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Our Medical Experiences in Mexico

10K views 46 replies 21 participants last post by  Geoff54 
#1 ·
We've been in Mexico for 4 months now and we've had to seek medical and dental care here. The dental work was about 1/6th the price of California and 95% as good. The medical care that we've received has been superior.
My wife was electrocuted 6 years ago, ended up in a wheelchair and was unable to care for herself for about a year. I don't want to go on and on about that but it was hard.
She has seen about 35 doctors between the worker's comp doctors and the disability doctors. When we arrived in Mexico we learned that a very expensive muscle relaxant that she had been using, Amrix, is unavailable here. We sought out a doctor to help deal with her sometimes debilitating abdominal (growing to involve her whole left side and her diaphragm) spasms. We found an internist who, on the first visit, talked with her for 2 hours for 500 pesos, about $40.00. Each of the next 8 visits were between 1/2 an hour to an hour and the 500 pesos included all the meds and supplements in that price. He said that he could prescribe medicines like the American doctors had ($1000.00 a month in the US) and that they would be very expensive like the American prescriptions were, or that they could try to fix the problem.
He performed many tests totaling about $120.00 and determined that her thyroid gland wasn't working any longer in addition to many other dietary deficiencies. He put her on a radical 6 week diet. No dairy, meat, wheat, no sugar, no gluten, etc. No large pelagic fish, only small fish, and chicken once a week max. After 2 weeks he gave her a medicine to kill all of the bacteria in her gut and a week later he re-introduced beneficial bacteria. His theory was that the electricity had killed most of the good bacteria and bad bacteria had taken over.
Results? She has lost almost 50 lbs in 3 months so she's back to her weight from before the injury, she is able to eat normally and go to the bathroom normally for the first time in 6 years, and her prescriptions which are mostly free of side effects unlike before, total about $150.00 a month. Her eyesight has improved and her hair isn't falling out anymore. She must take many dietary supplements now to keep her system running smoothly.
Our trips to the ER have gone from once a month to once in 5 months and maybe after what we learned last week, never again.
We did need to have her hospitalized last week and we were SHOCKED at the difference in care between the US and Mexico. Caring is still a part of healthcare in Mexico. Between the ER visit and 2 days in the best hospital in Ensenada, the bill was right at $1000.00.
You can read about the incident and the hospital on our blog, here-
Landfall Voyages » And There We Were in a Mexican Emergency Room: Part 1

Part 2 will be up tonight.
 
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#2 ·
looking forwards to part 2. I feel your pain, i've been to some pretty scarry 3rd world countries and have experienced the worst, but also wonderful outcomes from difficult situations. new friends, cheap dental care :p sounds like you'll have the content for a book by the time this is over.
 
#4 ·
Having spent 15 years working in cardio-pulmonary medicine at two of Baltimore's largest teaching hospitals, I can unequivocally say that 95-percent of the physicians I've come across in my lifetime are not worth a damned. The vast majority are pill pushers who hope to make enough money to retire early and put their kids through medical school.

When you do come across a knowledgeable physician or surgeon, which is rare, they tend to be the ones that take the time necessary to make a proper diagnosis, and then provide the correct regiment of treatment. The major problem that most individuals have is they have no way of determining whether or not the physician or surgeon they're seeing is competent. Sure, you can look on the Internet and find out if they have some malpractice suits filed against them, but other than that it's next to impossible to do anything more than make a WAG (wild-assed guess).

The best advice I have for sailors is to have a fully stocked first aid kit onboard, one that contains not only the usual array of bandages and aspirins, but additionally, antibiotics, pressure dressings, splints, sutures and needles, and an adequate supply of any prescription drugs you may be taking. In my case, I even have a bottle of nitroglycerin tablets on the boat - just in case I have that third heart attack while anchored in the Dry Torgugas.

You were very fortunate to find a highly qualified physician while visiting Mexico. Most of the better ones tend to head north to the U.S. where the pay scale is much higher. I knew a couple of ex-patriots from south of the border, both of which have since passed away. Both were excellent surgeons and outstanding diagnosticians.

