Municipalities left with hefty bill for treatment of complications after patient’s bariatric surgery in private hospital

print this

The municipalities in the Uusimaa Province were left with a bill of nearly EUR 300,000 for the surgical and intensive care treatments that a patient needed after having undergone bariatric surgery in a private hospital.
      According to information obtained by Helsingin Sanomat, a patient from the Helsinki region initially sought weight loss surgery - achieved either by gastric banding or gastric bypass surgery - in a public hospital.
      The patient was examined at the internal disease outpatient clinic of the Meilahti Hospital, where it was concluded that surgical intervention was not suitable for the patient.
     
After this the patient visited the Turku-based private hospital Pulssi, where the patient apparently failed to inform the staff of Meilahti Hospital’s earlier negative decision regarding an operation.
      Subsequently the patient underwent surgery in the Pulssi Hospital in February.
      The operation resulted in complications, for which the patient then sought treatment at the Meilahti Hospital emergency clinic just over a week later.
      The original operation cost just under 10,000 euros, a small fraction of the subsequent expenses.
     
The case has raised suspicions within the Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa that within the private sector weight loss operations to reduce the effects of obesity are performed based on different criteria from those in effect on the public health care side.
      “Where do we draw the line for the responsibility of the national health care system, if the private bariatric surgery sector does not comply with the views of the public sector with regard to a surgical intervention’s suitability to a patient?” says Chief of Department Timo Sane from the Helsinki University Central Hospital.
     
Pulssi managing director Juha Heino refuses to comment on a case of a private patient.
      However, Heino denies that operations are carried out in Pulssi on flimsier grounds than in public hospitals.
      “The criteria for receiving treatment are exactly the same”, Heino affirms.
     
There has been discussion within the Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa (HUS) that the EUR 300,000 bill for post-operative care should be addressed to the private hospital.


Links:
  Bariatric surgery (Wikipedia)

Helsingin Sanomat