Dubai Forums Dubai Expat Forums Health and Medicine in Dubai

OK I find this really really shocking! Someone I know was involved in a biking accident recently, he came off and hit his head - he was wearing all the right safety gear, but had a hard peaked hat which jarred his head and neck. He got taken to the American Hospital as he was in severe pain and couldn't move. They tried to make him get up three times saying he'd pulled all the muscles in his neck and had bruising. His parents weren't happy and took him to the Neuro spinal hospital where they discovered he's actually broken his neck!!!! Any sudden movement could have killed him instantly!

How the hell do you miss that?! He now has a head brace to stop him moving and should make a full recovery.

But I'm appalled by this.

Hi Chocs,

I had 2 cracked vertebrae and 2 compressed discs in an accident many years ago (apart from a few other broken things!) and the doctors in the UK missed them as well. A hairline fracture in the 1st to 5th. cervical vertebrae can sometimes be very hard to spot, according to the doctors who treated me. The bones tend to be held together by the muscles after fracture and only a severe fracture where bone is dislodged or the vertebrae become misaligned, can be spotted clearly. Extreme misalignment at this height in the spine can often be fatal or result in a quadraplegic or tetraplegic condition.

No matter how it heals, he is going to be suffering the rest of his life I am afraid. The subsequent problems it will probably create are going to be muscular spasm and pain down the arms and across the shoulders. Massage is the best therapy...

I really, really sympathise.



Knight

DK, the thing I find most shocking is that they were trying to forcibly make him stand up and move about when he obviously couldn't and was in agony.

Like I said if one of the docs or other staff had jolted him, he would have been dead!

i dont understand why the healthcare standards in the UAE are rubbish. Can someone in the field explain ?

Chocs, thats a pretty ghastly mistake to make. Medical professionals - pfft!

I am gobsmacked at this. Even for a basic "first - aider" in work etc, the advice is that if a neck injury is even micro suspect, you DO NOT move the casualty. There are NO exceptions to this.

MaaaD wrote:i dont understand why the healthcare standards in the UAE are rubbish. Can someone in the field explain ?

The answer is simple, as long as u can't blame a doctor for a wrong treatment or take the case to court !! then they (doctors) feel like they can't be touched !!! so mistakes all over the place.

I am sure thats one factor lionheart. But i feel like compensation here might not be up to par to what a doctor say in the USA might make ?

Because logically we are in proximity to the country that produces some of the most skilled doctors around the world (India). Yet they probably would much rather go to the US and/or UK where they can get higher pay and chances of getting the countries passport. While here they will get second class treatment and never get the chance to get the countries passport. just my 2 fils.

All that is needed are 100 very competent lawyers to send a message that unless you are competent as a doctor, etc. your next commute to work will be in one of those buses without air conditioning and your villa will be a labor camp and your earnings 500 dirham a month. That thought will make you be very careful or...

For all the negativity about lawyers (deservedly so in some instances) without them there would be no reason for doctors to think twice or three times about simply butchering people. No doubt about it... All this talk about rising costs due to lawyers: no one complaints about the insurance business. No bigger business in the world bigger than insurance. Think about it (cars, homes, life, professions, business, medical, etc. etc.)

Well after being stuck in bed for weeks on end , my friend is now well on the road to recovery. He's started moving around a bit and is going to physio, so hopefully he will make a full recovery. It'll take a long while yet, but he;s young. My only worry is, knowing what a party and adventure freak he is, he'll try to do too much too soon.

Glad it all ended up ok. Tell him to take it very easy and listen to the docs advice

DF Doc.

http://bestdanitykane.info/movies/26041

MaaaD wrote:i dont understand why the healthcare standards in the UAE are rubbish. Can someone in the field explain ?

maybe its the doctor from the american hospitals mistake...i know that rashid hospital are awesome

MaaaD wrote:i dont understand why the healthcare standards in the UAE are rubbish. Can someone in the field explain ?

No idea. But the one thing I know is that if I have the chance I'll go see a doctor, dentist etc etc back in Lebanon. I pray I never get to go to a hospital here for an emergency...

Nick81 wrote:

MaaaD wrote:i dont understand why the healthcare standards in the UAE are rubbish. Can someone in the field explain ?

No idea. But the one thing I know is that if I have the chance I'll go see a doctor, dentist etc etc back in Lebanon. I pray I never get to go to a hospital here for an emergency...

My exact thoughts why Im dying to have some referrals from fellow DF'ers.

In the early part of this topic a question was raised as to how come there are a lot of mistakes committed in the medical field in the UAE.

I am not surprised at all based on what I heard and read on the news lately.

A man was posing as a certified doctor in the UAE, was able to pass his credentials as authentic with the MOH, and was actually allowed to practice medicine in the UAE.

It is only when his colleagues started noticing wrong diagnosis and methods was the alarm raised.

