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Meanwhile, up here in Norway you have to beg and grovel and almost pretend to have a panic attack in order to get a one-off benzodiazepine-based IV sedative whi
by marvin 6y ago
Meanwhile, up here in Norway you have to beg and grovel and almost pretend to have a panic attack in order to get a one-off benzodiazepine-based IV sedative while taking a gastroscope down your throat.
An acquaintance of mine with Down's syndrome, no less, couldn't do a gastroscopy to investigate a quality-of-life issue that was assumed to be benign, due to this. Boggles my mind, honestly.
General anesthesia might be over-used, but some healthcare systems go too far in the other direction too.
- nlitened 6y agoI always had issues with gastroscopy (I guess mostly panic and uncontrollable reflexes), but recently I discovered that there’s an option to do it through nose instead of mouth (of course, with a thinner tube) — highly recommend it for people like me!
- marvin 6y agoI've done the nose variety. Triggered my gag reflex like there was no tomorrow. Sounds like you are different, thankfully :)
- arcbyte 6y agoOne of the vast number of reasons to prefer a nonsocialized Healthcare market: choice.
- disgruntledphd2 6y agoDo you have other reasons, perchance?
- tlamponi 6y agoSocialized healthcare systems often have room for a private sector, so you can have both. You can also go to other doctors in a socialized one, if their treatment (style) does not fit your cause. Also, in my experience there's lots of choice in most socialized health care systems. I had a gastroscopy in Austria, the Doctor asked me if I'd like a general anesthesia or rather a local, nerve blocker - mostly to avoid the gag reflex. He said that it may not be as pleasant without the anesthesia, but I still opted for it and am really glad I did. While it really was not pleasant, I was up and going again in about half an hour.
- refurb 6y agoNah... that has more to do with how medicine is practiced versus how it's paid for. I'd bet you'd have troubling finding any doctor willing to sedate for an endoscopy in that country. It's just "how it's done". Just like the US has it's own unique methods that seem odd to Europe.
- marvin 6y agoOh, you can do it privately instead. Costs $500 or so, but there's as much choice as the market allows for. My description was how it's normally done in the public system.