Korean Job Discussion Forums

[WoBW]

So I just spent a week in hospital with a brain haemorrhage, four days of that was in intensive care.

I must say that it was a positive experience overall. The treatment I received was efficient and attentive. As ever, the doctors all spoke English, as did most of the nurses. The nurses were always quick to change my IV drip when needed and such like. I got a private room once I moved up to the general ward. Damn, even the food wasn't too bad. The worst thing was being hooked up to an IV drip 24/7 for a week. It kinda limits your freedom of movement. It's not as if you can just hop out of bed and got to the bathroom when you have a needle stuck in your arm, which is connected to a tube, which is connected to the back of the bed.

Anyway, overall I would say this is a positive experience of Korean healthcare. The professor in charge of my case says all looks well now, but I have to go back for another CAT scan next week as there is still some bleeding on my brain.

So, anyone else have any positive healthcare experiences here? Any negative? I'm quite impressed with my own experience.

[ulsanchris]

i've had numerous encounters with korean doctors and i'm not that impressed with them or the level of care I got. I've been to some who couldn't speak more than a few words of English. I would say your experience was exceptional rather than the norm.

[Lekker]

Last summer I cracked my head open. There was a substantial amount of blood coming from my head. I didn't have my health insurance info on me at the time. When I went into the ER, they refused to see me because I didn't have it. Instead, they demanded that I pay them somewhere around 600,000 won, which I didn't have either, so I had to sit in the waiting room, bleeding out of a gash in the back of my head.

They could have easily looked up my Alien Registration # in their system, which they claimed was down suddenly when I told them I didn't have my info. This was the University hospital in Hannam Dong, just down the hill from Itaewon. Stay away from there by all means. They don't know what they are doing.

[WoBW]

I was in Soon Chun Hyang University Hospital. I'm glad to be out, but I can't complain about the treatment I received.

[JamesFord]

I spent years here basically sick. Went to many different doctors, western, oriental, etc... I went to the best hospitals in Seoul. Spent all kinds of money on tests, etc. None of them could figure out what was wrong. When I asked if it could be the pollution, they said it was impossible. I got all kinds of other diagnoses though.

Finally went to a doctor back home in small town Canada. It took him less than 30 seconds to tell me that it's allergies. I said I'd never been allergic to anything in my life. He told me it was due to the pollution. Turns out he was right. Since now I know what the problem is, I'm now able to manage it.

[Ya-ta Boy]

I agree that Korean medical care is decent overall. I would avoid small local hospitals if I were you, but except for that, I've had decent care here when needed.

Lekker, didn't I see a post by you a couple of days ago where you said you were out of here and not going to post again? Frankly, I was hoping that was a trend.

[Lekker]

[inkoreaforgood]

[Unposter]

Wow! You had a brain hemorage (Sp?)! I hope all is well.

I have never had a complaint with the Korean medical system but it is definately at least two-tiered. Big hospitals are great! Smaller hospitals are hit and miss, mostly miss. I can't say the same isn't true in my home country.

[CentralCali]

A lousy ten minutes before quitting time on July 11, I was chasing down the delivery dude who just left via the back door on the 1st floor of my school. (My supervising co-teacher automatically said, "Nope, that package doesn't belong to anyone here" without looking and it was my turn to go to the admin office for another issue and I was expecting a few packages from home so I followed after the dude.) In South Korea, those are the doors that front onto the playground. Well, schools are also some of the very, very few places in this country which have even a token approach to disabled access. Also, one must wear indoor slippers (as you will soon see, very aptly named) while in the school building.

So, I went a little too fast and slipped right where the little wheelchair ramp turns into a little step for those who don't need wheelchairs. Of course, I didn't just slide the whole foot over, but rather a bit more than half of the right foot (long ways) was in thin air while the rest of the foot was on the firm floor. That means the foot twisted under and my body weight caused the metatarsus to break clean in half like snapping a pencil in half when the foot hit the lower floor.

The school maintenance man and the school secretary helped me to the Nurse's office, conveniently on the first floor. The nurse checked it out and said, "We need to go the hospital." Then she drove me there.

The doctor was very cool--and a bit of a card. While we were waiting for the operating room to be available, I noticed I was sitting in front of three posters describing the doctors' qualifications. The one working on me was a surgeon in the South Korean Navy during his military service. I mentioned that was interesting as I'm retired Navy. He then said, "Oh, in that case, I will do a good job on your foot!"

They gave me a spinal block and then a general anasthetic. I woke up about two hours later with three pins in my foot and a half-cast. For the first week and a half, the dressing was changed every day and I also had a steady IV drip, something called Hartmann Solution. After that time passed, I only had to have the drip during the day--one bag full. Also, the dressing was changed every other day. About a week ago before getting discharged, the IV drip was stopped. I was very happy about that as I was beginning to look like I'd been mainlining.

Friday, 1 August, the doctor removed one pin. It hurt like blazes. Luckily, it didn't hurt that long. The doctor promised to give me a local anasthetic for removing the other two pins but also said, "It really won't do any good, though, as you'll still feel it since the pins are in the bone." He came through on the promise and gave me a local Wednesday morning, 6 August. When he removed one pin that morning it hurt a lot but not as bad as the last time. I didn't even feel the last pin coming out. The doctor also told me that I really didn't need the anasthesia but he used it to calm me down. Good choice! I was starting to freak out thanks to the memory of the previous Friday's pain.

On a funny note, even the nurses here are shy. When the operating room nurse today was putting the EKG leads on, I started to open my pajama shirt and she blushed! What they do is stick the lead through the gap between the buttons. Also of interest is that one of the nurses there is male. I didn't even know there were any male nurses in this country. Turns out he was assigned as a Medic during his military service and decided he liked the field but not enough to be a doctor.

