All of us are well aware that hospital bills ain’t cheap. In fact, it’s the total opposite of it!
So imagine the pain Fina Leong from Singapore faced when she spent so much money on her cancer-stricken mum (who later passed away), only to be slapped with a SGD$1,018,469.29 (RM3.16 million) bill.
Of the RM3.16 million charged to her, a whopping SGD$350,000 (RM1,088,000) was spent on medication.
Looking back, Fina expressed how she would’ve spent the money VERY differently, had she known that 18 May was her mum’s last day.
“I would rather spend SGD$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.”
She explains that despite receiving a thousand doses of drugs, her mum still eventually passed away, and not before receiving plenty of complications from the drugs too. What’s worse is that she keeps replaying what she could’ve done differently to save her mum’s life.
“The painful unknown is… I will never know whether we did the right thing to send mum in through these doors.”
Fina lamented for being ‘close-minded’ to recommendations, saying: “If we stayed 100% open and explored ALL alternatives, one of them may have been able to save mum. A very costly regret…” Don’t blame yourself for this! We all know how hard it is to cure cancer!
Other things that she wished she could’ve done differently are:
1. Having more urgency
“For aggressive treatments like chemo, it needs to be administered as soon as possible while the body still has health reserves and is able to bounce back.”
2. Going straight to a private hospital
“We 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 post-menopause woman over 50, 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…”
3. Learning her mum’s insurance details thoroughly
“Had we known that mum’s insurance covered private specialist treatments, we could’ve sought a private specialist expertise from day 1.”
As any human would, Fina can’t help but think about all the ‘what-ifs’ that she could’ve done.
“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…”
She ends the post hoping that her experience will help at least one person who’s going to face a similar circumstance in the future – at least that person won’t feel the same regret she does.
“May we live with vigour, and die without suffering.”
Also read: Young Doctor Dies After He Worked Nonstop for Four Days
