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Woman turned away by doctor - for being American

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I

Instigator

Banned
She should count her blessings. Much worse could have happened to her just for being American. :D

http://www.thelocal.se/5932/20061229/

An American woman has been refused treatment by a doctor in Blekinge in southern Sweden because of her nationality. The woman's husband has now reported the incident to the Medical Responsibility Board.

Valery Johansson, who lives in a small town just outside Nashville, Tennessee, was in Sweden to celebrate Christmas with her husband's family.

On Christmas Day, worried that she may have contracted strep throat, she sought medical help. Her husband and niece made an appointment for her at a clinic in the town of Karlshamn.

"We went up there and the nurses were really nice. They did some swab tests, which they then passed on to a doctor," Johansson told The Local.

But when the American woman, accompanied by her husband and niece, went to meet the doctor in his treatment room, he declined to examine her.

Rather than introduce himself, the doctor waved the patient's papers and shouted "she doesn't have strep throat, she doesn't have strep throat". He then added that he would not treat her.

"He said he didn't like Americans," said Johansson.

He also disliked hearing English spoken in his treatment room and soon walked out.

"We just couldn't believe it. We were left standing there with our mouths hanging open," said Johansson.

According to Johansson, the doctor was a Palestinian who objected to American foreign policy in the Middle East.

Her niece followed the doctor into the office to confront him but was told: "I don't deal with people like that".

When Johansson returned to the clinic the following day she was met by a manager, who apologised and encouraged her to report the matter to the Medical Responsibility Board.

The nurses were also embarrassed by the doctor's behaviour and repaid the 820 kronor that Johansson had handed over in advance for her treatment. They too advised her to report the doctor.

In the report Johansson has claimed that she was discriminated against on ethnic grounds.

Before returning to the United States at the beginning of January she also intends reporting the incident to the American Embassy in Stockholm.
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D

DarienA

The black man everyone at Activision can agree on
Look I'm all for hating a gov'ts policies. Hate the US middle eastern policy, hate certain countries human rights policies, etc... but when you extend that to its citizens... that's just f'n retarded IMO.
 
A

APF

Member
FEATURE-Palestinians learn emergency medicine in Israel

RAMAT GAN, Israel, Nov 21 (Reuters) - "He has a pulse!" the Palestinian medic shouted above the sound of sirens and explosions as he and three colleagues tended to the motionless figure on the floor.

The exercise, in an Israeli hospital, was a dress rehearsal for more than a dozen medics and doctors from the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip, who often treat casualties of Israeli military operations against militants.

The emergency medicine course is sponsored by the Israeli Physicians for Human Rights, a private group dedicated to professional cooperation with Palestinian doctors. Funding comes mainly from international donors.

"It is excellent that people from the Palestinian territories come to participate in an Israeli course," said Marwan Baqer, who heads a team of 120 ambulance workers back in Gaza. "We do not care who is conducting the course."

[...]

Baqer said he would pass on what he learned in the Israeli course to his ambulance crews in Gaza.

"I will tell them that we learned something good here," he said. "There is no difference when it comes to the health of an Arab or a Jew. All that matters is that it is a person."
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via
 
A

AltogetherAndrews

Member
DarienA said:
Look I'm all for hating a gov'ts policies. Hate the US middle eastern policy, hate certain countries human rights policies, etc... but when you extend that to its citizens... that's just f'n retarded IMO.
Click to expand...

That may have something to do with a deeper difference in regards to a sense of responsibility and involvement in the ruling mechanism of the societies. Swedes tend to consider themselves part of the ruling structure of the system, whereas Americans (for good reason) have more or less given up and simply consider themselves distant to the greater powers of politics. So in that respect, it's not really surprising that a Swede would hold an American citizen responsible for the actions of the US government.

