Sunday Scam at Japanese Hospitals?

[photog]

I live in a big city in Gunma. Of all the hospitals and clinics in the area, on Sundays only a handful are open. (Apparently nobody in Japan gets sick or injured on Sundays; they really are well organized!)

The closest hospital to me that is open on Sundays is one of the largest. This morning I went to see a doctor because I had been having serious stomach/digestion problems all week (probably caught some bacteria), but Sundays are my only day off and knowing how long hospitals often take, Sunday is the only day I can conveniently go.

Showed up, filled out my paper work, etc. Met with doctor, who listened for about 30 seconds then assumed I had just eaten or drank too much. I explained that wasn't the case, but he insisted on giving me an IV drip to rehydrate me (the equivalent of drinking Gatorade). I said no thanks. So then he tried to give me Lopramide (just like Imodium which only shuts down your guts but doesn't cure the problem). Again I said no thank you, I'm certain I've caught a bug and I need a lab test so you can prescribe me antibiotics.

His reply: the lab is not open on Sundays. You will have to come back on Monday. I said, so why did you meet with me if you can't test me. He said, for consultation! Then he gave me the bill - 4000 yen!!!

I couldn't believe it! So this is the scam they run: get you into the hospitals on Sundays just to tell you to come back during the week, then charge you up the a** for it.

I'm sure as hell glad I never signed up for that scam-___ Japanese national health insurance (which locks you in for life at an ever-increasing rate based on your salary), or I would have been doubly f*cked!

American health insurance might be an even bigger scam, but at least they are OPEN on Sundays!!!

[Captain-Banana]

I live in a big city in Gunma. Of all the hospitals and clinics in the area, on Sundays only a handful are open. (Apparently nobody in Japan gets sick or injured on Sundays; they really are well organized!)

The closest hospital to me that is open on Sundays is one of the largest. This morning I went to see a doctor because I had been having serious stomach/digestion problems all week (probably caught some bacteria), but Sundays are my only day off and knowing how long hospitals often take, Sunday is the only day I can conveniently go.

Showed up, filled out my paper work, etc. Met with doctor, who listened for about 30 seconds then assumed I had just eaten or drank too much. I explained that wasn't the case, but he insisted on giving me an IV drip to rehydrate me (the equivalent of drinking Gatorade). I said no thanks. So then he tried to give me Lopramide (just like Imodium which only shuts down your guts but doesn't cure the problem). Again I said no thank you, I'm certain I've caught a bug and I need a lab test so you can prescribe me antibiotics.

His reply: the lab is not open on Sundays. You will have to come back on Monday. I said, so why did you meet with me if you can't test me. He said, for consultation! Then he gave me the bill - 4000 yen!!!

I couldn't believe it! So this is the scam they run: get you into the hospitals on Sundays just to tell you to come back during the week, then charge you up the a** for it.

I'm sure as hell glad I never signed up for that scam-___ Japanese national health insurance (which locks you in for life at an ever-increasing rate based on your salary), or I would have been doubly f*cked!

American health insurance might be an even bigger scam, but at least they are OPEN on Sundays!!!

Are you a Doctor ? No !! This is Japan I suggest you just go with the flow or roll over and die.

Soiunds to me like you were telling the quack how to do his job. Go back to America we don't need loud mouths like you here.

[KansaiBen]

I I couldn't believe it! So this is the scam they run: get you into the hospitals on Sundays just to tell you to come back during the week, then charge you up the a** for it.

I'm sure as hell glad I never signed up for that scam-___ Japanese national health insurance (which locks you in for life at an ever-increasing rate based on your salary), or I would have been doubly f*cked!

American health insurance might be an even bigger scam, but at least they are OPEN on Sundays!!!

didnt you just say that you went on Sunday as its your only day off? Its not their fault you choose to go on that day.

Hospitals as you know are understaffed. doctors are overworked and there is a shortage of nurses. and you have every tom ____ and Hary come on the weekend and expect to be waited on. A lot of doctors are also quitting due to abusive patients and that only aggravates the problem.

