"Ryan Ginstrom" <ginstrom@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:c7cg1s$2athl$1@ID-101276.news.uni-berlin.de...
> Elbow wrote:
> > "Ryan Ginstrom" <ginstrom@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> > news:c6v69r$gc5m3$1@ID-101276.news.uni-berlin.de...
> >
> >>
> >> The good side of Japanese medical care is that it's cheap. The bad
> >> side is that it is lousy.
>
> > Actualy I think its very good. I was treated far better here than in
> > the UK. I dont know what country your comparing it with but fingers
> > crossed Ive been treated very well.
>
> I'm sorry, I should have been more specific. I meant lousy compared to
other
> first-world countries.
>
> Here are some things I would expect before calling Japanese medical
> un-lousy:
>
> Doctor's visits
> - Be able to make an appointment for a routine checkup/procedure and be
seen
> within 30 min of your appointment time
> - Not be x-rayed and IVd every time you step into his office
> - Absence of thick films of dust everywhere you look
>
> Meds
> - Get prescribed a 30-day supply for a 30-day course of antibiotics
> - Not be told to stop taking the antibiotics before the course is complete
> if you "feel better"
> - Not be given antibiotics for a cold
> - Ask what meds you are being given and not be told "three pink pills, a
> white powder and a blue pill"
>
> Accountability
> - Right to know -- if I have inoperable cancer, don't tell me I have a
> gallstone
> - Get told exactly what your condition is, not that you have a "kaze" when
> it is mono or food poisoning
> - Have the doctor tell you if he accidentally leaves a freaking needle in
> your heart
>
> > My son is in hospital now with gastroenteritus and they are treating
> > him very very well. Not like UK where they cant wait to chuck you out
> > as soon as possible.
>
> But that is just a factor of cost, isn't it? In the UK the cost is
> artificially held down, so demand outstrips supply and you end up with
> shortages (e.g. of hospital beds). In the US cost is plenty incentive to
> hold down demand, so there are plenty of hospital beds.
>
> My wife had our kid in the US. They wanted to discharge her the morning
> following delivery (she gave birth in the early am). We decided to stay
> another day in the hospital (still pretty barbaric by Japanese
standards) -- 
> and paid around $1,200, completely out of pocket. I'm sure if we had
asked,
> they would have let us stay a week.
>
> The care was great, though.
>
> -- 
> Regards,
> Ryan Ginstrom
>

And there was me thinking you loved Japan.   :)

Ive had 3 kids here and I get pissed off that they insist she stay in for a
week. Its so obvious they want to make more money.
But I did hear that before the war Japan had the highest  infant death rate
in the world but now has the lowest.
I think they take it a tad too far in being extra careful.