新加坡網友痛訴母親患癌，第一次去醫院時，醫生竟花了兩周時間才發現了腫瘤。而後其母在新加坡某醫院重症監護病房住院58天後不幸離世，花費了35萬新元的藥物，綜合醫院其他收入，費用竟達1018469.29新元。
最近有一個網友親身遭遇的事件（ Fina Leong: Healthcare or Nightmare? 醫療或噩夢？）引起了我們的關註！
該網友的母親患有癌症，在新加坡某醫院就醫，前後經歷 10位醫生診療，在重症監護病房住院 58天，最後還是不幸離世。伴隨著巨大的悲痛，該網友竟然收到了一個巨額的帳單1018469.29新元！在她的人生中，她從未想過有一天會收到一份 100萬新元的醫療帳單！
這究竟是醫療還是惡夢?
「我母親前後共使用了35萬新元的藥物，超過一千劑量！當我的母親腎衰時，我感到非常無助。有一件事是肯定的，如果我知道5月18日將是她生命的最後一天，我寧願花35萬新元讓母親在人生最後的時光里享受最大的快樂、愛和幸福。有一段最美好的經歷。而不是讓她在寒冷和無菌病房極其痛苦地度過58天。
其實治療癌症方案有很多。然而，達到最好治療效果所需的劑量和頻率是多少？似乎醫生在做嘗試…不幸的是因為嘗試的錯誤，我母親的病情並沒有好轉，正因為如此，我們的家人和朋友推薦了許多醫生、替代品和營養補充品。
我們選擇相信醫院，所以錯過了很多別的有可能拯救母親生命的方案。然而，如果我們當初選擇嘗試，是不是其中一個有可能會拯救我母親的生命呢？這對我來說是一個非常昂貴的遺憾…
在我母親患病之初，我們沒有意識到癌症的緊迫性。對於那些平時飲食規律和生活方式積極的人來說，如果癌症發生了，找出「針對性的化療」是可行的。可是化療的治療方法需要在身體仍然有健康的底子，且能夠承受的情況下儘快進行治療。
我們也錯誤地認為「所有的醫院都是一樣的」。 公共醫療和私人專家的速度和專業知識上有很大的不同。對於50歲以上絕經後的女性來說，如果腹部有異常的腫脹，需要立即進行詳細的檢查來查腫瘤。今年1月，當我母親第一次去醫院，醫生花了2周時間才發現了腫瘤！
不幸的是，我覺得整個醫療保健生態系統都是如此，專家和私人機構都是非常昂貴的，而且帳單的構建方式是用一種冷冰冰的、專業的制度化的方式。
當我看到媽媽的 100萬新元的帳單時，我的心都是冰冷的，我的母親被稱為「顧客」而不是「患者」。我們對母親的保險範圍一無所知。如果我們知道媽媽的保險涵蓋了私人專家治療，我們就可以從第一天開始就尋求私人專家的專業知識…
當這一切已經塵埃落定…時光是不可以倒流的，生活也沒有如果。現在的我什麼也不能做…還要面對100萬新元的醫療帳單……」
$1,018,469.29
Healthcare or Nightmare?
10 doctors, 58 days in the ICU, 1 gigantic bill, Mum’s life lost.
Never in my life would I have ever imagined I’d see a S$1 million medical bill.
$350,000 in medications… Over a thousand doses of drugs.. Complications one after another..
One thing for sure is this… If I had known that 18 May would be the last day of her life, I would rather spend $350,000 on bringing mum the greatest joyful, loving, happiest and most comforting experiences, rather than have her go through 58 extremely painful suffering days immobile in a cold and sterile hospital room.
Looking back, it is all a lack of the right knowledge that cost my mum’s life. The painful unknown is… I will never know whether we did the right thing to send mum in through these doors.
There are many health alternatives that can help reverse cancer. However, what is the DOSE and FREQUENCY required to achieve that outcome? Unfortunately it is mostly trial and error, and in mum’s instance, she was unable to consume the dose required to reverse her condition.
Because of this, we were selectively close-minded to recommendations. There were many doctors, alternatives and nutritional supplements that family & friends recommended. We explored some and missed many. However, if we stayed 100% open and explored ALL alternatives, one of them may have been able to save mum. A very costly regret…
We didn’t realise how urgent cancer was. For someone with a generally healthy diet with natural foods and active lifestyle, if cancer strikes, find out if 「targeted chemotherapy」 is available. We learnt that chemotherapy is very helpful and effective for certain types of cancers. For aggressive treatment as chemo, it needs to be administered as soon as possible while the body still has health reserves and is able to bounce back.
