Further to my posting on 17th Aug on this subject.
On Wednesday this week I took my mum back to hospital in Lpool for follow-up was atounded when the Orthopedics team treating her actually told us to warn all our family and friends about the dangers of being 'treated' for broken bones in Turkish hospitals, apparently my mum is the 20th !!! example they have seen so far of their appalling work, they have seen all manner of broken bones ranging from hospitals all over Turkey and in each and every single case the NHS has been called upon to carry out corrective/repair surgery.
In the end my mum had a metal plate connecting to seven srews inserted to correct the wrist whilst the Turkish method was to just put the break into plaster.
In the case of the two ankle fractures - 1 large metal plate connected to 5 screws and 2 screws to support the respective fractures - Turkish method was to shove 1 screw in 'willy-nilly' and hope for the best!! (this 'screw', we were informed was moving around inside the ankle as it had no plate to secure it to) my mum was also told that had her ankle not been correctively repaired here she would never have walked on that foot again!!
The UK Orthopedics team told us that we should have said 'thanks but no thanks' and got out of the hospital fast and just got back to the UK immeditaly - not so easy. The difficulty we found in Turkey was that the surgeons word was final, if he recommends surgery to your insurance company then they will go with him, you will have a battle on your hands convincing the insurance co. to arrange an air ambulance home instead, as it is probably cheaper anyway for them if you have the surgery, than for them to arrange the logistics of air ambulance repatriation, you also need a 'Certificate to Fly' documentation to present to your carrier, without which no airline would entertain you, this 'Certificate' needs to come from your Tukish practitioner, and he's not going to give you that if he recommends surgery, is he?
From the Letoon hosp. and prior to the surgery, I telephoned family with 'Orthopedic' connections in the UK and we were warned and advised to come home. In hindsight, I would in this situation again, absolutely refuse point blank the treatment/surgery and plead my case with the insurance co. to repatriate me to safety.
repatriate me to safety
Come on, thats a bit dramatic. Turkish hospitals in general are very good, but I agree I have heard lots of reports about how they deal with broken bones etc.
Thanks for highlighting this, however I cannot see any insurance company agreeing to repatriate with cases of a broken leg without it having been treated in hospital. They just couldn't run the risk of further damage whilst 'in transit' and they wouldn't want the cost of a specialist air ambulance all that way. Most repatriation is done using normal airlines quite possibly in first class and with the services of an accompanying doctor if necessary, plus ambulance services to the airport in the foreign country and in the UK on arrival. I also couldn't see a doctor agreeing for release for flight any patient who has suffered a broken limb and if a doctor doesn't agree to fitness to fly then the insurance company won't risk it.
Post surgery, and when clearance was finally given to go home the insurance co. received the medical report from Turkey and arranged an escort back to the UK via ambulance assistance to Dalaman and in the care of a British nurse who travelled out to Turkey to meet us, we were met by ambulance at Manchester and escorted home, although we did not travel by air ambulance/stretcher we did travel on a scheduled flight with extra seats for leg elevation, this, we are informed is standard practise in cases like these.
The point I am making is that in hindsight we should have not allowed the surgery to proceed (the Turkish surgical intervention is the worrying part where broken bones/limbs are concerned as we have learned at our expense), but we should have travelled with a temporary splint/cast of some description whilst in 'transit' until arrival at a UK hospital.
Sarong - After first-hand experience of Turkish 'surgery' they have quite clearly proved their limitations but I would allow them to say, treat an insect bite, or a case of sun-stroke, or even to stitch a wound maybe, but yes I think I am entitled to be 'dramatic' and refuse if they recommend surgery for a broken bone which they clearly are ill-equipped to cope with.
The point I am making is that in hindsight we should have not allowed the surgery to proceed (the Turkish surgical intervention is the worrying part where broken bones/limbs are concerned as we have learned at our expense), but we should have travelled with a temporary splint/cast of some description whilst in 'transit' until arrival at a UK hospital.
Sarong - After first-hand experience of Turkish 'surgery' they have quite clearly proved their limitations but I would allow them to say, treat an insect bite, or a case of sun-stroke, or even to stitch a wound maybe, but yes I think I am entitled to be 'dramatic' and refuse if they recommend surgery for a broken bone which they clearly are ill-equipped to cope with.
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