some years ago my Mrs had an emergancy appendix op at bum/hospital, i thought the service was first class, she did have numerous tests before they found out what was wrong, 4 night stay in single room, test's ,op etc around 50.000 baht, seemed ok to me, bum/hospital was only a few soi's from where i was staying so thats where we went. did i pay farang price probably , given the choice i would have asked a few more places.
Was it expensive ? yes compared to udon, but in a life or sometimes death situation cost is immaterial.

I've seen both good and what I would call abusive care in Thai hospitals.

A couple of weeks ago, my wife had intense abdominal pain. At her insistance I took her to AEK. They admitted her after a cursory examination in the emergency room. The X-rays, an ultrasound,and lots of samples for lab tests. Then another doctor came in, checked her vital signs, and said that she was going to call in a surgeon to perform an emergencey appendectimy. My wife declined. In the morniing a real doctor came in, took a look at the X-ray and said it was probably some bad food. The tab was 9,000 baht, including two sets of pills that were neither needed nor consumed. It seemed to me that they were quite anxious to run the bill up as quickly as they could, knowing my wife had insurance. Fortunatley, with the insurance coverage, we made a profit of 300 baht. The night in the hospital was a giant pain in the neck.

BKKSTAN wrote::lol: (some text removed)
I dread the day I need serious medical attention to save my life.Between seeing the slowness and traffic bound ambulances and the lack of attention at the hospitals,I think my chances are slim in an emergency!

This brings us back to making sure that somebody in the household, or at least the neighborhood has some basic lifefsaving skills, including CPR.
http://www.udonmap.com/udonthaniforum/v ... php?t=1824

You know the night I took Banpeang to the hopital AEK he opted lay down in the back of the pickup a I applied the brakes to stop backing up to emergency room door an attendent was there with a wheel chair, He stepped from the pickup to the wheel chair and had a doctor in attendence within five mins. I'm not a medical profesional but have spent a good amount of time around emergency room and he repsonse i have seen has ben equal to that of what I saw in the states Maybe that was luck I don't know.

But the times we have been there in an emergency situation they seem to be moving reaonably quickly. I don't what to say about treatment I recovered the Wife recovered Banpenag recovered.

I suppose I am a bit tainted from my experience in working with doctors!Easy to feel unease around less competent attention than I am used to providing and observing from some very good doctors!As long as the end results are good in the eyes of a patient,then I suppose all is well.The trouble is that luck has to great a part in many cases and some people are unlucky and pay the price,when less negligence and less indifference could have made for a better outcome!

Stan,

Reading about your problems was high lighted to me last Sunday, when, at a wedding an elderly gentleman collapsed with a suspected heart attack.
A trained first aider gave mouth to mouth and pumped his chest to try to get him breathing. Amazingly the paramedics turned up in 5 minutes. Their station must have just been round the corner. The medic gave him electric shocks to get his heart going again. At this point I left the room. I later heard that he was alive, but seriously ill.

This experiance made me think about living in Thailand. If that had happened to me in Thailand I reckon I would be dead. Not a nice thought, but makes you work out the pros and cons of living there.

I have no desire for long life without resonable quality!But I am not anxious to die from complacency and negligence,or even worse to be incapacitated for life,when efficient competent treatment could have made a difference. But I have made my decision to live my life out in Thailand and ,as many, will hope for the luck of the draw.Still,it weighs on my mind!