Evil, Rotten People

[Casey_03]

I had quite an adventure today with Ukraine's healthcare system. I finally reached the point in pregnancy where maternity hospitals will allow me to register, so I went to the one recommended by my doctor right away, with the hopes of having peace of mind and some clarity on what conditions would be like. Oh, how wrong I was. As soon as I walked in I was horrified by the Soviet system -- they'd herded dozens of pregnant women into a room like cattle and now we all had to sit there for a few hours and wait our turn to be called by the hospital administrator in order to register to give birth (they don't allow consultations, no one on ones, there is a two-hour time slot each week, once a week, during which all heavily pregnant women must register). So I waited behind about 40 other women and finally got called, then was dragged into some other office where I was informed that the hospital would not accept me. Why? Because my paperwork indicated complications with my kidney and the hospital did not want to deal with that. There were other hospitals to treat women with complicated kidneys, they said. I asked that they contact my main doctor and ask why on earth she had instructed me to go specifically to this hospital, and why she'd said this hospital would take me. They did, but it made no difference. They said they'd only accept me with paperwork showing my kidney had improved. So now, if I go into labor, I have nowhere to give birth. To make matters worse, I figured out why my doctor had insisted I go to this hospital, knowing full well that they would deny me and that I didn't meet the criteria -- she was trying to get kickbacks. This 65-year-old grandmother of an obstetrician, who goes on and on about love and warmth and babies, was trying to dupe a young, single, vulnerable pregnant woman into overpaying so that she could get kickbacks. You see, she had insisted that I meet with a particular doctor at this hospital and set everything up through this doctor, and this doctor only. She said the price would be about $1000 for the delivery through this doctor. Well, I didn't go through that doctor because she never answered her phone. But I found out the price from another doctor: only $500. I suddenly understood why my doctor had sent me on this wild goose chase to a hellish hospital that had only denied me and wasted my time -- because she has an arrangement with that doctor - she sends her foreign patients who have been given an inflated price, and then the two of them split the extra money they make off the birth. This makes me so sick, that even the person I have paid a great deal of money to in order to ensure that she takes care of me .... is trying to rob me, knowing full well that I am completely alone in this country, with no support of any kind and no friends or relatives to help me. So now what do I do? I have no f*cking idea.

 

[Sideways]

I'm really sorry that happened. I'm stuck for ideas that you won't have already thought of (any chance one of the other hospitals that are ok with a sketchy kidney situation might let you register even though it's not "registration day"??). Just wanted to say that yeah, any way you look at it, that's really f*cked up and you so don't need this stuff right now:(

 

[Friday]

knowing full well that I am completely alone in this country, with no support of any kind and no friends or relatives to help me. So now what do I do

Make sure the next doc doesn't know you're the perfect victim.

You just saved $500, are no longer going to a hospital which isn't set up to deal with your medical needs / have a much better chance at a good outcome for both you & your baby, and you learned a lesson about how to protect yourself from being taken advantage of. Shitty day, but on balance, I'd say you came out ahead.

Next step? Hit up your contacts for best hospitals & ring them up to find out which are set up to easily handle your kidney issues.

 

[joeylittle]

@Casey_03 - forgive me, this is an extremely naive question: would the US consulate help you navigate this? It's the sort of thing that I'd expect consulates to do...and though they may be another hassle, might be less hassle than you doing it on your own? Just wondering.

 

[Casey_03]

@joeylittle No worries. Unfortunately, they don't help with this sort of thing - they have no jurisdiction to come out and accuse Ukrainian doctors of corruption or get involved with a Ukrainian hospital. The most they ever do is offer advice or recommendations; in this case, I was already seeing a doctor and going to a hospital that they had recommended. Often the places that position themselves as "Western" or "American" are the most corrupt, because they assume that the foreign patients who come to them don't speak the language and aren't familiar with the corrupt culture. Now I just have to go to another hospital and hope they take me. The frustrating thing is that they don't allow you to make an appointment and they only work 2 hours a week on one certain day a week, so you have to go at that time and just stand in line for a chance to ask if they will accept you. If they don't, oh well, then you wait another week and go elsewhere. As you can guess, this is really stressful when you can go into labor at anytime and your health is rapidly declining. I have a feeling this birth is going to end up traumatizing me further.