Cheers,

Gary :cool:
 
#5 ·
many of the physicians here in mexico are trained in usa. there is nothing inferior about medical care outside usa.
914--i knew you wouldnt have a problem here with healthcare, as is very inexpensive.
i wasnt sure what meds you would be able to find--i knew most on your list were readily available.
i know here in mexico one is not allowed to buy certain antihistimines, but those werent on your list. i am glad you found good folks and proper care.
i donot trust physicians in usa, as most are into the greed factor--quite a few of the GOOD ones give up after so long with a corrupt system. in usa, is all about money --money for insurance companies, is all about the lobbies dictating the prices and fees. no humanity anymore.
 
#7 ·
Good article.

However, as a single data point, it is rather non-instructive. What would be of interest is the same method being applied to other countries, and then see those results.

That would be informative. Study is dated 2006 (6 years ago) and I wonder if changes have happened now? Does the area of Mexico a doctor practices in matter (my guess is yes)? Those that target medical tourism I would suggest are every bit as capable as those in first world countries.
 
#8 ·
On a related note, I had some dental work done in Thailand. First rate care all the way. Inexpensive, first rate customer service in reception and billing. Dentists in the USA seem to hire pit bulls for receptionists and think you are lucky they can fit you in after an hours wait.
 
#14 ·
A few decades ago I took surgical residents down to Mexico to repair cleft lips and palates. We worked with a Mexican plastic surgeon, and had excellent rapport. We frequently sent him patients for cosmetic surgery. Everyone was happy with the arrangements.
The Mexican PS was injured in an automobile accident, and had to have his spleen removed by his friend, a gynecologist, who was the best qualified surgeon available. The gynecologist then had my friend the PS flown to our hospital in the states for recovery.
Those are the facts - you draw the conclusions.
 
#19 ·
Removal of a ruptured spleen due to an automobile accident is a routine procedure in most, major, metropolitan hospitals. The recovery time is usually just a few weeks at most, and most individuals undergoing the procedure live normal lives.

The biggest problem that occurs is usually infection, which often is the result of poor sterile technique in the operating room. This is frequently a problem in third-world countries, and keeps a lot of malpractice lawyers in pocket money here in the states.

Depending upon your age, nursing care in the states ranges from poor to non-existent. Unfortunately, quality nursing care is a major component of the post surgical healing and recovery component. The one thing that those of us who have experience in the medical field enjoy is the ability to determine when something is going wrong. Those who do not have that hands-on experience are at the mercy of their caregivers.

I witnessed a classic example of this two weeks ago during a post MI visit with my cardiologist. He's a good guy, knows his stuff, but is part of a large cardiology practice that I consider nothing than a revolving door people mill. There were at least 30 patients in the waiting room when I arrived, and they were there to see two cardiologists. The wait time was nearly an hour, more for some.

The receptionist called my name, she took me to an exam room, told me to take off my shirt, and within a few minutes a technician came into the room with an EKG machine. She seemed to be in a hurry, quickly attached the electrodes, snapped on the wire leads, ran the EKG, took my blood pressure, pulse and oxygen level, then quickly moved to the next room saying "The doctor will be right with you."

The room was cold enough to safely hang a side of beef, I waited about 20 minutes, and was just about ready to put my shirt on when the doctor walked in. He listened to my lungs, heart, looked at the chart and said "Well, everything looks OK, your blood work is all great, and your EKG has an inverted T-wave, but that's Ok - it's part of the healing process."

Well, it wasn't OK, I had no eschemic damage when I had the MI because I have a lot of collateral circulation, and on the previous 20 EKGs there has never been an inverted T-wave. We had a real serious talk at that point, and I had him repeat the EKG. I suspected that the leg leads were reversed, and the repeat EKG had NO inverted T-wave. He came back into the exam room shortly after the EKG was completed and said "Well, everything looks OK now. Stop at the receptionist desk and make another appointment for six months from now - just as a follow-up."

Kinda gives you that warm, fuzzy feeling - doesn't it?

Cheers,

Gary :cool:
 
#20 ·
................
Depending upon your age, nursing care in the states ranges from poor to non-existent. Unfortunately, quality nursing care is a major component of the post surgical healing and recovery component. The one thing that those of us who have experience in the medical field enjoy is the ability to determine when something is going wrong......
I went to my doctor for my annual, and saw him again a week later to review the tests and do a scheduled mole removal. I had set up both appointments in the past 2 weeks. He reviewed my blood work, and ensured that I understood every component.

