A man named Thomas Hunt is dying.
The unfortunate part is that he is an American, dying in The Philippines, with no money.
In The Philippines, everyone is treated equally in a hospital: No money, no treatment.
If you want to help, you can start by going here to read about the situation. Also the chartiy group that Epril belongs to, Expatriates' Ladies Charity, is out there every day trying to raise the money to save this man's life. You can follow their efforts via the Yahoo CDO Expatriates Group. They've managed to keep him in the hospital instead of being put out on the street, are out buying medicine for him every day, and are finding people to donate much-needed A-negative blood.
It's a sad situation.
Jil I feel sorry for the guy. But how many times have you seen this happen in Thailand?
ReplyDeleteWith all the stories on teh web about this sort of thing happening yet so many foriegners end up in this situation.
I do feel for the guy, but he dealt his cards Jil. The wife sounds like an absolute cow, this being polite. I hope she gets hit by a bus.
Why so many foriengers live abroad without medical insurance is beyond me. I am covered from a Thai company and also from an Australian company.
I do hope the guy gets home to the USA and gets the treatment he needs. Again this has to be a warning to all foriegners about their relationships.
That is just my opinion.
Actually Brunty, I've never seen it before.
ReplyDeleteBut: I'm of the same opinion as you. Som nom na. When you reach a certain age, you know what's going to happen soon, and either you prepare for it, or you don't.
I was just surprised to learn that it is really a pay-or-die thing here in The Philippines; that doctors will just ignore a dying person lying in their hospital (not even comfort care measures) because he can't pay for the care they provide.
Jil, that was a bizarre story, and the paper wrote it bizarrely! Weird. The way they kept referring to the guy by his first and last name, the way they were leaving all kinds of strange observations hanging without any sort of follow-up... Anyway, yeah, being without health insurance is a very bad idea. Moving to your wife's country WITHOUT HER seems like an even owrse one. (Maybe the brain tumor had him acting strangely and making bad decisions?)
ReplyDelete-Nancy
Jil the hospital system is terrible, It is wrong but if that is the system there for everyone then not just foreigners.
ReplyDeleteTo not offer palliative care to him is disgusting and shameful.
The ‘Som Nam Na’ is what I too thought and this is harsh but again he made his bed, he made all the choices that lead to where he is now.
His wife is a huge bitch and sadly I have seen a few elderly guys be used by girls to get comfortable and then they are thrown out like rubbish.
I do hope this guy gets back to America, to people who will care about him and treat him as a human being and give him the care he needs.