Still, it's BS. I'm a European living in the states right now after some years of traveling, and I've honestly felt embarrassed over how some of my former traveling companions have treated American travelers that we've met in hostels and random campsites. One poor American guy was literally sat down by some friends of mine and cross examined about his role in what my friends considered to be a hostile, cultural and political invasion strategy. One chick I met refused to acknowledge that she was American altogether, because she knew it would just lead to inquiries and accusations. After seeing how things went in that particular hostel, I can't say I blame her.

edit: never mind my analysis above, I didn't see the part about the dude being Palestinian.
I wonder if he would have appreciated being met with the same form of judgment at the border? Chances are it would have made for a good sob story in the local news if he had not been allowed in to the country. :/
 
I

Instigator

Banned
AltogetherAndrews said:
That may have something to do with a deeper difference in regards to a sense of responsibility and involvement in the ruling mechanism of the societies. Swedes tend to consider themselves part of the ruling structure of the system, whereas Americans (for good reason) have more or less given up and simply consider themselves distant to the greater powers of politics. So in that respect, it's not really surprising that a Swede would hold an American citizen responsible for the actions of the US government.
Click to expand...

All he needs is to turn away another 100 million or so Americans from his office and he can deal a crippling blow to this imperialist nation.
 
B

bill0527

Member
This is why my wife and I will never travel abroad.

I'd love to go London, Paris, take a train across Poland, and just experience European culture firsthand. It kind of sucks that I'll never be able to experience any of that because of the level of hate for Americans outside of America.

Europeans are supposed to be the tolerant enlightened people, while Americans are the evil people. I can promise you that nobody would be refused medical treatment in America if they walked into an emergency room. There's a federal law here and doctors can be sued and stripped of their license if they refuse treatment to anyone in an emergency room regardless of their nationality or ability to pay.
 
I

iapetus

Scary Euro Man
bill0527 said:
This is why my wife and I will never travel abroad.
Click to expand...

What, because a single Palestinian doctor working in small-town Sweden refused to treat an American woman with a sore throat?

Well, alright, but I don't think that really makes you or your wife come across as particularly rational.

(PS: If you absolutely have to be paranoid about this widespread hatred of Americans that doesn't actually exist, you could always pretend to be Canadian...)
 
J

jjasper

Member
bill0527 said:
This is why my wife and I will never travel abroad.

I'd love to go London, Paris, take a train across Poland, and just experience European culture firsthand. It kind of sucks that I'll never be able to experience any of that because of the level of hate for Americans outside of America.

Europeans are supposed to be the tolerant enlightened people, while Americans are the evil people. I can promise you that nobody would be refused medical treatment in America if they walked into an emergency room. There's a federal law here and doctors can be sued and stripped of their license if they refuse treatment to anyone in an emergency room regardless of their nationality or ability to pay.
Click to expand...

I went to germany last spring and everyone was very nice and never had any problems.

Also if this was someone from another country and they went to the ER because of Strep and didn't have insurance or ablity to pay they would have been sent out the door.
 
A

AltogetherAndrews

Member
bill0527 said:
This is why my wife and I will never travel abroad.

I'd love to go London, Paris, take a train across Poland, and just experience European culture firsthand. It kind of sucks that I'll never be able to experience any of that because of the level of hate for Americans outside of America.

Europeans are supposed to be the tolerant enlightened people, while Americans are the evil people. I can promise you that nobody would be refused medical treatment in America if they walked into an emergency room. There's a federal law here and doctors can be sued and stripped of their license if they refuse treatment to anyone in an emergency room regardless of their nationality or ability to pay.
Click to expand...

Well, it's not all like this though. I brought my wife and kid with me to visit my family this summer, and my wife didn't run into any issues with supposed anti-americanism. It's just a matter of not acting all terrified. You take some shit, and you give some shit. The main problem is that American travelers in general don't seem to be very good at giving or taking shit, but instead hole up and make themselves easy targets.
 
S

Seth C

Member
jjasper said:
I went to germany last spring and everyone was very nice and never had any problems.

Also if this was someone from another country and they went to the ER because of Strep and didn't have insurance or ablity to pay they would have been sent out the door.
Click to expand...

I doubt that. Strep can be a serious condition if not treated promptly. They would test them for strep, I'm sure. Insurance or not.
 
D

Dachande

Member
bill0527 said:
This is why my wife and I will never travel abroad.

I'd love to go London, Paris, take a train across Poland, and just experience European culture firsthand. It kind of sucks that I'll never be able to experience any of that because of the level of hate for Americans outside of America.
Click to expand...

You're overestimating the amount of hate you would get. By immeasurable amounts.
 
