Englishman had life saving surgery in the Dominican Republic

Eddy

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Jan 1, 2002
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TERRY said:
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2662986
"Peter Lovesay was rushed to hospital suffering stomach pains just hours after he landed on the carribean island"
Please click on link for the complete story.
Terry. :alien: clone
Not surprised at all. The DR and Cuba have the best. The Docs at Bournigal in POP saved my "***" a couple of years ago and a few others that I know "for sure" about.
Edited to add: Looks like the censoring "thing" works The wordass was censored?
 

XanaduRanch

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Sep 15, 2002
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Englishman

Hope you are better. I just hit the 3rd Anniversary of my 39th Birthday. So I am just a 'chin' older than you. Glad to hear you are OK. Stop by for a celebration, my treat. (809) 975-6029.

By the way. Chalk up another one for socialized medicine. You listening, Gabbyrella?

Tom aka XR Eat well, stay fit, die anyway.
 

Talldrink

El Mujeron
Jan 7, 2004
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This is very true.

They do not waste time there. People dont have a whole lot of money to go back and forth to 5 and 6 appointments before they get an answer. I like that to go see a doctor, they like for you to go take the tests (analysis) and bring them with you. None of this, first visit we look at you and check you knee reflexes, then on the 6th visit we see that you have a cold.

Case in point: One person, older woman feels a lump around her stomach. Goes to the doc in the States and doc says she is in her 'special years' so she needs the hormones and lets see what happens to the lump. Long story short: ONE year later, still a lump there, thousands of dollars spent in thousands of different pills and still having flashes.

Second person, her sister, older too, feels similar lump. Goes to DR on Monday, goes to doc that afternoon. Gets operated on by Wednesday and is out and about by Friday. The lump was non-cancerous but large and it did not have time to take over any organs. no more flashes and feels 100% better.

The first one person, decided to go to DR after all and have hers removed too - difference is this is after a year and half of 'treatment' and of medications, endless appointments and a lot of taxpayers money...
 

Criss Colon

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Jan 2, 2002
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yahoomail.com
Medical care for about 95 plus% of all Dominicans is a disaster!

I have worked in the "System" for almost 9 years.Please,no more stories about "Miracle Medical Care" in the DR!Cris Colon
 

TERRY

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Feb 1, 2002
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Criss Colon said:
I have worked in the "System" for almost 9 years.Please,no more stories about "Miracle Medical Care" in the DR!Cris Colon
What Miracle, the guy got better medical care than he got in England.
There are so many negative stories about things that dont work in the Dominican Republic,this is not one of those times. The story appeared in the Scotsman and other U.K. newspapers, giving the Dominican Republic some very good press.
The Dominican Republic is attracting an increasing number of tourists from the U.K. and stories like this can only help.
Terry.
 

trina

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Jan 3, 2002
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TERRY said:
What Miracle, the guy got better medical care than he got in England.
There are so many negative stories about things that dont work in the Dominican Republic,this is not one of those times. The story appeared in the Scotsman and other U.K. newspapers, giving the Dominican Republic some very good press.
The Dominican Republic is attracting an increasing number of tourists from the U.K. and stories like this can only help.
Terry.


My sentiments exactly...nice to hear something positive about the DR for a change!
 

NALs

Economist by Profession
Jan 20, 2003
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The Dominican Republic is a country of sharp contrast between 18th century living and 21st century living and this also applies to the doctors. Many docs in the DR would have been great if it was the 18th century, but if you know where to look-you'll find some of the planets finest right here, in good old Santo Domingo!! May this guy stay well for the rest of his life and hopefully, he will show his appreciation to the DR for saving his life by taking yearly trips to sosua or something-you know, help the economy a bit?! Glad to hear good stories like this!
 

LA Woman

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personal experience with doctors in the DR

Since coming to the Dominican Republic I have received better medical care then I was receiving in the United States. I have even had surgery here with excellent results Dr. Garcia in Santiago/Puerto Plata. I receive incredible medical care from Dr. James Bailes who is in the Puerto Plata area.

I'm even impressed with the dentistry here Dr. Riviera/Puerto Plata. I think the bottom line is checking out the physician before using them. The cost of medical care here is fantastic compared to the United States.

I know many of you will disagree with me but I'm speaking from my personal experience. You cannot disregard my personal experience.

