argue and defend them, that if they had done an X-Ray of his foot while he was still in the hospital just to be sure he doesn't have anything wrong with his brain, that would have been ok as long as he doesn't oppose it.

Also if you read I wrote that I've had good experiences with BNH aswell and I changed from Bumrungrad to BNH as they (from my experience) seem to care more about you in BNH.

But now we're changing again.. I guess we'll try Bangkok Christian now.

[Crossy]

Just a thought.

Does your nephew have travel insurance (always a smart idea). Claim time I suggest

[Topprofile]

The travel insurance only covered the first 45 days abroad (so we noticed)... And he has now been here for about 70 days.. So he missed that...

[StateSix]

The policy is to not tell you what things will actually cost you...

Thanks

Rob

Knowing it is a private hospital, why didnt you ask how much it will cost, and whether it is necessary?

If, god forbid, something serious had happened to your nephew overnight the questions would be why didnt they do the tests.

I have used BNH once and I thought they were very good. The doctor gave me 2 options, one was fairly expensive and one wasn't. I asked him which one he would recommend, or which option he would take. He said try the cheaper one first. If it doesnt work, we can then try the more expensive one. The cheaper ooption worked fine.

[leisurely]

We use BNH for all our family health needs. Nver been overcharged to my knowledge but was given a bottle of out of date antibiotics once that the hospital refunded the cost of. Maybe I should have made more of a fuss and sued them and now I could be living the life of riley.........

[kat]

I actually wrote something about BNH Dental overcharging a few months ago. During my first three years here, I always went to BNH for my health needs because they were highly recommended. But the last time I was there a few months ago, I was certain that the Dentists were viewing me as a meal ticket.

I was charged a higher price than was initially quoted, and could do nothing about it after the fact. Also, my original dentist then introduced me to dental surgeon for a consultation, and he quoted the price for two implants at 80,000 baht!

I'm now looking for another dentist.

[Sheryl]

I actually wrote something about BNH Dental overcharging a few months ago. During my first three years here, I always went to BNH for my health needs because they were highly recommended. But the last time I was there a few months ago, I was certain that the Dentists were viewing me as a meal ticket.

I was charged a higher price than was initially quoted, and could do nothing about it after the fact. Also, my original dentist then introduced me to dental surgeon for a consultation, and he quoted the price for two implants at 80,000 baht!

I'm now looking for another dentist.

Try Bangkok Dental Hospital, Soi 49 across from Samitivej. They have a fixed price list and in my expereince don't play any games with it. Quality also very good.

[kat]

Thanks Sheryl. I was actually looking for your recommendation from another thread. It's time for another cleaning so I'll give them a visit next week.

Did you see my thread on detox/fasting programs? Do you have any recommendations?

Thanks!

[Topprofile]

The policy is to not tell you what things will actually cost you...

Thanks

Rob

Knowing it is a private hospital, why didnt you ask how much it will cost, and whether it is necessary?

If, god forbid, something serious had happened to your nephew overnight the questions would be why didnt they do the tests.

I have used BNH once and I thought they were very good. The doctor gave me 2 options, one was fairly expensive and one wasn't. I asked him which one he would recommend, or which option he would take. He said try the cheaper one first. If it doesnt work, we can then try the more expensive one. The cheaper ooption worked fine.

Again! it wasn't me in the hospital.. But when I was there I asked what the cost would be for my nephew for staying over night for MONITORING (as that was the only thing the doctor told me they would do), and they told me 8500thb. The only thing they would do was to monitor him overnight!

As I left the hospital in the evening on the first day there was nothing wrong with him. He was laughing and making jokes already.. At this time the invoice was 10.800thb (not including the overnight)

However when I came back lunch time the next day the invoice was 40.000thb instead of the estimated 20.000thb. So the estimate was wrong with 20.000tbh because they decided to do extra tests and called in 2 more doctors for the original problem he came to vist for, which had NOTHING to do with him ending up in the ICU. They are not related and he had already seen a doctor for this and received medicine.

I didn't think I would have to sit there for 18hours until he was released to make sure they didn't do anything that he had already seen a doctor for or atleast inform him about why/what and how much... It would have been ok if they said "ok we are not sure what is going on here so we need to do some more test. we want to do this and this... to be sure. is it ok?"

