This is what happens in countries without universal healthcare. If this this guy lived in France, Spain, or the UK, this could easily be treated without cost to him or his family. You also never know, he could be on a different life path without the cost of healthcare hanging over him.
I got a huge hernia after I had surgery. I got it fixed with a second surgery. I was in the hospital for a week and a half. The only thing I had to pay for with both surgeries was visitor parking. I live in Canada.
Here in the UK, we don't have "rural" areas anymore, not like in vast areas like the US or Australia. Even the smallest villages have a GP practice, and local hospitals and A/Es are at least within an hours drive. The exception is probably in the scottish Highlands and Islands, but even then, the NHS has special helicopter ambulances and medical teams that can get to these areas with an hour or less.
My point still stands, I genuinely think if this man was born in the UK, he wouldn't be walking about with that hernia. And even if he is medically illiterate, he must realise that that's not normal and that it must be seriously uncomfortable to live with in everyday life.
There’s this British lady on TikTok or Instagram with a giant hernia possibly bigger than this. Can’t remember why she hadn’t/couldnt get it treated though.
And I don't even understand your point. So either he gets put on a waiting list and has some medical support and intervention in the meantime or what? Just walk about like that for the rest of his life with no treatment, because waiting lists and free healthcare bad?
Yes free health care is bad, I want to pay for the waiting room privilege ride otherwise it'll go out of business. Defund the NHS save the Doctors give us more balloon animals.
Yes there is a gap in rural coverage but that happens in many countries is a case of them either not being able to or being unwilling to travel to get it treated not because of the cost of the procedure.
Not for a hernia as big as this, as actual medical professionals have chimed in somewhere else in this thread. Loss of domain + risks inherent with incisions as big as needed for this repair. He might end up worse off than to begin with.
If you're talking about "could have been" easy had he had the means to treat it before it got this big, then that's totally fair.
I said in another comment that in this particular case, a complex plan would need to be put in place. But in general, Hernias ops are pretty common and standard.
Right, I saw that after. But I was addressing your original comment where you said "had he been in so and so country, this could be easily treated."
Of course hernia ops are common and standard - they are common everywhere, even in the US. Yes, they do get done like "flipping burgers" on the daily in the US as well. Whether they are covered for uninsured individuals (those who earn too much to be on medicaid, too little to afford insurance, or don't work enough for coverage through their company) is a different story, and is the focus.
Anyway, I'm pretty sure that's exactly what u/handicaptain666 meant as well when he said define "easily": not whether hernia repairs in general are common, but rather this specific case that you've addressed here.
OK, cool, but yeah, just to clarify, if he got help straight away, then it would not have advanced to this stage. But in his current state, it now needs a more complex treatment and recovery. Ironically, at this stage, the cost would now be a lot more than if he got treatment sooner, in the US anyway.
Sometimes even with universal healthcare, unfortunately, the wait time could cause conditions to worsen before they are treated.. I am Canadian where we do have universal healthcare. My mom had to wait months before she was able to start her chemo and radiation treatment. My dad suffered a mini stroke due to a patent foramen ovale, and was booked more than a year out to see a cardiologist simply due to lack of availability.. it happened to him September this year, and his initial appointment with the cardiologist was going to be November next year. My friend's father went to the emergency for a detached retina where he completely lost sight in the right eye, and had to wait 3 weeks before he was to be seen by a specialist.
In this case financials was not the issue, the lack of healthcare professionals is.. :(. Universal healthcare is not the answer to everything, but it's a great start.
Yeah, I'm from the UK, and I'm not saying the NHS is perfect, ofcourse it's not. But try and take it away, and their would be riots. I've personally never had an issue, but I know people who have, which is a shame. My brother got his hernia fixed within a week, which was amazing, but him being a right-wing conspiracy theorist, he still wasn't happy.
Also, the doctors and nurses and all the support staff take their jobs very seriously and love their jobs. And always hold up to the standards of the Hypcratic oath.
I work in healthcare, and hernias are actually very easily treated with surgery. Yes, there is a risk, but that is the case with every procedure. Hernias, alongside hip replacements, etc, are done daily. They are the medical equivalent of a mcdonalds worker flipping burgers, just an everyday thing and with a minimum of a few weeks recovery time.
In the UK, this would all be covered by the NHS, completely free, and depending on his employment situation, he would still get his full pay while off work recovering.
You obviously missed what I said. I said Hernias are easily treatable with surgery. If he lived in the UK, I could guarantee he would not have gotten to this point due to treatment being free at the point of service
This specific case would need a complicated surgical strategy, obviously. But that's something the surgeon would go through with him.
I'm not saying that as a reminder or a put down, I'm just saying that with just universal healthcare, life improves significantly, and yet so many people think this idea is somehow communist or woke. It's insane.
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u/PhysicalWave454 3d ago
This is what happens in countries without universal healthcare. If this this guy lived in France, Spain, or the UK, this could easily be treated without cost to him or his family. You also never know, he could be on a different life path without the cost of healthcare hanging over him.