British mother says my son would have died in Thailand without his girlfriend

[NancyL]

The girlfriend is certainly to be commended in this situation and it's nice to see the young man's family doing so.

And it's not unusual just because she's a THAI girlfriend.

I sometimes am asked to assist elderly expats by the hospitals in Chiang Mai -- primarily the government hospitals, so I've had an opportunity to observe some Thai AND western girlfriends and wives in their efforts to assist their partners.

First, she is to be commended for recognizing that her boyfriend had a problem that required immediate medical attention AND perhaps convincing him to seek out that attention. Few people would think that such a young man could fall victim to this problem. Hubby and I had a friend with a similar problem in the U.S. He suddenly developed a severe headache one evening upon returning home from work. His wife wanted him to go to the hospital NOW, but he insisted he'd be OK if he just laid down for a while before dinner. She just thought he was taking a long nap when a couple hours passed before she checked and then found him dead. Our friend's wife was racked with guilt at the funeral that she hadn't been more insistent about him going to the hospital or calling an ambulance.

Secondly, the article says the girlfriend was by his side at the hospital, keeping him from pulling out tubes. I've seen wives and girlfriends who abandon their partners at the hospital here, literally dump them off at the E/R and disappear. She didn't do that. Or hang around the hospital hallway in tears with their friends about how their meal ticket is about to die. "Who will take care of me?" Yes, I've heard that -- from Thai wives/girlfriends. From western wives/girlfriends -- I've seen them attempt to boss around the hospital staff about why no one is stopping their partner from trying to pull out the tubes. Hmm, because that's your job, honey. You speak his language and family members are expected to provide basic services for patients. That's why there's a large, comfy sofa, microwave, hot water pot and refrigerator in each private room at a hospital. You're expected to stay with your loved one. The Thai concept of being devoted to your partner, at his bedside 24/7 is indeed foreign to the foreign partner, but it's what's needed to keep someone like the subject of this news story from pulling out his tubes and will help him to recover more quickly.

[Janjira Swy]

On 17/2/2559 at 10:49 AM, MockingJay said:

....and a cute one she is! Food for thought for the poor souls here who, like a broken record - mantra-alike, recite that all Thai girls are so so unbelievably bad...

 

On 17/2/2559 at 0:02 PM, losworld said:

Don't these teachers get medical coverage? Seems a bit dangerous to be unnecessarily flying someone all the way back. Lucky for him he was young and worth more alive than dead. Had he been 70 with an insurance policy would the outcome have been different? I hope not but one must sometimes wonder with some of the headlines we read. It does seem like this guy was lucky to have someone there with enough situational awareness to get assistance.

It only covered the price when he first was admitted to the hospital in the south, where he had CT scan and found out that he had a brain aneurysm. It was a government hospital tho. But they told us that they couldn't do an operation there so we decided to take him to Bangkok.

Edited June 23, 2017 by Janjira Swy