Emergency medical care abroad

[GTM]

Can anyone make a comparison regarding the emergency medical care we have in the US vs. the care offered abroad.

Putting the cost of insurance and medical services aside does anyone have any knowledge of what to expect should such care be needed while abroad.

Care such as:

Emergencies where one would need to be rushed to a hospital in cases of heart attack or auto accident.
Would the response time for a paramedic to get to the individual requiring aid be as good as here.

Emergency room technology required to save lives? Do many countries have up to date equipment.

Surgury? Is the success rate similar to the US.

I tend to think that the physicans abroad would be very dedicated. It's the technology that I question.

Interested in which if any 3rd world countries compare to the US.

 

[farmerEd]

Your questions are way to broad...which countries? No way you can make a generalization about all foreign countries that would be of any real value. You need to pick a country, and the region w/in the country to get any specific answer.

The Bahamas for example, you'd much rather be in a car accident in Nassau than one one of the out-islands for example. In Nassau, I would imagine a ambulance would get their pretty quick and bring you to a hospital and the care would be adequate or better. Get in an accident on one of the lesser islands, and chances are you are going to die if your injuries are life-threatening.

I have spent up to 2 months at a time on some of the lesser populated islands there, and only once needed to get a doctor(not me, but someone staying w/me)...it wasn't a life-threatening emergency but had to drive close to an hour and it took nearly another hour to track him down and get him into the clinic. There is no hospital, no ambulance, no EMT's etc. Maybe a nurse or two scattered around, but good luck finding them in a pinch...your best bet is to not get sick or injured.

 

[GTM]

I was thinking of the major cities in the 3rd world.

Cities such as San Jose Costa Rica, Panama City, Buenos Aires Argentina, Lima Peru, Santo Domingo Dominican Republic and the bigger cities in Equador, Thailand and the Philipinees.

Even Europe

I have never seen any data that has rated overall medical care by country.

Has anyone?

 

[Bob_Smith]

GTM, we have friends in Buenos Aires. They're natives, not ex-pats, so they don't have personal experience with US health care. But they do speak very highly of their system. We asked them about this when they were here a few months ago. As far as technology, they view the US as bleeding edge, but they don't feel they're too far behind. We email back and forth regularly, so we'll ask them specifically about emergency care and post back.