We also made the mistake of thinking 「all hospitals are the same”. We experienced a huge difference in SPEED and EXPERTISE between public healthcare and private specialists. For a woman over 50’s and post-menopause, if there is unusual swelling in the abdomen, a detailed scan to check for tumour is required immediately. When mum was first admitted in January, the doctors took 2 long weeks to discover the tumour. Something that the right scan would instantly reveal. I still believe our public healthcare is one of the best in the world, however there are simply too many patients needing the attention of overworked doctors…
Unfortunately, I feel that the healthcare ecosystem is such that specialists and private facilities are gravely expensive, and billing is structured in a way to max-out insurance payout in a cold and professionally institutionalised way. My heart felt cold when I saw that on mum’s $1 million bill, she was referred to as 「Customer」 and not 「Patient」..
It is truly regretful that we were ignorant about mum’s insurance coverage. Had we known that mum’s insurance covered private specialist treatments, we could’ve sought private specialist expertise from Day 1. Even though these final 58 days in a private hospital came up to an insane bill, we appreciated the speed of response and level of professional expertise of the team of specialists.
At the end of the day… there are a ton of what-ifs and grey areas. What is right? What is wrong? One thing for sure is this.. Nothing can be done now to reverse the situation. Nothing can turn back time. And our hearts will miss mum forever…
More than ever now, I deeply feel that 「If you do not invest time, money and energy in your health, you will spend your fortune on sickness」.
Ignorance is gravely costly. The right knowledge saves lives and protects families.
I hope this post has helped someone out there.
May we live with vigour, and die without suffering.
Rest in peace my beloved mummy…
如果所言屬實？花費了S$1,018,469.29！經歷了10個醫生！58天急診室里療程！最終文章作者的母親還是回天乏力，只留下無盡的悔恨以及一筆天文數字般的醫療費要面對！！！
文章作者悔恨的是自己在有關母親的醫療「選項」方面，沒有做足「功課」來挽救或減輕母親臨終的痛苦！同時，她也質疑有關醫院的作業方式（精神？），只把求醫者當成是金錢交易的顧客，而非痛苦中的病人（一種冷酷的商業運作？）？！
更令她不滿的是，她感覺母親就像是個試驗品！因為誰也沒法保證療法藥物有效與否？！但真金白銀卻假不了也少不了！這種錢真能賺的心安理得嗎？！
個人不願懷疑有關醫生的專業態度，只是如果沒有一定的把握，最終讓病人家屬在痛失親人之餘，還可能陷入嚴重經濟危機？！這又教人情何以堪？！
救人是醫生最初的誓言以及終生天職（？），但醫生對病人的病情也應該有一定的估計和判斷？如果認為希望渺茫，是否也應該讓病人家屬清楚情況，讓他們自己決定是否要繼續（浪費金錢？）？
病患本身的意願應該也很有必要被尊重。如果本人覺得康復無望又生不如死，無論法律怎麼說、無論什麼道德勵志言語，此時此刻對於正遭受極度病痛折磨的人而言都是毫無意義的。他們要的只是一種能儘快解脫的「真正仁慈」，也不願在精神以及經濟上拖累拖垮親人。
然而什麼時候，有些手操「生殺大權」的「重要人物」才會明白？要等他們也落到同樣的「境地」的那一天，能夠真正感同身受時才能理解？
難道世道淪落？是因為很少有人還願意相信有報應這回事？尤其在巨大利益的面前？！
易水雲天zxx：額。如果文中那張照片是入住醫院的話，那是私立醫院， 沒有保險的話，這些費用帳單就是天文數字。 ICU僅住一天2000-3000+，每位醫生每次診金200-300，做個MRI都要上千，這還沒說每天吃藥打針驗血護理費用呢。醫院就是醫院，是要治病救人，但真不是慈善機構，難聽的話就是：誰規定了花了錢就得能醫好了（好吧，我冷漠、我鐵石心腸、我站著說話不腰疼、生病的不是我的親朋好友）。 以前經常有人跟我說：這個世界有兩的地方不能講價錢：一是醫院，另一個是學校。
小白：樓主媽媽去世，希望你節哀…新加坡醫療費用貴這是不爭的事實，但是你既然享用了，就得要付錢啊…沒有哪一間醫院會保證能百分之百治好病人，何況還是癌症…賴肯定是賴不掉的，還是聯繫保險公司報銷的事宜吧。
黑咖啡：我去政府醫院檢查都會被告知檢查費大概是多少，貼主的母親住院應該會被告知每天的費用大概多少吧。再說母親住院知道有保險為何不向保險公司詢問保險的細節？既然保險是涵蓋私人醫院的又為何有100萬帳單？最多就是帳單的10%自付額吧！
zheng rong： 朋友爸爸沒有保險，加護7天、普通10天，用公積金支付。她的不夠老公補，共計5萬新元。還好，沒花什麼現金。這裡只可以死，不可以病。