Medical Advice Needed Asap!?
Okay. I have a friend in Texas who has two hernias; a hiatal hernia and an umbilical hernia. He has liver difficulties and no one in the USA (not even Canada) will operate on him. I have heard of hospitals in different countries (Mexico, India) who will perform operations. I have also heard that the quality of medical care is comparable to that of the U.S. (maybe not India, but I have heard Costa Rica is good) I’ve also read an article recently that more Americans are choosing to go to different countries because of lack of medical insurance and or financial needs. Has anyone heard of this drastic measure, and if so can you give me the pros and cons of embarking on such a journey? I realize it is a risky situation (also, my friend is 51 years old.) but some people have had good results from traveling to foreign hospitals for health care. I need an informed opinion ASAP. Thank you.
I want to explain things here so that you understand what
may be going on. Going by what you posted here, about
them having serious liver problems and having a
umbilical hernia and hiatal hernia….I think I understand
why the doctors will not touch him at this time. I’m going
to give you the basic reasons:
The liver performs many different functions in order to
keep our body healthy and well. If the liver is damaged,
those functions are not done appropriately or none at
all by the liver. The doctors can tell, by his blood work, if the liver is functioning right. Many patients who have death
of the liver cells, known as cirrhosis, also have a low
platelet count and low Blood clotting times. This is because
the liver cannot make the factors needed for the blood to
clot appropriately. They can easily bleed to death or
bruise very easily. Another reason is that people who
have this disease, the blood doesn’t flow well through
the liver anymore…this causes the blood to go to
other areas like the umbilical area and the esophagus.
Because these vessels are weak and not used to this
amount of blood going to them, they can balloon outward
and burst. This means the patient can bleed internally and
it become a dire emergency if this happens. A third
reason is because of the medication…all medications
go through the liver first for processing before going
to the rest of the body…the liver breaks them down.
Since the liver can no longer do this well, the medications
he is on has to be adjusted accordingly to each patients
needs based on how far advanced they are in this disease.
He should be discussing with his doctor if he has
cirrhosis or not. He should find out how much of his
liver is involved. He should know how well his blood is
clotting and what his liver function tests show. He has
to take into consideration how many other disease or
conditions he has along with these problems and if
he has a very strong and good working heart. There is
so much involved in this, that you might not see the whole
picture.
Right now, in my opinion, he needs to see the highest
doctor possible that knows the most about the liver and
that is a Hepatologist. He need to have a doctor he
can talk to that gives him the answers he needs to know
and he needs to be as open with him as possible about
all that is going on. The best test to be done on the
liver to see how far advanced he is in this disease is
a liver biopsy. He may have to go through an
evaluation process to be placed on the transplant list,
if his liver isn’t very good.
It is true that people can go to other countries and
have the transplant. After the transplant may be a problem
when he comes back to the states…of whether the doctor
will follow up his care here when he had surgery in
another country and they don’t have his complete medical
records or films to see how the surgery was done.
He will have to be turned over to doctors here.
Transplant patients here have to see a doctor once a
week for awhile until they are sure the patient will be
okay and their medication have to be adjusted accordingly.
If a doctor is telling you that he cannot have a transplant,
you can always get a second opinion. If this is to
remove the hernias, it may be risky since he has
some sort of liver problems.
If he is having trouble financially in getting money to
pay for a transplant, you can contact the Transplant
center and they can have you talk to a social worker
there in how to go about receiving help in doing this.
Transplant patients are able to apply for Social
Security disability payments, SSI, Medicare, and
Medicaid if they are advanced enough in the disease
that a transplant is waranted.
Since I don’t know how advanced his liver problem is,
whether it is just inflammation or if it has progressed
where a transplant is needed…whether he has
other problems besides this…what his test results show…
I am just giving you information you may not need.
Here is a link that tells you about the transplant process
from one of the many transplant centers:http://www.surgery.usc.edu/divisions/hep…
Here is a link about cirrhosis:http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/cirrhos…
Usually, someone going out of the country has to be
vaccinated and receive medications that they would not normally have to have if they stay in the states.
Wish you the best and hope this information may be
of some help.
Hey PurrGrl Fiend got all med advice fr Docs!
I would try to find out what type of procedures your friend needs and try find a doctor qualified to do the procedure. Try calling the hospital or checking on line and see what there restrictions are with foreign patients and see if your friend qualifies. My biggest concern would be the qualification of the doctor and level of care I would receive, especially at a foreign facility.
There has to be more to this situation than a couple of hernias and some liver issues that no one in the US will operate. As for leaving the country for surgery, its a crap shoot. Risk for infection, no recourse if you are injured/killed and a whole host of other issues. Good Luck