As a medical missionary I no longer worry about payments from insurance companies. I pray I never did show too much concern for this aspect of medicine when I was in private practice. However, people are grateful when they receive care and want to show their appreciation. I am told doctors used to accept payment in chickens or potatoes in what we thought was a by-gone era.
Recently I saw a 9 month old with a cold who had kept his mom up one too many nights in a row. Now she was wondering if he might have an ear infection. They have a Ukrainian doctor but they rarely look into their patient’s ears, which is routine for visits in the USA. Why? First, Ukrainian pediatricians typically do not own an otoscope. Second, this is the responsibility of the ENT doctor.
Well the child thankfully did not have an ear infection. The mother was so grateful about my seeing her child at the end of the visit she reached into her bag and pulled out a jar of Skippy peanut butter and a jar of cake icing. No it was not a chicken, but in Ukraine where you can not find good peanut butter or icing this was quite a treat and a sacrifice on the part of this thankful family.
American patient…
We will certainly enjoy the peanut butter and icing!
Jim, I remember “way back when” when you said that you often wished that medicine had stayed with the payment plans of old…chickens, etc. You had been looking over the payment records of your grandfather, I seem to recall. Who would have thought that we’d move to Ukraine, and it actually happened!