[The Old Man]

Are you a Doctor ? No !! This is Japan I suggest you just go with the flow or roll over and die.

Soiunds to me like you were telling the quack how to do his job. Go back to America we don't need loud mouths like you here.

Nice to see that Clownpuncher hasn't lost his bedside manner.

[KansaiBen]

I American health insurance might be an even bigger scam, but at least they are OPEN on Sundays!!!

At least japanese can actually get insurance, even though you pay through the nose for it. In Britain health care is almost FREE but Brits pay for it through their taxes.

If there are no doctors, they are understaffed, its impossible to keep the hospital open is it?

[photog]

didnt you just say that you went on Sunday as its your only day off? Its not their fault you choose to go on that day.

Hospitals as you know are understaffed. doctors are overworked and there is a shortage of nurses. and you have every tom ____ and Hary come on the weekend and expect to be waited on. A lot of doctors are also quitting due to abusive patients and that only aggravates the problem.

The point is not Japan's failing health care profession, or even that Japanese hospitals are closed on Sundays. The point of my rant is that they baited me into seeing a doctor just so he could tell me to come back tomorrow - and charge me 4,000 Yen for it. If I come back tomorrow, I'll of course have to pay an additional 4,000 Yen on top of the lab costs and the meds. It's quite an obvious little racket they have going, but it seems like no one is surprised.

[The Old Man]

The point is not Japan's failing health care profession, or even that Japanese hospitals are closed on Sundays. The point of my rant is that they baited me into seeing a doctor just so he could tell me to come back tomorrow - and charge me 4,000 Yen for it. If I come back tomorrow, I'll of course have to pay an additional 4,000 Yen on top of the lab costs and the meds. It's quite an obvious little racket they have going, but it seems like no one is surprised.

I've no complaints about Japanese dental or medical services and have been here 14 years.

Better than what you get in Britain.

Maybe you're just having a bad Japan week, it happens to the best.
I know how frightening it is to get seriously ill in a foreign country, I got mumps in Italy. Now you wanna see a bad health service, get ill there.

Hope you get better.

[rubirosa]

I live in a big city in Gunma.



I'm sure as hell glad I never signed up for that scam-___ Japanese national health insurance (which locks you in for life at an ever-increasing rate based on your salary), or I would have been doubly f*cked!

Gunma does not have any big cities.



Sign up for the insurance and those 4,000 yen consultation will drop to 800 yen.



And take a day off and get checked out proper.

[Really!]

I live in a big city in Gunma. Of all the hospitals and clinics in the area, on Sundays only a handful are open. (Apparently nobody in Japan gets sick or injured on Sundays; they really are well organized!)

The closest hospital to me that is open on Sundays is one of the largest. This morning I went to see a doctor because I had been having serious stomach/digestion problems all week (probably caught some bacteria), but Sundays are my only day off and knowing how long hospitals often take, Sunday is the only day I can conveniently go.

Showed up, filled out my paper work, etc. Met with doctor, who listened for about 30 seconds then assumed I had just eaten or drank too much. I explained that wasn't the case, but he insisted on giving me an IV drip to rehydrate me (the equivalent of drinking Gatorade). I said no thanks. So then he tried to give me Lopramide (just like Imodium which only shuts down your guts but doesn't cure the problem). Again I said no thank you, I'm certain I've caught a bug and I need a lab test so you can prescribe me antibiotics.

His reply: the lab is not open on Sundays. You will have to come back on Monday. I said, so why did you meet with me if you can't test me. He said, for consultation! Then he gave me the bill - 4000 yen!!!

I couldn't believe it! So this is the scam they run: get you into the hospitals on Sundays just to tell you to come back during the week, then charge you up the a** for it.

I'm sure as hell glad I never signed up for that scam-___ Japanese national health insurance (which locks you in for life at an ever-increasing rate based on your salary), or I would have been doubly f*cked!

American health insurance might be an even bigger scam, but at least they are OPEN on Sundays!!!

What a bunch of crap. Going in to a hospital on Sunday is essentially going in to what would be your US equivalent of the Emergency Room.