Well that is not the way they go. They say "ok we're taking you downstairs for ultrasound" (even though he had got medicine for that problem already. ie different from the anxiety attack) and then later saying "you have to wear this tape recorder and come back to us tomorrow" (not telling him that it would cost him over 7.000thb (the tape recorder itself cost roughly 5500thb)

When I later asked the manager (cashier) the only answer I got was "Sorry we will try to inform you better next time".

These are the exact words from the manager!

Anyway, I just went to Bangkok Christian with my wife Friday for an examination of our coming baby and even it doesn't look like BNH both me and my wife actually felt more comfortable there than in BNH.

In BNH everything looks like a hotel and when you look at the nurses who seem to be in their 20's I don't feel very confident (thinking that the criteria for employment seems to be that they can't be over 25years old and have to look like a model). It's all about appearance.

However in Bangkok Christian, the nurses were a little bit older and talking to them made you confident that they knew what they were doing. At least that was what we felt. The doctor spoke exellent english with me and the service received on this first visit was at least as good as at BNH but about 3.500thb cheaper compared to the same thing in BNH (routine control with ultrasound for baby).

For me, it's not about the money... it's just a principle.. It's about taking advantage of the situation and milking patients of money. I will not tolerate beeing milked for money unless I have agreed to it .

[Sheryl]

I'm a bit confused now as the above says the extra costs were related to his scrotal problem whereas from earlier posts I understood the extra costs to relate to treatments and diagnostic procedurers done in the ICU because of the arrythmia detected. Two very different things! The first would clearly be out of line. But the second might have been medically ustifed. Not saying it was, just that it could have been, depending on what the monitors showed.

Whenever you agree to go into or stay in a hospital for "monitoring"it is understood that the purpose is to see if there is any serious underlying problem and that in addition ot monitoring the hospital will take appropriate action (further diagnostic measures & emergency treatment) if any serious problems are detected, otherwise there would be no point to monitoring!

It's still unclear to me whether or not a serious arrythmia was detected during the night, and totally aside from the cost issue (water under the bridge), for the sake of your nephew's health you should try to find out.

For childbirth and routine pediatric care BKK Christian Hosp is fine, as are a number of other hosps costing less than BNH. Where you need BNH & its siblings (Bummers, Samitivej etc) is for unusual specialty care, complex surgical & diagnostc procedures etc.

[Nawtilus]

BNH was good when I first moved to Los 4 years ago and I was living in their neighbourhood.

Then they started to change, with Bumrungrad getting all the cash etc, they decided to become and 'international' hospital also and went for approval for it all.

Their prices went up considerably with this approach.

I went there for several sore throats, one time for about 5 visits and thery never fixed the problem, they prescribed their mish mash of 'I hope this shit works' medicines and hoped for the best.

I took my son there one day for what I thought was flew and associated problems. He was having a little extra effort breathing, they wanted him to stay overnight for observation. I thought this was a little over reacting, being admitted to hospital for a cold and refused, he was put on the ventilator for about 30 minutes and was fine afterwards and we went home.

BNH is an incompetent overcharging facility in my opinion, just another to join the que. St Louis hospital is another story as is the hospital on KohChang and also Bumrungrad, even Samitivej seems to have its problems.

Bumgrad offered us a maternity package of around 35k if I remember. Sounded great, then even better for me my insurance said I was covered for it, so they paid all up front. I got a copy of the bill at the end for my records and they charged the insurance company 120k.

At Samitivej recently I had a knee operation, I thought the bill would be around 80/90k. I was not so concerned as insurance covered it again. The bill I was given a copy of again was 280k.

One thing you seem to be assured of in this country at any hospital, will either be overcharging or incompetence.

[kat]

Nawtilus:

I couldn't agree with you more!!! I used to think BNH was great, but they have definitely changed. What you say about international approval sounds right, especially after all their renovations. Before I was charged double the quoted price by the dentist, I visited my "regular" doctor for chronic stomach problems in the beginning of the year.

I now know that she diagnosed me the way someone would do by researching the internet. Furthermore, she failed to tell me that it is chronic, which basically means, I did a much better job of researching it than she did.

I don't know about the other hospitals, but I am not doubting the possiblity that these private hospitals salivate at the sight of a farang.

