Blog : Mexican medicine

1652 posts
3/18/2016 7:07 am

Mexican medicine

CBC Radio 1 had an interview yesterday with a woman from Saskatchewan who went to Mexico for bariatric surgery.

She weighed 195 and wanted to lose 35.
She was told not to do it since she was a terrible candidate for this procedure, and it would not be done in Canada.

She had it done anyways.

Problems started after the surgery.
When she got back home she went to the hospital in
Lloydminister. There they thought she was going to die, and
immediately shipped her off to Edmonton where specialist
care was available.

She has had multiple surgeries since then, and is still in bad health.

She estimates that the cost in Canada from this mistake runs to about
$750,000.

She went to Mexico with a group of people who signed up for the same procedure.

The surgery in Mexico was not done in a full blown hospital or clinic.
It was done by surgeons who rent hospital time.
So they try to get the patients out as fast as possible, and there is little follow up care.

Rentier1

1/5/2018 7:32 am

LaColorina

Who's generaling?

LaColorina 66F

1955 posts
3/18/2016 6:58 pm

Rent?? Don't generalize, please. If you are going to get "opened up", you have to research who will be doing that and what his record is. IT has to be a researched process. You just can't "blindly" go to another country and get something done. Who does this? People need to pay attention to what they are doing to "save" some money! One bad "quack" does not deserve to be called "Mexican Medicine". I expected more of you Amigo. There are "quacks" everywhere! People NEED to research who will be TREATING them, no matter where you go for treatment! A quick note on "medicines...here in Chicago..a few months ago..a report on how Walgreens was selling Vitamins and mineral supplements that were found to have "dangerous stuff" in them. So Walgreens pulled them off their shelves. What I am saying...IT can happen anywhere if you do NOT research what you plan to "ingest" or "be operated on" as in this lady's case.

bijou624

3/18/2016 11:39 am

To lose 35 pounds all that woman had to do was diet and exercise. She still had to diet after the surgery to lose the weight anyway. There is only a 5% success rate to lose weight and keep it off after weight loss surgery, so I don't think it should be covered anyway. Now the taxpayer gets to foot the bill for all her health problems from the Mexican surgery. I had a friend who had the surgery so he could lose weight, then he just ate and ate like he did before the surgery, and gained a ton of weight.

spiritwoman45

3/18/2016 10:48 am

I have been getting meds in Mexico for years. They are cheaper to purchase outright than to get here and pay the co pay for my insurance. I considered the risk worse than taking a chance on what our FDA does or does not approve. I haven't had any major procedures including dental work done there (or in the US for that matter) but look at it this way. Mexico is a very large country and people there do quite well health wise.

Medicine in Mexico is a dual system. There is very basic care provided to all at a very low cost but the "free enterprise" capitalistic system in in full bloom. If you can afford it it can be had. The choice is left up to the individual. If you place the priority on vanity it's yours for the fee. Mexico, like most other countries besides the US, expects people to use common sense and allows them the freedom not to. If they don't they are free to pay the price.

The important thing to keep in mind is that it is designed for Mexican citizens, not Americans and Canadians, who we all know have had "common sense" and the ability to make good choices stomped out of them.

Spiritwoman ^i^

shuel2002 65F

5537 posts
3/18/2016 9:20 am

I am shocked she would go through such a drastic surgery for 35 pounds. It is very dangerous to undergo procedures without making sure they are safe. Thanks for the informative blog, rentier.

Hopefully it will make someone think twice before undergoing such things.

Elaine Shuel