I don't want to turn this into a US healthcare bashing post, however, I happen to be in Canada, you know, the home of 'socialist medicine'. Where it takes 8 months to see a doctor, the government tells you who to see, and you have no choice. All bunkum. I get to see who I want, I get in quickly, and my doctor owns the clinic, hires and pays the staff, and pays the overhead.

The only difference is that there is one payer... the government. My tax rates are lower, we spent 1/3 less as a percentage of GDP, and we live longer. My guess is we live longer because we don't have to worry about our co-pay or full pay if one does not have insurance, and go for regular medical care.
 
#21 ·
nice to know my years as a critical care rn in the usa are so deeply appreciated.
there IS a problem in healthcare in usa--IFF you are allowed to have a rn who is trained in usa, you get a decent nurse. if you are the drawer of the short straw and have a foreign nurse as your caregiver, you are in deep stuff. sorry, but it is truth. usa has been recruiting rns from other nations for over 50 yrs as most of the usa trained are too snotty for bedside care. the pay was also horrifically low forever. however, the problems with usa healthcare these days, besides those poorly trained foreign nurses, is the government itelf--corruption in form of lobbies and insurance out of control and other systemic glitches are the cause of high er than god healthcare pricing and fees. go figger. there ye have the nutshell version.
 
#22 ·
If you had to wait 8 months to see a doctor for that mole, and it was a melanoma, it's likely that you would not have been able to post the information above. Consider yourself very fortunate. I've had a couple relatives and a few close friends die from melanomas - it's not pretty.

Good Luck,

Gary :cool:
 
#23 ·
Not sure where you got the 8 months from, it was two weeks as I indicated in my original post. The point I was trying to make was that contary to the propaganda from the insurance industry in the USA, Canadians do not have to wait, we do have choices for doctors, we don't need to be part of any darn HOA, and most of all, we don't have to worry about getting cut off for pre-existing conditions.
 
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#24 ·
More people immigrate to the US than nearly the next four countries combined. Overall, on average, we have something more attractive than anywhere else on the planet. Warts and all. Mexico didn't make the top 15. Canada, with their nationalized health care, made a good showing at about a quarter of the US. Seems to take more than nationalized health care.

 
#43 · (Edited)
I know this is an old discussion but I have been off sailing. My comment is not about foreign healthcare, although we have been pleased on the few times we have needed it in places like French Polynesia and Fiji. Rather it is about chart reading and the conclusions that one can and should draw. This looks like a chart from The Economist (great publication by the way, not sure why they call it a newspaper though). There are two sets of stats in the graphic. You use the bars graphs to suggest that the US is the most attractive destination for immigrants by saying that there are more in the US than in the next four countries combined. This is true, but the point is moot since the population of the US is more than 4x that of the other four. More instructive are the numbers to the right (foreign-born popn). Using this measure the US is not close to the highest so this would suggest that other places are highly attractive (Switzerland, Canada and Australia stand out). Don't know if this data includes illegal immigrants or not, but I suspect it does.
 
#25 ·
Glad to hear that you found a practioner who could (would) find an approach to better and more permanent results. You would think that in this electronic day of age the International Medical community could post and share symptons, diagnosis and treatments that show positive results in some library forum that could be accessed by other practioners. This would save extended suffering and costs to the patient.
 
#26 ·
Had a medical situation in Cuenca, Ecuador where my wife needed surgery on her elbow. Went to the Drs. office, he said come back tomorrow and I'll have a surgeon here. We did and he did. He operated on her elbow, took about 30 minutes. It had started raining so after the surgery the Dr. drove us back to the home where we were staying. Cost of surgery & taxi service.....$70 and my wife is fine.
 
#30 ·
cupper, this is certainly merging into an off-topic discussion. If you are Canadian and like your system, you've made your point. Why beat on it. Do you have some axe to grind?

Just to keep you thinking. If pharma and med device manufacturers weren't making a fortune in the US, do you think cost would remain as low elsewhere, or would they try to make it up over seas. Good luck. I say we should level the playing field.
 
#31 ·
Cupper3 I dont know where you live or how much you make but you are seriously wrong when it comes to Canadian taxes. They are significantly higher than most industrialized countries. In BC my marginal tax rate is about 48%. I'm not aware of any place in the US that comes close to that unless I'm making $500k/yr. Even then I get to deduct my mortgage interest. Do we have a better medical system than the US, probably. Are there other places with better health care and/or tax systems, definitely.
 