[pop_corn]

[

Pop_corn - So it is my fault that BNH charges him 20.000thb extra from the time I left the hospital in the evening until I came to pick him up at lunch time the next day? What does that have to do with the first 10 minutes? And even if I had been there the first 10 minutes it might have ended up in the same way anyway...

Sure I'm grown up, but when a 22 year old tourist comes to visit and not used to privatised hospitals you are almost certain to get ripped off unless you know exactly what they should do and not do. If you are not a doctor...

But you would probably argue and defend them, that if they had done an X-Ray of his foot while he was still in the hospital just to be sure he doesn't have anything wrong with his brain, that would have been ok as long as he doesn't oppose it.

Also if you read I wrote that I've had good experiences with BNH aswell and I changed from Bumrungrad to BNH as they (from my experience) seem to care more about you in BNH.

But now we're changing again.. I guess we'll try Bangkok Christian now.

Sorry, but I insist that you are not in the obligation to accept everything they offer..

[Digger]

I have never used BNH however is the hospital that was about one year ago taken over by the Bangkok Hospital Group (i.e bangkok General, BKK-Pattaya, Bkk-Phuket etc) - if it was it would not surprise me in the least if their charging approach has become far more commercialised. Personally I still rate Bumrungrad as being the best value private hospital in Thailand versus the level of expertise and care they offer. I only know that Bumrungrad is cheaper for virtually everything than Bkk-Pattaya hospital.

[kat]

[

Pop_corn - So it is my fault that BNH charges him 20.000thb extra from the time I left the hospital in the evening until I came to pick him up at lunch time the next day? What does that have to do with the first 10 minutes? And even if I had been there the first 10 minutes it might have ended up in the same way anyway...

Sure I'm grown up, but when a 22 year old tourist comes to visit and not used to privatised hospitals you are almost certain to get ripped off unless you know exactly what they should do and not do. If you are not a doctor...

But you would probably argue and defend them, that if they had done an X-Ray of his foot while he was still in the hospital just to be sure he doesn't have anything wrong with his brain, that would have been ok as long as he doesn't oppose it.

Also if you read I wrote that I've had good experiences with BNH aswell and I changed from Bumrungrad to BNH as they (from my experience) seem to care more about you in BNH.

But now we're changing again.. I guess we'll try Bangkok Christian now.

Sorry, but I insist that you are not in the obligation to accept everything they offer..

Yeah, but the point is that they are running up charges or doubling the price without informing you. I was shown one price, and then charged another AFTER the dentist worked on me. When you go in for one thing and are quoted for it, and suddenly walk out with a bill that has doubled in unnecessary tests and costs, there's a credibility problem for sure. BNH has turned into a billing scam mill, and it has been noticeable over the last year. Something different has definitely happend there.

Edited July 9, 2006 by kat

[Sheryl]

I have to say that the exact same thing has happened to me at Bunrungrad. Always scrutinize their billing!! I find things that weren't done added on in most cases. Once I had a surgical procedure done in which I was given a written quoted package price. On discjarge they had not only added on a bunch of things they never told me weren't part of the "package"(warning"most of their "packages"aren't -- even a piece of adhesive tape will be charged extra) but also charged a different base price for the package. When I confronted them on the latter they said the price I was originally given was öut of date". I pointed out I had been given it just 24 hours ago at the time of admissions (luckily I still had a copy) and successfully argued the point.

It is definitely buyer beware with regard to pricing at these places. Demand to know what is and is not included in any "package", get everything in writing, demand to have your itemized bills translated into English, question anything that looks wrong, refuse to purchase unnecssary medications from their pharmacy (e.g. paracetemol which you no doubt already have etc). It is a headache to have to do all this but they count on people not taking the time to bother.

So far I find Samitivej to be the least worst in this regard but as they just did some costly cosmetic renovayions who knows what lies in store there.

[katana]

Something similar happened to a farang friend a few years ago at Bumrungrad. He had a stomach upset that didn't seem to clear up, so Bumrungrad did a stool test which they said came back positive for Salmonella. They prescribed 3000 baht worth (several weeks) of antibiotics saying this was necessary to knock it out. However he didn't take them since he was returning to the West a few days later. Subsequent stool tests in the West came back negative for Salmonella (or anything else for that matter). Was left wondering if those antibiotics were really necesssary...