R

Ree

Banned
I came into this thread thinking "Oh yeah, what country was that in then?" and then I said out loud "My country." and went "shhhhhh". ^^;
 
P

Patrick Bateman

Member
What an idiot. He outraged the Declaration of Geneva and Hippocratic Oath. I hope he loses his accreditation. :)



And to the hate: Europe hates Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld, but likes Americans. It's not THAT bad. I think it would be more like "Why did you vote him?".
 
B

Brobzoid

how do I slip unnoticed out of a gloryhole booth?
Klaxon said:
And to the hate: Europe hates Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld, but likes Americans. It's not THAT bad. I think it would be more like "Why did you vote him?".
Click to expand...

hate for americans is very much rampant in politically active teenagers here(norway), all of them with their palastinian scarfs and their "stupid-bush" jokes.
 
P

Patrick Bateman

Member
Brobzoid said:
hate for americans is very much rampant in politically active teenagers here(norway), all of them with their palastinian scarfs and their "stupid-bush" jokes.
Click to expand...

Hm, ok. Many teenagers here in Germany do the same with their "**** Bush"-attitude.
But I think most of them never talked to an American and instead sit at home watch the Simpsons, play videogames made by Americans and drink Coke. So it's stupid. They say this because it has become popular to be against the US or at least Bush..

So, unless you don't wear a t-shirt with "I voted for Bush" you are pretty safe as an American in Europe.
 
H

hoverX

Member
What someone in another part of the world doesn't like Americans? When did this happen?

Ha ha how you like it now?
 
B

BigGreenMat

Member
Seth C said:
I doubt that. Strep can be a serious condition if not treated promptly. They would test them for strep, I'm sure. Insurance or not.
Click to expand...

Very, very rarely is strep serious, they wouldn't treat it at all if there wasn't the contagiousness factor and the tiny chance of rheumatic fever. Considering it takes less than 5 minutes to diagnose and costs less than 10 dollars to treat I doubt someone would be turned away over insurance. Then again someone would be an idiot to go the ER about it.
 
M

MrSardonic

The nerdiest nerd of all the nerds in nerdland
he probably told that fat, moaning, hypercondriac to get the **** out of his clinic because there was nothing wrong with her...apart from the fact that she was American
 
G

GaimeGuy

Volunteer Deputy Campaign Director, Obama for America '16
Klaxon said:
What an idiot. He outraged the Declaration of Geneva and Hippocratic Oath. I hope he loses his accreditation. :)



And to the hate: Europe hates Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld, but likes Americans. It's not THAT bad. I think it would be more like "Why did you vote him?".
Click to expand...

Most americans hate Busy, cheney, and rumsfeld, too. :lol
 
J

Javaman

Member
MrSardonic said:
he probably told that far, moaning, hypercondriac to get the **** out of his clinic because there was nothing wrong with her...apart from the fact that she was American
Click to expand...

That's pretty much the same as what I got out of article, especially with...

Rather than introduce himself, the doctor waved the patient's papers and shouted "she doesn't have strep throat, she doesn't have strep throat". He then added that he would not treat her.
Click to expand...

He sounds like a biased jerk, and she is "hamming" it up a lot.
 
A

adamsappel

Member
I've been to France, Italy and Holland (twice). The only time I was ever treated rudely was a few times in Holland, and I believe that's because they somehow thought I was German. I imagine American tourists might get a little grief over current US foreign policy, but if you don't believe in those policies, say so. If you do support the Bush administration's war and other political stances, at least defend them with words.
 
A

AlanHemberger

Banned
hoverX said:
What someone in another part of the world doesn't like Americans? When did this happen?

Ha ha how you like it now?
Click to expand...
What?

And **** that. There are ignorant people everywhere, this doctor included. Meh.
 
J

JayDubya

Banned
nubbe said:
Right on! Take your imperialistic oppression elsewhere!

Socialism forever!
Click to expand...

Leninposter.jpg


Da, comrade! This evil bitch wanted to pay someone for medical care, how dare she oppress a business by asking for service?
 
Z

zon

Member
JayDubya said:
Leninposter.jpg


Da, comrade! This evil bitch wanted to pay someone for medical care, how dare she oppress a business by asking for service?
Click to expand...

Yeah, screw her! After all, she might be poor.
 
D

DarienA

The black man everyone at Activision can agree on
Instigator said:
All he needs is to turn away another 100 million or so Americans from his office and he can deal a crippling blow to this imperialist nation.
Click to expand...

:lol
 
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