Denied a hip replacement at age 80, man gets what he needs in Costa Rica

Bill Buiten and his wife, Bernice, travel to Costa Rica for Bill's much needed hip surgery

On June 30^th, an eighty old year man denied a hip replacement in the U.S. got the surgery he needed in Costa Rica.

That’s the story you’re hearing here from Bill Buiten, a Biscayne Bay, FL. Resident who sought surgical relief for hip pain he had suffered for 25 years as a result of falling off a ladder in 1985.

He claims he was turned down by more than 10 orthopedic surgeons.

Why?  Buiten says he can only guess at why, and “I certainly can’t prove it, but it became pretty clear to me that:

1.  Part of the reason, depending upon which surgeon you were talking about, they didn’t want to do any surgery on me is because I was a Medicare patient and surgeons don’t get paid very well by Medicare;  and so they just push off the Medicare patients with various excuses.

2.  My age was used as an excuse not to do the surgery, and

3.  My case was atypical.  The x-rays don’t quite look the way they want to see it; so they’ve got another excuse for not doing it.”

“It wasn’t a bone on bone situation they like to see in an X ray”, he explained, “I had synovitis and the orthopedic surgeons have such a narrow focus that they don’t want to hear or see anything that’s unusual.  And if it is unusual they don’t want to mess with it.”

This is harsh condemnation, but nevertheless I think when you listen to the podcast of this interview you will hear Buiten’s sincerity and won’t dismiss him as someone who just has an axe to grind.

To hear the recorded interview click on this link: Buiten podcast

Buiten was trained as a chemical engineer and over a period of years owned several businesses – and his ability to articulate in the interview gives you an honest perspective.

Call it Medical Tourism, Medical Travel – or more accurately Travel for Surgical Procedures

What’s really important here is that Buiten did find a surgeon – he just had to go out of the country to find one.  And according to Buiten, that surgeon, Dr. Oscar Valverde, said, “that surgery should have been done years ago.”

Buiten said Valverde told him, “‘Your hip was bad.  It was pretty messy.  If you couldn’t get it done in the States it’s a good thing we’re doing it here because it really needed replacing.  Your self-diagnosis was right on the money.  The whole joint was full of fluid and it was that fluid that was eating up the joint and also giving you the pain.  It was atypical but it definitely needed doing as long as it had been painful for all those years’.”

How to Find a Doctor in Costa Rica

Buiten did his own research on the internet.  “I did what I usually do in trouble, I go to the internet and did my own research.  I punched in terms for medical services in Costa Rica,” said Buiten.

“I goggled medical tourism.  There was a phone number to call and I called it and I got this guy, Tim Morales, the owner of CostaRicanMedicalCare”, said Buiten, “He explained he was a facilitator and that if I had a need to go to Costa Rica he could help.  He asked me ‘What do you need?’ and told me he’d call the hospital and have them contact me.”

One day after talking to Morales, the hospital in Costa Rica contacted Buiten.  They exchanged several emails, and he emailed the hospital his completed health history.  The doctor reviewed his records and accepted him as a candidate for surgery which Buiten was able to schedule for the very next week.

Morales arranged for Buiten to have his surgery at La Católica Hospital where one of the uniques is the onsite Hotel Católica owned by the hospital.  Buiten and his wife, Bernice, never had to leave the combined hospital hotel grounds during their 10-day stay.

Medical Tourism in Costa Rica

Buiten told us he is truly amazed by the personal care and consideration he received in Costa Rica.

“Everything went smoothly,” said Buiten, “My wife and I flew down from Miami, arriving in Costa Rica on Monday, June 28^th.  “On Tuesday they did the pre-opt, and on Wednesday they did the surgery.  I spent two days in the hospital and eight days in the Hotel Católica for post-op recovery.”

“Here in the U.S. the pre-op takes a month; they shoo you from one testing lab to another and the doctor has to review it and it literally takes close to a month before you can get anything done,” said Buiten.

“Our doctors work so hard at not getting sued that if they need two tests they do 10,” commented Buiten, “In Costa Rica it took a day.  They went through it very systematically and they got me in for prep for the surgery about 2 o’clock on Wednesday afternoon.”

“During my interview before surgery with Dr. Valverde I told him that all of my adult life my right leg has been about 3/8” shorter than my left leg.  He told me he might be able to do something about that,” said Buiten.

“After surgery I was complaining that the muscles in my groin were really sore and I didn’t know why.  ‘Oh’, he said, ‘I know why, I made your right leg 3/8” longer and those muscles don’t like it’.  I really appreciated that,” Buiten said.

Find out more about Medical Tourism and whether or not it is an option for you.

We encourage you to learn how to reduce your healthcare costs with medical tourism.  If you’re wondering if you would be a candidate, take this survey.  Even the questions asked will help you gauge your own willingness to travel for care.