Can you imagine if this ompostor operated on you or on your love one?

How can this happen, are the rules and regulations in the medical field in the UAE that lax?

Scary.....

opn a personal note:

My mother had her appendix out, within a couple of days she was suffering from severe stomach pains.

One night her wound from the operaiton suddenly burst and foul smelling blood spurted out (pls. excuse the description). We had to rush her to the hospital or else she would have been poisoned by the rotten blood.

There was something wrong with the initial operation which caused an infection and the actual stiches were not done right.

Guess which hospital??? Rashid.....<------

had a car accident on boxing day and was taken o the american hospital for xrays as they thought i had broken my shoulder the xrays didn't show it and they said i could go back to work.
i was in alot of pain but went bac as i was told i did a flightat new year and had to dead head back i went to a different doc who gave me an ultrasound to check inside my shoulder which showed i had torn the tendons as a result i am going back to work for the first time tomorrow and have been off all month having psyiso.
why they didn't check the muscle that day is beyond me and clould have saved me alot of pain.
i know it's not as bad as a broken neck but yet another mistake by the america hospital

Bleakus wrote:i know that rashid hospital are awesome

Are you kidding? I interned with a medical equipment supply firm, and I heard first-hand accounts of them killing people thru stupidity.

MaaaD wrote:i dont understand why the healthcare standards in the UAE are rubbish. Can someone in the field explain ?

IMHO there are so many doctors in Dubai's American/European/International/whatever hospitals who are just instant doctors who might be just graduated. Proudly put all their EU/UK/US degrees in the business card and place of practice. Hijacked by hospital businessmen to build instant hospitals/clinics. But sometimes can't investigate even a simple disease (in fact the patient itself tells the disease). I've seen many times in some of these hospitals and I can tell if they are experienced or not.

Sounds to me that its not just the docs that are screwing up but the Radiologist not reading the xrays right. Are they doing MRI's ? Always assume the worst and hope for the best especially when it comes to cervical area. I have had patients and even coworkers try to refuse transport to the hospital after a rear end collision but i insist they go every time because you can't treat it if you can't see it. We had a girl who did just that.. refused to go to the hospital, finally her mother took her to a minor med clinic instead of ER cause she didn't want the ambulance bill ( i told her to send the city 5.00 a month on it but please let us take her and she still refused) she had a fx , C4. very very lucky girl to be walking today. In America these damn insurance companies are almost at fault too by telling the ER physicians what they can and can't order and to release the patient, let the radiologist read the report the following day. So many times we had to call the patient at home and tell them an ambulance was on the way to pick them back up because they had a serious fx that needed immediate care. Sickens me. For the past 4 years every trauma call I work, i follow up at the hospital to find out the diagnosis and what test were done and I do an addendum to my run ticket and keep it in my own file cabinet at home. Due to Hippa, i white out the patients name/info.. but i have the run ticket number just in case i'm ever pulled into court. I dont trust these hospitals.

arniegang wrote:I am gobsmacked at this. Even for a basic "first - aider" in work etc, the advice is that if a neck injury is even micro suspect, you DO NOT move the casualty. There are NO exceptions to this.

I think my medical qualifications amount to a first aid certificate from school about 100 years ago, and even I know that. Does that mean AH doctors don't even have a first aid certificate?

On the other hand, I took someone with a life-threatening injury to AH a while ago and the doctor I was dealing with struck me as extremely competent and knowledgeable.

arniegang wrote: and listen to the docs advice

Unless they're from AH ...

I hope it all turns out for the best for your friend C.

What about boob jobs ? Fly me there, pick me up in a limousine for my boob job... LOL

Melanie wrote:What about boob jobs ? Fly me there, pick me up in a limousine for my boob job... LOL

...and a stretcher for hubby?

Hahahahaha!



Knight

Hi,

Everyone knows that healthcare here is terrible, but local media rarely find examples to shock the powers at be out of their antipathy.

I'm a reporter for the Khaleej Times and was wondering if anyone knew more about this story, they could call me on the number below or email me on martin at khaleejtimes dotcom.

More than happy for any information to be off the record, meaning I won't quote you or use your name in the paper.

Thanks for your help,

Martin Croucher
Reporter
050 8435624

m_croucher9 wrote:Hi,

Everyone knows that healthcare here is terrible, but local media rarely find examples to shock the powers at be out of their antipathy.

I'm a reporter for the Khaleej Times and was wondering if anyone knew more about this story, they could call me on the number below or email me on martin at khaleejtimes dotcom.

More than happy for any information to be off the record, meaning I won't quote you or use your name in the paper.

Thanks for your help,

Martin Croucher
Reporter
050 8435624

Hi Martin,

You don't have enough posts to ask the original poster (Chocs) via pm, so will send her a message on your behalf to check this post.



Knight

You're a gentleman (or dame)

Many thanks

M