#34 ·
I am a native Texan and have spent a fair amount of time in Mexico over the last couple of decades. There are some beautiful out of the way, not overly touristy places. Progresso (inland a bit). Isla Mujeres (becoming a little more touoristy, but they still don't allow gas burning motor vehicles on the island).. so a slower pace is garaunteed.
As far as medicine goes.... YES, when you remove the corrupt Pharma companies, and the Corrupt insurance companies.....both of which have to grease the corrupt politicians.... It is AMAZING how inexpensive "unisnsured" care and medicine really is.
I have an old ACL (knee) injury, and 3 years ago I twisted it getting off of a boat Cozumel. I was in a lot of pain. I went to a local pharmacy bought 10 prescription strength pain pills, for $12 and 3 days later the swelling was down....I didn't have to suffer through the pain..and all was better.
The trip to to the pharmacy was 10 minutes, and I was out a total of $20 including cab fare.
Compare that to state-side : $200 a month in medical insurance premiums, to take Half a day off of work, to sit in a Dr. office, to pay a $20 co-pay, and get a note (RX), to go to a pharmacy to pay a $20 deductible, to get pills worth about $5 in REAL money. So State side WITH insurance = about $240 and half a day. Over there without insurance cost me $20 and about 30 minutes for the same results.
Amazing how effeceint and affordable healthcare can be, when there is some similance of a "CAP" or limit to the corruption controlling it.

---Tapske

NIF
 
#35 ·
The reality of the Canadian health care system is that a bureaucrat, not a doctor will determine what your healthcare needs are.

Friend of mine in Canada and I both injured a knee playing hockey on a Sunday. Monday I scheduled an MRI in the morning and had it read and got checked out by a knee doctor. All was well, just a sprain.

My friend was not so fortunate. He waited six months to get an MRI (guess Canadian medicine is way behind US) and he needed surgery. His bureaucrat determine that he was not a professional athlete so the motherland, oh I mean Canada didn't see the need to fix it. He could just use a cane with a slight limp.

Socialism sees no value in the individual. Unless you are a party member of status. My friend had no political connections to get his "priority" elevated. At least I have the opportunity to change my "priority".
 
#36 ·
The reality of the Canadian health care system is that a bureaucrat, not a doctor will determine what your healthcare needs are.
That is unadulterated B.S.!!!!

I am Canadian, and needed to use the system a few years ago for a serious illness. Guess what? My choice of doctor, my choice of specialist and my needs met NOW. No delays, no 'panels' and no bureaucrats.

I called my doctor for to get an annual done last month, I was in 3 days later, he wanted a specialist to check out one thing, I saw that specialist 4 days later, and all was fine.

Friend of mine in Canada and I both injured a knee playing hockey on a Sunday. Monday I scheduled an MRI in the morning and had it read and got checked out by a knee doctor. All was well, just a sprain.

My friend was not so fortunate. He waited six months to get an MRI (guess Canadian medicine is way behind US) and he needed surgery. His bureaucrat determine that he was not a professional athlete so the motherland, oh I mean Canada didn't see the need to fix it. He could just use a cane with a slight limp.
Yup, but he could have gone to a private MRI and got it done the same day, at worst the next. He chose the government pay route. His obviously was not a life threatening issue. I had my MRI and catscans done as needed. No waiting. No charge.

Socialism sees no value in the individual. Unless you are a party member of status. My friend had no political connections to get his "priority" elevated. At least I have the opportunity to change my "priority".
Your friend had the option of going to a private MRI clinic. Your point is?

Keep in mind, Canada sends 1/3 less as a percentage of GDP on healthcare as opposed to the USA and guess what? We get better results... we live longer.

Our taxes are less... even Romney commented on that in the debate last night. Our debt as a percentage of GDP is far less than yours, and our deficit should be gone in 3 years. We have a trade surplus, and considerably less unemployment than the USA. Our banking system is recognized as the best in the G8.

I would not trade you my health care system for yours ever. My friends in the States, who have healthcare coverage, can only go to doctors their HMO allows, need pre-approval on procedures, have to consider their co-pays in the timing of appointments, and need to make decisions based on financial considerations, and not health ones. And they work for a government agency, not a private concern.

I don't lose coverage due to preexisting conditions, and I don't have to worry about changing jobs and worrying about what will change in my coverage.

Nope, won't trade ours for yours, ever. We pay less to get healthcare and we live longer. The proof is in the pudding.
 
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