Thai man complains after wife's womb surgery goes drastically wrong

[sweatalot]

may be the hospital is right - likelihood 1 : 200 000

Not paying attention to the husbands claim about the right side

and not willing to read the ultrasound report was definitely not right

pure arrogance

if doctors think they need not listen to the patients they should be responsible for every problem

that arises later

[Tom Parkinson]

40-50 years ago in the US, the situation was similar. Doctors were treated as gods. My brother died from a failed kidney transplant. He rejected the kidney, but the surgeon said my brother was too weak to survive the removal of the kidney. So he just left it there. It got infected. The infection spread and my brother died.

My father and I considered initiating a malpractice suit. A doctor friend advised against it. He said there would be no way to prove the case except by getting a doctor or two to testify against the surgeon... and he said that was highly unlikely, since the medical profession at the time was a close-knit fraternity. Doctors did not turn against their own.

I wish this man and his wife good luck, but I suspect they are p*ssing into the wind.

[Puccini]

A couple years ago I saw a Thai doctor at one of the clinics in Pattaya. I was seeing him regarding heart issues and after going through my test results he starts making obscene gestures with his hands and fingers and pulls out a bag of various ED meds and tries to sell some to me. I though this weird to say the least considering that these ED meds can be dangerous for people with heart problems.

What is an ED med?

[Borzandy]

"the director said flanked by doctors who agreed" yes I agree, yes I agree, yes I agree.....

[JetsetBkk]

Armed with a report and the ultrasound evidence he went to a hospital.

No mention was made in the report as to why the second pregnancy was missed by the hospital's initial diagnosis despite the husband's claim

that it was that side that had been mentioned in the reports he had from the clinic.

Whatever you do, K. Kaewdee, keep hold of the evidence!

[Kaalle]

Doctors in Thailand are suppose to be on par with the ones in the western world, at least thats what you read from various sources online, even reputable ones. But my experience is the same as many in the thread, doctors seem to have the same sloppy mai pen lai attitude as the rest of the countrys "professionals". I have been asked "Are you in pain" and after I say no they prescribe a painkiller. I had terrible pain in my shins when running before, I have been diagnosed with moderate or mild compartment syndrome back home and I explaind this to a doctor here that I went to see. He didnt seem to have a clue what I was talking about and his advice was to push through the pain as it was the only way to get rid of shin pains. This is complete noncense of course, just two basic examples. I wouldnt trust doctors here at all.

Last thing my girlfriend goes to the general physician to get a sick note for work, she complains of slight fever and mild cough and comes home with codeine and antiobiotics. This has happened a couple of times, pretty scary I would say.

[gandalf12]

"the director said flanked by doctors who agreed" yes I agree, yes I agree, yes I agree.....

Of course doctors agree with other doctors. They will all lie to support another doctor

[Balance]

A few year back when I was working for a regional health consulting firm one of my clients was a large cardiology group practice. One of the open heart docs had a problem with a high post op infection rate. There had been 3 law suits filed against the hospital and the practice. Finally, the hospital found that it could no long get malpractice insurance if the doctor stayed and the practice found itself in the same position with their insurance carrier. The hospital finally revoked his privileges, which effectively ended his career as a surgeon.

Let's not forget that there is a bell curve attached to all medical school graduating classes. That being said, given that the meritocratic rules do not apply in Thailand, curves may not mean anything. In the US anyone with some knowledge can get a good idea of the competence of any given doctor by three things: where he went to medical school and his/her ranking in the class; what hospital the internship was done; and where the residency was done. Finally when were the specialty board exams taken. There is now a national registry that contains any malpractice suits filed.

To a large extend, the medical profession does an decent job in policing their own, but it is the insurance carriers that have all of the power and the will and self interest to use it.

With the exception of the large medical tourism hospitals in Bangkok, I think it will it will be a long time before the level of education and training will create the will for the medical profession to police itself. To my knowledge, malpractice insurance is unknown in Thailand.

[augustwest]

If you can sue someone for defamation absolutely no need for malpractice insurance!

[scorecard]

A couple years ago I saw a Thai doctor at one of the clinics in Pattaya. I was seeing him regarding heart issues and after going through my test results he starts making obscene gestures with his hands and fingers and pulls out a bag of various ED meds and tries to sell some to me. I though this weird to say the least considering that these ED meds can be dangerous for people with heart problems.

What is an ED med?

Maybe erectile dysfunction, just a guess.

[scorecard]

Doctors in Thailand are suppose to be on par with the ones in the western world, at least thats what you read from various sources online, even reputable ones. But my experience is the same as many in the thread, doctors seem to have the same sloppy mai pen lai attitude as the rest of the countrys "professionals". I have been asked "Are you in pain" and after I say no they prescribe a painkiller. I had terrible pain in my shins when running before, I have been diagnosed with moderate or mild compartment syndrome back home and I explaind this to a doctor here that I went to see. He didnt seem to have a clue what I was talking about and his advice was to push through the pain as it was the only way to get rid of shin pains. This is complete noncense of course, just two basic examples. I wouldnt trust doctors here at all.

Last thing my girlfriend goes to the general physician to get a sick note for work, she complains of slight fever and mild cough and comes home with codeine and antiobiotics. This has happened a couple of times, pretty scary I would say.

Years back:

- On Phetchabui Road near Pantip / Pratunam there was a string of doctors clinics, all very nice except non of them were qualified doctors. Most of their business was:

- Farang needing a medical ceritifcate to get a work permit or license or whatever. Very simple process; two arms, two legs, you pass.

- Tourists needing simple medications, in most cases the patient named the medicin(s) they wanted.

- Most of these doctors were astute enough to realize when there was a more serious problem and dispatched the patient to a hospital.

- On Third Road in Pattaya not far form the South Pattaya Rd intersection, a very small office which hadn't been cleaned or dusted for months, with one teenage girl in the office, the girl has no medical training or nurse training at all and no advanced education in anything. A few chairs and a few bits and pieces to make it look a bit like a doctors office.

- The Process:

- The customer comes in girl asks what the problem is, girl calls a doctor located somewhere in Thailand, doctor instantly prescribes several medications, call ends / call lasts probably 30 seconds or less.

- Customer walks out with a scrap of paper with the names of the medications mentioned by the 'never to be seen or heard doctor', full doctors fee paid.

- I lived nearby. My Thai neighbor had a holiday house near me, he was a doctor of medicine from Mahidol Uni. Faculty of Medicine, he heard from other Thai neighbors about the 'telephone clinic' mentioned above. He quickly visited and pretended to be sick. Same process, girl calls the absent doctor etc. Within a few hours the clinic was closed down and all signs removed and within next 2 or 3 days the absent doctor was debarred forever and went to jail for a few months (I forget how long).

Edited July 24, 2016 by scorecard

[theguyfromanotherforum]

A couple years ago I saw a Thai doctor at one of the clinics in Pattaya. I was seeing him regarding heart issues and after going through my test results he starts making obscene gestures with his hands and fingers and pulls out a bag of various ED meds and tries to sell some to me. I though this weird to say the least considering that these ED meds can be dangerous for people with heart problems.

What is an ED med?

Education Degree meds, duh!