On Our Government Protecting And Helping US Citizens in Need Abroad
NOTE: Caution is advised against expletives. Do not read any further if they bother you.
I was recently in Cancun, Mexico. I will be writing, soon, about my take on Mexico and its tourism business elsewhere on this blog. Here, I want to highlight what I faced, and what other US Citizens are likely to experience, under severe distress in a foreign country.
I has a serious, potentially life threatening situation on my hands, on Monday, May 14th, starting at about 4PM local time in Cancun. It had already taken us an hour to get to the hospital via boat, and ambulance.
The tour operator, its insurance company, and the private medical facility I was at, in Cancun, were all negotiating on "how-much-to-pay", as my friend lay waiting in their ER, waiting for emergency surgery. The tour operator was telling me they would have to move us to a different (read, Mexican public government hospital) hospital. The Surgeon, a jovial, and kind man (bought me a double espresso because I did not have my wallet on me) would not tell me what his total costs would be. Needless to say, their main concern was money. Formally, I was being told that the whole surgical team was present and ready to go, waiting for the anesthesiologist to arrive, and for about 2 hours, the "sleep-man" was about "10 minutes away". Well, that doctor was on-site at all times! The hospital did not want to have to deal with a US insurance company, after the fact, and even though the tour operator ultimately stepped up to its responsibilities, it wasn't until after 7PM that they took my friend into surgery - after the hospital received a faxed confirmation from the operator's insurance company!
Here, in the US, we have a Patient Bill of Rights - a hospital or other health services provider MUST provide ALL services necessary and within the facility's capacity, to save the patients life in an emergency, even if the patient does not have ANY medical insurance. Human life is valued more than the issue of who will pay the doctors and the hospital.
I was severely disturbed at these local customs. While the hospital itself looked clean and sterile, human life did not seem to warrant the same level of urgency as it does here in the US. I reached out to a friend back home, who suggested I contact the US Department of State in Washington, DC. Around 8PM local time (9PM Eastern, US) I called the State Department - looking for help, to be airlifted back to Miami. After a couple of automated phone attendants, I got through a live operator, and she suggested that she transfer my call to the "On Call Duty Officer" at the US Consulate in Cancun.
It took me 30 minutes to explain, to this Duty Officer, what had happened. You see, she was "On Call", Monday night, but her voice was slurred. Booze? Drugs? I do not know. I hope not. But it is possible she was - we were, after all, in the World Party Capital city. By Indian standards, I do not have a complicated name - she could not get my name (not that that has ever been an issue). She was having a hard time believing me, that a "Jha" is a US Citizen. Kept asking me "so you are a US Citizen?". At the end of our call, this officer asked me if the accident had happened during "fishing".
No you dumb-high-off-your-ass-US-civi
Bottom line - She told me that the United State Government, to whom we all duly pay taxes to, and that espouses the motto "For One We Will Go To War", COULD DO NOTHING TO HELP US. A US Government assisted airlift was OUT OF THE QUESTION. Unlikely she was in any condition to drive to the hospital, and did not offer that.
But, she had the temerity to ask me to call her back the next day and POST HER ON OUR STATUS. For Fucking what? So she could fill out a meaningless incident report and add to her files as yet another achievement? FUCK-OFF, not going to do it.
The airlift would have cost roughly $15,000, probably less at fair rates!
Why I am writing this - as a cautionary tale, for any US Citizens traveling abroad: YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN. DO NOT EXPECT YOUR GOVERNMENT TO HELP YOU IN AN EMERGENCY. IT WILL BE SAD, BUT MERELY A STATISTIC IF YOU RETURN HOME IN A BODY BAG.
IN GOD WE TRUST, AND SO SHOULD YOU.
NOTE: Caution is advised against expletives. Do not read any further if they bother you.
I was recently in Cancun, Mexico. I will be writing, soon, about my take on Mexico and its tourism business elsewhere on this blog. Here, I want to highlight what I faced, and what other US Citizens are likely to experience, under severe distress in a foreign country.
I has a serious, potentially life threatening situation on my hands, on Monday, May 14th, starting at about 4PM local time in Cancun. It had already taken us an hour to get to the hospital via boat, and ambulance.
The tour operator, its insurance company, and the private medical facility I was at, in Cancun, were all negotiating on "how-much-to-pay", as my friend lay waiting in their ER, waiting for emergency surgery. The tour operator was telling me they would have to move us to a different (read, Mexican public government hospital) hospital. The Surgeon, a jovial, and kind man (bought me a double espresso because I did not have my wallet on me) would not tell me what his total costs would be. Needless to say, their main concern was money. Formally, I was being told that the whole surgical team was present and ready to go, waiting for the anesthesiologist to arrive, and for about 2 hours, the "sleep-man" was about "10 minutes away". Well, that doctor was on-site at all times! The hospital did not want to have to deal with a US insurance company, after the fact, and even though the tour operator ultimately stepped up to its responsibilities, it wasn't until after 7PM that they took my friend into surgery - after the hospital received a faxed confirmation from the operator's insurance company!
Here, in the US, we have a Patient Bill of Rights - a hospital or other health services provider MUST provide ALL services necessary and within the facility's capacity, to save the patients life in an emergency, even if the patient does not have ANY medical insurance. Human life is valued more than the issue of who will pay the doctors and the hospital.
I was severely disturbed at these local customs. While the hospital itself looked clean and sterile, human life did not seem to warrant the same level of urgency as it does here in the US. I reached out to a friend back home, who suggested I contact the US Department of State in Washington, DC. Around 8PM local time (9PM Eastern, US) I called the State Department - looking for help, to be airlifted back to Miami. After a couple of automated phone attendants, I got through a live operator, and she suggested that she transfer my call to the "On Call Duty Officer" at the US Consulate in Cancun.
It took me 30 minutes to explain, to this Duty Officer, what had happened. You see, she was "On Call", Monday night, but her voice was slurred. Booze? Drugs? I do not know. I hope not. But it is possible she was - we were, after all, in the World Party Capital city. By Indian standards, I do not have a complicated name - she could not get my name (not that that has ever been an issue). She was having a hard time believing me, that a "Jha" is a US Citizen. Kept asking me "so you are a US Citizen?". At the end of our call, this officer asked me if the accident had happened during "fishing".
No you dumb-high-off-your-ass-US-civi
Bottom line - She told me that the United State Government, to whom we all duly pay taxes to, and that espouses the motto "For One We Will Go To War", COULD DO NOTHING TO HELP US. A US Government assisted airlift was OUT OF THE QUESTION. Unlikely she was in any condition to drive to the hospital, and did not offer that.
But, she had the temerity to ask me to call her back the next day and POST HER ON OUR STATUS. For Fucking what? So she could fill out a meaningless incident report and add to her files as yet another achievement? FUCK-OFF, not going to do it.
The airlift would have cost roughly $15,000, probably less at fair rates!
Why I am writing this - as a cautionary tale, for any US Citizens traveling abroad: YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN. DO NOT EXPECT YOUR GOVERNMENT TO HELP YOU IN AN EMERGENCY. IT WILL BE SAD, BUT MERELY A STATISTIC IF YOU RETURN HOME IN A BODY BAG.
IN GOD WE TRUST, AND SO SHOULD YOU.
No comments:
Post a Comment