When my son was in the NICU (he was in the intensive NICU and then the regular NICU) there was only about 2 nurses that actually spoke english and it was broken at that. They were very good about making sure the doctor (who spoke english) or a translator was there for us at all times though. In May my son was there we stayed on the ward nearest the Internation Health Clinic and almost all of the nurses spoke good english there. We never had a problem communicating with them and the care was excellent.

In a previous post you said:

If you're Korean-American and you can understand Korean, why would you expect them to speak to you in English? Even if they speak English well, I'm sure they can explain things in Korean much better than in English.

I can understand basic conversations in Korean but when they started talking about medical conditions and the treatment and other things I would of preferred to understand everything that came out of there mounths not every 10th word.

And plus we were referred there from 121 which means we're American or at least one of the parents is american so I would of thought they would of either started to speak to us in english or asked which we preferred. Oh well everything worked out.

And I think Americans get ripped off in Korean hospitals. What type of physical therapy does my 3 day old daughter need after jaundice treatment? Well good thing TRICARE is covering the bill.

And I think Americans get ripped off in Korean hospitals. What type of physical therapy does my 3 day old daughter need after jaundice treatment? Well good thing TRICARE is covering the bill.[/quote]

I'd have to disagree about getting ripped off. I couldn't believe how cheap all of our medical expensives have been at Samsung. We're Blue Cross/Blue Shield though so maybe that somehow makes a difference in pricing. I wouldn't think so though. Now, 121 ripped me off big time with my labor and delivery bill (we get billed and then file with our insuruance). It was ridiculous!

I just thought that it was funny that my daughter needed physical therapy at 3 days old. But like I said, I was pleased with the overall care at both 121 and Samsung.

My son, who is covered under his company's private insurance, had a tonsillectomy last year at a Korean hospital. He was admitted on a Wednesday, had surgery on Thursday, and was released on Saturday. One of the incisions started bleeding really badly on the following Sunday, so we took him back to the hospital's emergency room. The ear, nose, & throat specialist who did the surgery came in to check him out. It wasn't anything really serious ~ he just needed an injection (a coagulant) to stop the bleeding and after that everything was fine.

The total bill, to include the emergency room visit, was 683,520 won. The emergency room visit itself was only 18,050.

To put the cost of the emergency room visit into perspective, a good friend of mine who has been working in Korea for the last 20 years (now a GS12) went to the States last year for a few weeks of training. He had symptons that led him to believe he was having a heart attack. He went to the local emergency room. They checked him out, ran some tests, kept him over night for observation, and after concluding that he was OK, released him the next morning. The bill came to $7K and change.

The US health care industry, which essentially is now owned and operated by HMOs that are only concerned with making a profit, has gone so far down the drain in terms of the average person's ability to get medical treatment, that I wonder if it will ever recover. Women give birth one day and get released the next. The tonsillectomy my son had would be an outpatient procedure. It didn't used to be this way. And the change wasn't brought about by advances in medical technology - it's the result of HMOs wanting to shorten hospital stays so they can save money.

So... if a Korean hospital wants to err on the side of caution and keep me or someone in my family for a few extra days to make sure everything is going to be alright - and they charge only a tiny fraction of what an American hospital would charge, I'm all for it.

To PAKS2K: Sorry for reading too much into your post regarding your Korean language comprehension.

I guess I didn't see this earlier! I had asked when they would induce so I would have some general idea of when they would want to do that, and she said that generally they do it at 41 weeks. But, you CAN refuse to do it that early. I would never go past 42 weeks because of the chance of the placenta getting too aged, so anywhere between 41 and 42 weeks is okay by me. My body doens't really know how to go into labor without my water being broken. I'm certain of it! So, I'm just waiting for induction now. I'm almost 40 1/2 weeks.

Good luck!

Thanks! I am getting very anxious for this baby boy! Giving birth is the most amazing thing! Can't wait.

WOW, I never really knew how much hospital bills were in the states. Given that the fact that I've never had to pay. Thanks for putting in to perspective. And yeah I didn't mind them keeping her there for an extra day to monitor her Jaundice. It was better then 121 wanted us to do, they wanted them to give her the treatment and then send her home and then we were to call Osan for her to get a check up the next day.

But like I said I'm just glad she's good and home with us now. Lots more sleepless nights in the future