Now, I have a cast that comes up to just below my knee. It doesn't have that cool rubber pod on the bottom. Instead, I have to wear a funnly little hospital boot over it. I'm not supposed to put any pressure on other than the heel so I'm still on crutches. Maybe this week, I can walk like a biped again. When the doctor came to see me during rounds the morning of the 6th, he told me that it was definite that the pins would come out and that I could go home. I asked him if it would be okay for me to go to Daegu that Saturday and Hong Kong next week. His reply was, "Why wouldn't it be okay?" As it turns out, I couldn't go to Daegu anyway and I had to skip the trip to Hong Kong. The doctor said I have to return on August 19 to have the cast removed.

Of course, I live in a 4th floor walk-up, what is called a Villa (that's actually how it's pronounced in Korean). Mansion (that's also the Korean pronunciation for it) is an apartment with a bath-tub, a villa is an apartment building with no elevator. One would think the first people to teach English to Koreans were the Beverly Hillbillies! I had to scoot up the steps on my butt when I got home the afternoon of the 6th. Better safe than sorry! I didn't want to chance taking a header down the steps while hobbling on the crutches!

The National Health Insurance paid about half of the surgery cost and I had to pay the rest and also pay for the food I consumed. The bill came to a total of 2,834,080 South Korean Won, of which I had to pay 1,329,700 South Korean Won. That day's exchange rate makes that US$1,309.60. Great. That's how much I get for my retirement pay. My military insurance will reimburse me around $800 so the whole experience isn't as bad, financially, as it could've been.

All the nurses there when I was discharged told me they were surprised at how many people came to visit me. Almost everyone was from my ward (I'm currently the 2nd Counselor in the Bishopric of a Korean-speaking ward). Just about every night, someone from the ward came to see me in the hospital. The last Tuesdday night I was there, we had our weekly Bishopric meeting in the hospital room! What was really cool was that when I woke up the first night, the Bishop and 2nd Counselor were there to give me a blessing for the sick and injured. That made me feel better since I had no idea how long I was going to be stuck in the hospital.

Could have been worse. At least I didn't snap the ankle!

I learned a few things about life in a Korean hospital. If you ever come to Korea, be prepared with the following:

• Have someone bring you a box of fiber drinks (they're kind of popular here & that's the name of them); you will not get any fiber in the hospital food.
  
• Also have someone bring you a bunch of bottles of fruit juice. Again, you won't get any from the hospital food. Luckily, it's a big tradition here to take a box of them to the patient when visiting.
  
• Go ahead and put a chopstick/spoon travel set in your backpack. You have to buy one at the hospital otherwise!
  
• Also have someone bring you: towel, washrag, soap, shampoo, toilet paper, and wet-wipes (called "mul-tee-shu" here)!

There are no set visiting hours so that was pretty neat. My friends could come visit me whenever they could.

Honestly, though, everyone at the hospital was incredibly nice. I was the only foreigner there for my entire stay and sometimes my Korean and the nurses' English weren't up to snuff but we all managed very well anyway.

And thank Heaven for the National Health Insurance here! That would've made a huge dent in my savings. Not like the grand I had to pay didn't either. I only needed surgery on my foot, x-rays, IV, a number of shots, food, and a cast. I can't imagine how much the bill would be without insurance if it were for brain surgery or neural surgery and CAT scans. Monday this week, I had to go in for a quick consultation and x-rays (to check that the cast was doing its job). My share for that after the insurance was less than $7.

This is all at a small hospital in Busan.

If you're working for an outfit that's shafting you on the insurance, you're playing a very dangerous game with your finances. This accident I had could've happened anywhere to anyone, not just to me for slipping at school. There are plenty of places where you might trip or catch your foot in the wrong way. There's a recent thread where the OP says his boss has him listed as "business person" (independent contractor). That means the boss isn't making the required payments for the National Health Insurance. If he gets any kind of serious injury or illness, he's going to be broke and, no doubt, out of a job.

[Gamecock]

I've had terrible experiences with private practice doctors who I'm sure received their medical degree from a crackerjack box. At the same time, I've had tremendous experiences at larger hospitals. The best thing is that health care here is ridiculously cheap (at least from an American perspective). I just had surgery (tonsillectomy) and 5 days of recovery in the hospital for 550,000 won. Even if the first doc you visit is a total idiot, you're only out of pocket 10,000 won and can go find someone else who is more competent.

[teachingld2004]

Christmas week I spent 6 nights in Asan Hospital in Gangung. I had a 2.2 kg tumor removed that was pressing against the lower bowel.

I went to my regular Doctor because I was having bad pains, who sent me to get x-rays. I went back to my Dr. with the X-rays. This all was within 2 days. My reg. dr (whose English is great) called the head of surgery in Asan Hospital. I went there the next day. The Dr. in Asan hospital called my medical doctor to tell him what was going on with me. One week later I had surgery.

The doctors were great. The nurses were great. My medical doctor even came to visit me with is wife and son, and they bought me flowers, and get this one: I was going back to America 3 weeks later, and the doctor and his wife told me I can stay in their apartment and recover and he will help extend my visa for medical reasons! i NEVER SAW SUCH KINDNESS.

I said no thank you because I was going home to my parents for a few months and did not want to tell them I had surgery.

I came back to Gangneung in June (for one more year) because I wanted to be near Asan Hospital for another year. I am fine by the way.

To the poster: Thank God you are doing well.

[bassexpander]

In my experience, the medical care here runs from scary as heck to fabulous.

[WoBW]

I just paid 1,2336,000 Won.

[Lekker]