Glad you son is doing well. That's the main issue. Secondarily is the cost issue. People don't exaggerate when they use the word insane describing medical costs. When the dust has settled, go back and take a look at your son's hospital pharmacy billings. Those (among others) will be an eye opener.

Like I opened my post with, it is really great news your son is doing well.

While $247K is a lot of money, I actually guessed around twice that much. Glad to hear I was wrong.

Glad your son did well. My son flipped his truck a few years ago and was thrown thru the sunroof 50 feet from the truck. Luckily he did not have head or neck injury but had fractured vertebra pressing on his lower spinal cord. Had 8 hours of neurosurgery. After 1 week in ICU and 3 weeks of rehab, bill was 1 million $. Thanks god for good car insurance with catastrophic loss coverage or I would be paying for the rest of my life. He has recovered with no significant deficits with rods and screws in his back covering 8 levels. Costs are out of control.

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Originally posted by flintlock3:
Glad your son did well. My son flipped his truck a few years ago and was thrown thru the sunroof 50 feet from the truck. Luckily he did not have head or neck injury but had fractured vertebra pressing on his lower spinal cord. Had 8 hours of neurosurgery. After 1 week in ICU and 3 weeks of rehab, bill was 1 million $. Thanks god for good car insurance with catastrophic loss coverage or I would be paying for the rest of my life. He has recovered with no significant deficits with rods and screws in his back covering 8 levels. Costs are out of control.

Medical costs truly are out of control. That said, it is amazing what modern medicine can do.

As someone who deals with livestock, sometimes something will happen and you either put them down or just drive on. Case in point, the vet was out looking at a goat with issues when another started screaming like she was being disemboweled. Wife looked and said she was trying to deliver without being dialated. Vet finished with the goat he was dealing with, then went over to look at the screamer. He helped her deliver what turned out to be a huge tumor (vet was a little shook, as a new guy he hadn’t seen anything like that) and a healthy kid. He wasn’t sure whether it was an ovarian tumor or a cervical tumor, but it was a big, nasty looking thing, roughly softball sized. As far as he could reach down the other channel, he couldn’t feel anything. Shoved the tumor back in, gave her some antibiotics and pain meds, and dryly suggested not breeding her again. He said that if the tumor had occluded the blood vessels and nothing had torn, she might be okay. If not, she’d bleed out internally, but we wouldn’t know until later that night. Thankfully she didn’t have any other kids, made it through the night just fine, and is still doing great and taking care of her baby a couple weeks later.

The treatment of a human mother with a similar condition would have been radically different. Because we can, and because we value human life that much.

Again, thank goodness that sigpecops’ son had a good result and hoping for a full and quick recovery!

I’m glad the surgery went well for your son.

In 2007 I was in the hospital for 12.5 days for small bowel obstruction and recovery. Insurance was billed $81k.

Earlier this year, my wife went to the ER with abdominal pain. Diagnosed with inflamed appendix. I wasn’t able to go to hospital (UK style) with her though. 3am Sunday to 3pm Monday. Curbside to curbside. 36 hours for a very routine laparoscopic appendectomy.

$83,000. What?

I don’t know where to begin understanding the over pricing. Until consumers know the true costs of anything, they’re likely to over consume it.

I'm glad your son's outcome was good.

Healthcare costs are insane. I had an outpatient surgery in January; total time in the hospital was 4 hours.
The bill was $40k !!!
Thankfully Medicare and my supplemental plan covered all of it except for $900.

I live in a Dallas suburb and am very familiar with Children's. They do a great job and over the years have been responsible for several breakthrough techniques and programs that have saved kids' lives and improved their quality of life.

Glad to hear everything seems to have succeeded in your case!

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Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:

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It's a confusing mess. And nobody likes it. But sadly, the fix will be universal healthcare which will drive many changes -- very few of them good. And it WILL come

^^^^^^^^^^^^
Not so sure about that. United Healthcare and the Blue Crosses are not going to let that happen. The American public is not going to stand for waiting months for elective surgery and physicians are not going to work for peanuts. Business execs with far less education make more than doctors. Not as lucrative as it used to be.

They allowed Obamacare to happen. And that's because they get to keep their racket. As long as they get their piece of the action, they'll allow it.

Thank GOD your son is well. May he be blessed to stay that way.
I thought the surgery would be 3 times that. I had spine surgery from C2 to T2 and it was over $400K. Thank goodness for insurance. Thank god for Nuero-Surgeons.