Edited July 10, 2006 by katana

[pop_corn]

[

Pop_corn - So it is my fault that BNH charges him 20.000thb extra from the time I left the hospital in the evening until I came to pick him up at lunch time the next day? What does that have to do with the first 10 minutes? And even if I had been there the first 10 minutes it might have ended up in the same way anyway...

Sure I'm grown up, but when a 22 year old tourist comes to visit and not used to privatised hospitals you are almost certain to get ripped off unless you know exactly what they should do and not do. If you are not a doctor...

But you would probably argue and defend them, that if they had done an X-Ray of his foot while he was still in the hospital just to be sure he doesn't have anything wrong with his brain, that would have been ok as long as he doesn't oppose it.

Also if you read I wrote that I've had good experiences with BNH aswell and I changed from Bumrungrad to BNH as they (from my experience) seem to care more about you in BNH.

But now we're changing again.. I guess we'll try Bangkok Christian now.

Sorry, but I insist that you are not in the obligation to accept everything they offer..

Yeah, but the point is that they are running up charges or doubling the price without informing you. I was shown one price, and then charged another AFTER the dentist worked on me. When you go in for one thing and are quoted for it, and suddenly walk out with a bill that has doubled in unnecessary tests and costs, there's a credibility problem for sure. BNH has turned into a billing scam mill, and it has been noticeable over the last year. Something different has definitely happend there.

Well, since my 4 years of experience with my sister who's really sick, they ALWAYS inform to me what they are going to do etc etc...

they guy was even complaining about the room and food service.. ok then room is cheaper without food, and he can ASK that, and say, ok I want simple room, no food, I want this exam, and that one, but DONT do that or this..

I know that cuz is what i been doing for 4 years now...

capicche?

cheers..

[Nawtilus]

Something I just remembered about BNH that happened to me few years ago and why I never went back, this was around the time of their changeover to 'international' riffpoff standard. Anyone thinking of using BNH should think about this twice before they go again perhaps.

For the above mentioned throat problems, it was diagnosed as tonsilitis. Now I always thought tonsilitis was a serious condition, something where you may need your tonsils removed, not just a sore throat.

The doc diagnosed tonsilitis several times, even though I got over it with just sore throat medicines. One time was rather alarming when they said I should have them chopped out. I felt uneasy with this over reaction and said let me think about it lol. He gave me several medicines and that was that.

I went down to pay and got a shock when the bill was like 3000b or something equally ridiculaous. I itemised the bill and the medicines consisted at least 80% of this cost. I told them I did not want it, their prices were ridiculous and left it at that. Before I left I got the list of medicines and prices they wanted to give me.

I went to a nearby pharmacist that always seemed very friendly and helpfull. I told him what happened, he got the list, asked me exactly what was wrong, I told him, he gave me something for about 500b and my sore throat got better in several days.

Beware, not only do they over prescribe medication, simply beacuse this seems to be where they make their money, but they would also prescribe an unneccesary operation for what seemed to be at least an over exagerated diagnosis if not wrong all together.

[Topprofile]

It seems as if I'm not the only one after all..

Thanks all for your info!

I have gotten hold of all journals today for my nephew and not sure if I understand anything from it.. but I will definitely look it thru and see if there is something suspicious about it.

Sheryl - There are 2 different things to this story.

1. My nephew came in with a inflamation in his scrotum that was taken care of the first day by seeing the doctor who prescribed him medicine.

2. After seeing the doctor and waiting to pay the panic attack hit him. He was hooked up for monitoring and given 2 shots of Adenocor and some other injections.

When I came to the hospital 30 minutes later he was already feeling fine.

The next morning Doctors told him that they would take him for ultrasound of the scrotum. This had already been taken care of on the first day!!

I have the journals in my hand but I cannot read what they say.. It's virtually impossible to read the handwriting and the EKG I don't understand anything from so.. I'm not sure what to do with them..

[manjara]

BNH was good when I first moved to Los 4 years ago and I was living in their neighbourhood.

Then they started to change, with Bumrungrad getting all the cash etc, they decided to become and 'international' hospital also and went for approval for it all.

Their prices went up considerably with this approach.

I went there for several sore throats, one time for about 5 visits and thery never fixed the problem, they prescribed their mish mash of 'I hope this shit works' medicines and hoped for the best.