You can't even walk in the door of an American ER for $40.00! Even the box medical clinics can run in to the hundreds for a visit. Scam? My backside! Unfortunate, unbelievable even that medical services are so limited on weekends and at night but they are hardly a scam.

If you have had diahrea for the week it would be standard practice here to try to get you rehydrated. As for the Lopramide, that wasn't a bad call either. You can be sure you'd have been given something similar in the US and other places in the world. You probably could have asked for and recieved antibiotics (here) without any problems.

How's your Japanese? Is it possible that part of your frustration is due to not being successful in communicating?

4,000 yen without insurance for an ER visit is a bargain.

The normal procedure here is to have patients pay a set fee when they come in at what are irregular hours. It's 5000 yen where I am. The actual cost is calculated later during regular operational hours and you are asked to go back in to collect the refund if one is due or pay the balance you owe.

Although I think is unlikely, you may be due a refund.

[KansaiBen]

The scam off national health is a scam only when you are healthy and paying out money. I was paying 30,000 yen a month to cover me and 3 dependents.

If you get sick or incapacitated (burst bowel, appendix, car accident) then you will be glad that you have insurance as you only pay 30% of the bill for treatment. The taxpayer picks up the tab.

Its like car insurance, no one likes paying but its better than losing the $30,000 vehicle in a wreck and having no insurance. I only get life insurance paid out when I die. You can be making ,millions of yen in salary but if you get sick or lose your health it doesnt matter how much you are making in salary if you are laid up in hospital.

You get what you pay for.

[The Old Man]

Its like car insurance, no one likes paying but its better than losing the $30,000 vehicle in a wreck and having no insurance. I only get life insurance paid out when I die. You can be making ,millions of yen in salary but if you get sick or lose your health it doesnt matter how much you are making in salary if you are laid up in hospital.

You get what you pay for.

You write like my students and that ain't no compliment.

Do you think we're all as retarded as you?

[rubirosa]

I only get life insurance paid out when I die.

How the hell you gunna get it when you're dead Paul?

[KansaiBen]

How the hell you gunna get it when you're dead Paul?

It goes to your dependents and use it to pay off the mortgage.

[KansaiBen]

Do you think we're all as retarded as you?

No, more so.

[KansaiBen]

Glad you managed to find a picture of my shareholders/beneficiaries there Tomoko.

wife is in back row, black dress.

[aunty ethel]

Glad you managed to find a picture of my shareholders/beneficiaries there Tomoko.

wife is in back row, black dress.

Nah wife is in the back room, sequined dress popping the champers.

[KansaiBen]

Fascinating stuff, Abe.

Keep us posted.


Abe Cole: also only gets life
insurance paid out when he dies.

sure thing there sport. One of my coworkers is laid up in hospital with leukaemia. Students miss him terribly and so does his wife.

[Vortex]

Again I said no thank you, I'm certain I've caught a bug and I need a lab test so you can prescribe me antibiotics.

I bet he loved that.

[Durland]

You don't happen to live in the Midlands, do you? I know someone just like you. He has an illness and just happens to know EXACTLY what it is but can't get the doctors to agree with him. He demands the doctor(s) agree with him and he demands service in English. Ends up jumping from hospital to hospital and bashes the medical establishment in Japan to whoever will listen.

[photog]

You don't happen to live in the Midlands, do you? I know someone just like you. He has an illness and just happens to know EXACTLY what it is but can't get the doctors to agree with him. He demands the doctor(s) agree with him and he demands service in English. Ends up jumping from hospital to hospital and bashes the medical establishment in Japan to whoever will listen.

I very clearly wrote that I live in Gunma. I haven't demanded anything from anyone. I requested a lab test so that there would be no question on either side. Generally, its a patient's rights to get tested. It's also usually a patient's rights to receive treatment any day of the week, but since we are in Japan I suppose we'll have to ignore that one. It's also a patient's rights to receive treatment in exchange for payment, but apparently that one also doesn't count in Japan. Nobody is bashing Japan or their medical (dis)establishment here. Just telling it exactly like it is; if the truth hurts, then that's on you, not me.

[Vortex]

Yeah whatever.