LA Woman :rolleyes:
 

Paulino

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Jan 4, 2002
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Wow, he is actually an Englishman...

I became a bit sceptical about a Scottish newspaper reporting about the troubles of an Englishman, so I had to check the source for myself. Well, I guess Dorset still is in England. Can't see how he would dare to travel abroad with all that undiagnosed and unrelieved pain going on for years, though.
 

NALs

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Jan 20, 2003
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I know what you mean Paulino, imagine if he would have been going to Haiti or some remote African country or something, he might just have died!! Lucky for him he landed in the DR and the doctors were not on strike!!
 

GilbertArenas

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Dominican Medicine Great? Umm no.......

I lived in the DR for over 10 years growing up. I can tell you many stories about how your praise for Dominican medical care is misinformed........

1. I broke my leg in Casa de Campo when I was 11 years old. We hit the local La Romana facilities to get X-Rays, unfortunately the electricity was out so no X-Ray (2 hour ride back to Sto Dgo on bumpy roads with broken leg). Back in Sto Dgo, I went to the supposed best doctor in the DR for treatment (a Dr. Rafael Albuquerque oddly enough.....if it's the same Doc running for VP now that explains a lot), got an x-ray done, cast set and a 5 week healing diagnosis. Anyways, after 2 follow up visits and 4 weeks my leg was still killing me. My parents flew up to Duke Med Center to get things checked, and it turns out my bone wasn't even set after being broken! Duke Med Center had to saw my bone, and start the whole process over again and add 16 screws and 2 metal plates in my leg to remedy the situation and ensure I could walk without a limp the rest of my life. Keep in mind I was X-Rayed MULTIPLE times in the DR, by Dr. Albuquerque and his 3 assistants.

2. One of my better friends as a kid was an Israeli whose mother was a Dr. in Santo Domingo helping the poor. She told me stories you would not believe. How the supposed best docs in the country were 20-30 years behind, and prescribing medicines which were incorrect, performing surgeries which were life threatening, and how electricity would go out mid surgery and threaten the lives of people on the operating table.

3. My mother had a vein severed by a doctor in a hospital who was just taking her blood. They were able to fix things up decently enough, but it still required surgery in the states to fix things up.

4. If you have dental problems......don't get them worked on in the DR. My wife had her wisdom teeth taken out in the DR when she was 13 (keep in mind she is from a wealthy family and went to one of the best docs down there for surgery). She told me it was extremely painful, and vividly remembers them HAMMERING on her teeth. I can still see the scars inside her mouth today when she points them out. She was in bed for TWO WEEKS after the surgery. About 1 year ago she had to have an additional wisdom tooth removed here in the US, it was done in about 1 hour with laser surgery, and all swelling and pain was gone in 3 days, and no scarring at all.

5. I have a good friend here in the US who attended medical school at INTEC before coming to the US for his residency. He has told me that he as cutting up cadavers in his SECOND WEEK of school at INTEC in unsanitary environment, and his ENTIRE education (including medical school) was 3 years. He has admitted to being woefully unprepared for practicing medicine here in the US upon arrival.

6. My wife's father attended Medical School in Santo Domingo in the 70s, and has now lived in NY for the past 15 years. He admits medical schools in the DR are laughable and he would never go to a Dominican doctor. Keep in ind this is being said by a highly educated, well off DOMINICAN man.

Don't be fooled into thinking Dominican doctors fast acting prescriptions and recommendations come from some sort of amazing medical vision, a lot of times they just want to get you out of there and get back to their drink and cigarettes.

Which reminds me of seeing my girlfriend in 11th grade getting her blood taken at her family doctor, while the doctor's wife smoked a cigarette just about 5 steps away in what looked like someone's den. Not exactly a sanitary environment. I could go on and on if I thought about it.......but I won't. For every "miracle" story you read, there are thousands of medical tragedies in the DR you won't hear about.
 

Talldrink

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Jan 7, 2004
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Why dont you post horror stories from around the world then? Nobody is saying that they are miracle workers in DR, far from it. There arent any in the States either. We can look for bad EVERYWHERE and FIND IT!

Buyer Beware - that saying applies to the entire world when it comes to healthcare. You got some good from the US, well there are many others out there that have bad and even worse.

Si le buscas la quinta pata al gato...
 