I took my son there one day for what I thought was flew and associated problems. He was having a little extra effort breathing, they wanted him to stay overnight for observation. I thought this was a little over reacting, being admitted to hospital for a cold and refused, he was put on the ventilator for about 30 minutes and was fine afterwards and we went home.

BNH is an incompetent overcharging facility in my opinion, just another to join the que. St Louis hospital is another story as is the hospital on KohChang and also Bumrungrad, even Samitivej seems to have its problems.

Bumgrad offered us a maternity package of around 35k if I remember. Sounded great, then even better for me my insurance said I was covered for it, so they paid all up front. I got a copy of the bill at the end for my records and they charged the insurance company 120k.

At Samitivej recently I had a knee operation, I thought the bill would be around 80/90k. I was not so concerned as insurance covered it again. The bill I was given a copy of again was 280k.

One thing you seem to be assured of in this country at any hospital, will either be overcharging or incompetence.

My experiences are similar to Nawtilus. I've been to Bumrungrad and while the service and doctors are good, the prices are rising steeply over the past few years.

I've had 2 babies at Bumrungrad (not on insurance), the first was about 40k, the second about 55k (2 years apart). The mother-in-law had a total knee arthroplasty, they were going to do both knees and quoted me about 300k, however the bill was 275k after 1 knee (they then told me the quote was for EACH knee). To be fair it would be sustantially more in the USA, but I'm not sure about Europe (or even India).

St Loius is near where we stay and although we had an arrogant doctor when my wife collapsed at home and I drove her there (try getting an ambulance in Bangkok?), who refused to tell me anything or do any tests, their prices were substantially lower than Bumrungrad.

I've heard some awful stories about some of the cheaper Thai hospitals, so I still go to Bumrungrad, but I really would like some guide to what the prices *should* be for various treatments (ballpark figures). When the only easily obtainable figures are from the US, then eventually every price will tend towards that...

[manjara]

Also, one more point is that overcharging of Farang is endemic in Thailand. My wife is sick and tired of having to politely (god knows why she is polite about it) to shop owners etc that I am her husband and that it is OUR money, when the shopkeeper tries to sell her some overpriced stuff and tells her "It doesn't matter, he's paying for you".

Sometimes I wonder why we live in Thailand at all!

[Sheryl]

It seems as if I'm not the only one after all..

Thanks all for your info!

I have gotten hold of all journals today for my nephew and not sure if I understand anything from it.. but I will definitely look it thru and see if there is something suspicious about it.

Sheryl - There are 2 different things to this story.

1. My nephew came in with a inflamation in his scrotum that was taken care of the first day by seeing the doctor who prescribed him medicine.

2. After seeing the doctor and waiting to pay the panic attack hit him. He was hooked up for monitoring and given 2 shots of Adenocor and some other injections.

When I came to the hospital 30 minutes later he was already feeling fine.

The next morning Doctors told him that they would take him for ultrasound of the scrotum. This had already been taken care of on the first day!!

I have the journals in my hand but I cannot read what they say.. It's virtually impossible to read the handwriting and the EKG I don't understand anything from so.. I'm not sure what to do with them..

Well the ultrasound of the scrotum definitely sounds uncalled for and certainly can't be related to any heart problem they may have observed. You could ttry protesting that charge but as you've already paid it's probably no use. Tell your nephew in future not to agree to tests without getting a clear explnataion of the purpose, cost and asking if it is really essential.

If you have access to a scan and can send & send the EKG to me I can read it. (EKG plus any "rhythm strips"that may be in te records, these are EKG tracings but a single longer strip whereas a formal EKG report has it all pasted on a singler sheet of paper). I'm a bit concerned that he was given what sounds like adrenaline as that would normally be used in an emergency situation. Basically I think they either over-reacted to the combination of a slow heart rate (common in athletes and occurs in extreme stress in some people due to stimulation of the vagal nerve) and fainting spell or he actually had a serious arrythmia. The former is unlkely in an ICU wth well trained staff so it would be worth making sure.

If it is not possible for you to scan the EKG ten I would suggest going back to the hospital ad insisiting on a discharge summary in English that specifically addresses the EKG and cardac monitoring findings. Either they concluded there was no serious problem, they found one (in which case sending him out without that info is negligent) r they didn't reach a conclusion i n which case he should take the EKGs & report to a competent cardiologist for out-patient evaluation (I can recommend one).