My son had an ear Infection in Italy
I just spend 6 weeks in Italy. I have a 9 year old son and during the stay he got an ear infection - My house in Bolsena is right in front of "La guardia Media' sort of an emergency medical center with a few doctors but it not quite an hospital and it is not always open ( unlike Pronto Soccorso). -
Anyway of course my son picked a Saturday around lunch time to feel sick so since I did not know any doctor I took him to the emergency room. I went to small town hospital ( Montefiascone ) - The service was immediate and excellent. This is the fourth time I have an experience with an Italian emergency room / hospital and in complete honesty I cannot understand why Italians complain so much about it. It all seem very well organized, fast and FREE !
( Comparing the service to the one in the US medical care is very good in the US as well. As long as you have the money. I sometimes look at the bills that my insurance pays for service and I find them extremely inflated - Sometimes I see services of less than one hour billed for over $500 )
PS One more note : The doctor in Italy prescribed Amoxicillin - I went to the pharmacy and bought it for the full list price of Euro 3 ( 4.2 dollars )- Here my son needed again the same medication and my insurance co=pay was $10 - He also needed some ear drops where my co-pay was $35 -

I see we cannot complain so much about our health care system then
Well , my experience with hospital has been good since now. My parents needed some urgent treatment and everything went ok.
Unfortunately there is also a good slice of people who had serious inconvenient with our hospitals (ER). Sometimes, I think that the patient is not so incisive in explaining his problem, and doctors send he home thinking about a minor health matter.
About medicine, 12 aspirin in Italy costs 3-4 euros, 100 pills of American aspirin in the international pharmacy too.

Ciao ciao
Stefano

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** Stev **

I don't think I ever had to complain about our medical system, nothing is perfect but the situation here is surely much better than in the US and in many other countries.
I never understood the American system, it seems just a way to grab as much money as they can, in every situation including health!
I've broken a bone of mine three times in various foolish ways, burned my arm with a metal tin I had previously warmed too much, cut my leg deeply while playing in the sea too close to the rocks, cut myself with rusty iron, and many other little accidents (I've never been a quiet, active child).
And through all that I've never experienced any negligence nor faced any great expense!

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I don't think I ever had to complain about our medical system, nothing is perfect but the situation here is surely much better than in the US and in many other countries.
I never understood the American system, it seems just a way to grab as much money as they can, in every situation including health!
I've broken a bone of mine three times in various foolish ways, burned my arm with a metal tin I had previously warmed too much, cut my leg deeply while playing in the sea too close to the rocks, cut my thigh with rusty iron, and many other little accidents (I've never been a quiet, active child).
And through all that I've never experienced any negligence nor faced any great expense!

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