NALs

Economist by Profession
Jan 20, 2003
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Have you ever heard of a Clinica? You pay some dough and the best is supplied. If you expect public hospital and public payed doctors in the DR to be good, well then, just go to a witch doctor -at least there is hope there. But privately funded clinics (those frequented by the elites) have good doctors. I guess the reason why the best doctors in the world could not save the girl with two heads was because the operation was done in the DR, despite the recruitment of the best doctors in the world for that operation. If the DR doctors suck, why did the best doctors in the world agreed to pair up with dominican doctors at a privately funded dominican hospital to do this very risky operation? And yet, with all the specialties in the world the operation failed, not because it was in the DR but because even the best doctors in the world can be sub-par at times. Please, don't paint an entire system with the same brush, otherwise I suppose you will not go to an American doctor, since after all the group of doctors that participated in the separation of the two headed child were mostly from the U.S.A. Again, don't paint a system with the same brush. There are good docs and bad ones in the DR and in the USA. It all matters how much money one has and where you go. Go to centro medico, expect to come out with a new illness, go to a privately funded clinic, and expect to come out on the road to recovery. It's that simple.
 

NALs

Economist by Profession
Jan 20, 2003
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Since I'm dominican, I should suggest to you to take anything a dominican tells you for half it's worth when it comes to criticism of anything dominican. Yes, there are many inefficiencies in the DR, but dominicans blow things out of proportion. You know (assuming you are a dominican) that most dominicans refuse to fly dominican owned airlines simply because they are dominican owned, instead they fly by American Airlines just because the name American is on it. That is why I think the DR is not going to go anywhere with respect to better prospects for the countries, dominican disgraced everything from their own country, even if it's good. But, you should know that since you are giving the impression that you are a dominican.
 

GilbertArenas

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Mar 15, 2004
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Talldrink said:
Why dont you post horror stories from around the world then? Nobody is saying that they are miracle workers in DR, far from it. There arent any in the States either. We can look for bad EVERYWHERE and FIND IT!

Buyer Beware - that saying applies to the entire world when it comes to healthcare. You got some good from the US, well there are many others out there that have bad and even worse.

Si le buscas la quinta pata al gato...

Actually quite a few people were claiming that, not necessarily that they were miracle workers but could handle anything that would occur. I know the country extremely well, and I still am connected via all my friends/relatives etc. People proclaiming that they can get equivalent or even better healthcare in the DR compared to the US or UK is simply absurd.

I just don't want someone lulling themselves into thinking they have no medical worries if something serious hits them. The lesson is, if you have medical issues and can plunk down 1000 dollars for a round trip ticket to New York or Miami...........do it. It's not worth the risk, and you can take advantage of the background checks on physicians readily available on the web for American and Canadian doctors.

Trust me, there are things I absolutely LOVE about the DR and I am eager to move back someday, but medical care is not one of them! Now the slow pace, relaxed environment and lack of terrorism is a big bonus.....just I'll be going to Miami if I snap my limb. :)
 

Talldrink

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Jan 7, 2004
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GilbertArenas said:
Actually quite a few people were claiming that, not necessarily that they were miracle workers but could handle anything that would occur. I know the country extremely well, and I still am connected via all my friends/relatives etc. People proclaiming that they can get equivalent or even better healthcare in the DR compared to the US or UK is simply absurd.

I just don't want someone lulling themselves into thinking they have no medical worries if something serious hits them. The lesson is, if you have medical issues and can plunk down 1000 dollars for a round trip ticket to New York or Miami...........do it. It's not worth the risk, and you can take advantage of the background checks on physicians readily available on the web for American and Canadian doctors.

Trust me, there are things I absolutely LOVE about the DR and I am eager to move back someday, but medical care is not one of them! Now the slow pace, relaxed environment and lack of terrorism is a big bonus.....just I'll be going to Miami if I snap my limb. :)

I dont agree with you:

1. I was not comparing the service with the US, I was saying that in my family's instance it worked out better to have gone to the DR and take care of it. So when you say: "People proclaiming that they can get equivalent or even better healthcare in the DR compared to the US or UK is simply absurd." Nobody was proclaiming that at all. We stated situations in which it worked out better in DR - never saying that it was better there or here, in OUR instance, it worked out better this way. Just like in yours it worked out better elsewhere.

2. You can get GOOD care in DR and you can get good care in Miami and everywhere else you choose to go. There are bad things that happen in Miami as well. The cost is 1000 times more in the US and they charge in dollars. I lived in Miami and did not have affordable healthcare while there. According to the governement I needed to have 8 children with my income in order to get any assistance. Meanwhile I had to pay cash for my son's asthman treatment. This would be the same in DR, there is no medicaid in DR I know, but the amount of money to be paid is NOT the same. Basically, if you do not have a healthcare plan you are assed out trying to pay those bills cash in the US if you are not on government assistance.

For you to say that bad things (accidents, medical malpractice, etc.) wont happen in the US is absurd.

3. I hope your flight is comfortable with a fractured limb on the way to Miami...
 

GilbertArenas

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Talldrink said:
I dont agree with you:

1. I was not comparing the service with the US, I was saying that in my family's instance it worked out better to have gone to the DR and take care of it. So when you say: "People proclaiming that they can get equivalent or even better healthcare in the DR compared to the US or UK is simply absurd." Nobody was proclaiming that at all. We stated situations in which it worked out better in DR - never saying that it was better there or here, in OUR instance, it worked out better this way. Just like in yours it worked out better elsewhere.

2. You can get GOOD care in DR and you can get good care in Miami and everywhere else you choose to go. There are bad things that happen in Miami as well. The cost is 1000 times more in the US and they charge in dollars. I lived in Miami and did not have affordable healthcare while there. According to the governement I needed to have 8 children with my income in order to get any assistance. Meanwhile I had to pay cash for my son's asthman treatment. This would be the same in DR, there is no medicaid in DR I know, but the amount of money to be paid is NOT the same. Basically, if you do not have a healthcare plan you are assed out trying to pay those bills cash in the US if you are not on government assistance.

For you to say that bad things (accidents, medical malpractice, etc.) wont happen in the US is absurd.

3. I hope your flight is comfortable with a fractured limb on the way to Miami...

To each their own, just trying to share my experience since I grew up there. And my flight to Miami with a broken limb was more comfortable than my drive from La Romana to Santo Domingo with one. :)

Just remember you typically get what you pay for......Dominican doctors don't get discounts from pharmaceutical companies.
 

TERRY

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Feb 1, 2002
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Man bites dog

GilbertArenas said:
To each their own, just trying to share my experience since I grew up there. And my flight to Miami with a broken limb was more comfortable than my drive from La Romana to Santo Domingo with one. :)

Just remember you typically get what you pay for......Dominican doctors don't get discounts from pharmaceutical companies.

Gilbert, I feel comfortable in saying that the NHS(British health system) is superior to the health system in the Dominican Republic. It shouldn't happen that someone gets better treatment in a third world country but in this case it did, which is why it was reported.
My reason for posting the story was to highlight something positive for a change.
Terry.
 

GilbertArenas

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Nal0whs said:
Since I'm dominican, I should suggest to you to take anything a dominican tells you for half it's worth when it comes to criticism of anything dominican. Yes, there are many inefficiencies in the DR, but dominicans blow things out of proportion. You know (assuming you are a dominican) that most dominicans refuse to fly dominican owned airlines simply because they are dominican owned, instead they fly by American Airlines just because the name American is on it. That is why I think the DR is not going to go anywhere with respect to better prospects for the countries, dominican disgraced everything from their own country, even if it's good. But, you should know that since you are giving the impression that you are a dominican.

I'm not Dominican, but the reason people didn't fly Dominicana airlines before it tanked is because it didn't have proper licenses to fly to New York half the time, and they even allowed chickens on the planes in the late 80s!

Not to mention in 1989 when my friend was flying to NYC and they couldn't get enough speed to take off, so they asked everyone to get off on the runway for a "test takeoff". Or there was the Dominican charter which crashed carrying Germans which didn't even have a license to fly in Germany. Honestly, any individual who has owned a Dominican and American company has a hard time trusting the proper education is given to maintenance folks in the DR to properly run complex pieces of machinery. When you are talking airplanes hundreds of lives are at stake, hence the skepticism.

Not a knock on the country, I do love it, but the same reason people don't trust a Dominican airline is the same reason the DR doesn't have something like a space program or orbiting satellites.