DCL hiker airlifted from pulpit rock descent today

[jane01jp]

He has a broken leg that requires surgery in Norway.

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

Not good. Wish them the very best.

From looking at the hike, I guess it does occur.

 

[wcw57]

and THAT'S why we buy travel insurance................

 

[disneyholic family]

and that's why i buy medevac insurance....so that i can be flown home immediately to have the surgery at home...
the insurance covers a private medical plane with medical staff to take me back home.

 

[bumbershoot]

I wouldn't want to fly that long (if at all) with an unfixed broken leg. I'd rather have a Norwegian hospital experience, personally.

 

[disneyholic family]

immobilizing is sufficient, surgery is not emergent in most cases.....unless of course it's compound...
if not compound, i'd much rather be home before any surgery...
a bad surgeon can do a whole world of damage....
it can mean the difference between full recovery or walking with a terrible limp (assuming you'll be able to walk at all)...
no....head for home and choose your surgeon very very carefully...
don't let just any tom dick or harry take a knife to you...

 

[terrybsw]

America doesn't necessarily have the best health care in the world, we just think we do. Some of the best and most advanced in health care can be found overseas.

 

[Birdie dog]

We hiked Pulpit Rock in 2015. We though the trek down was scarier than the the hike up. It was a grueling hike. While we were making it we wondered how many people were injured daily. I bet there are several.

 

[MeeskaMooska13]

One of the Cruise Staff on the June 17th sailing fell coming down from Pulpit - got a bit bruised up and chipped his tooth.

 

[SuperDry]

and that's why i buy medevac insurance....so that i can be flown home immediately to have the surgery at home...
the insurance covers a private medical plane with medical staff to take me back home.

I would read your policy carefully. It's unlikely to cover a medivac flight from Norway to the US to fix a broken leg just because you'd prefer to have it done back home. It almost certainly has a clause that the insurance company doctor has to sign off on the medical necessity of receiving care in the US because competent care is not available locally.

And, as others have mentioned, Norway has excellent health care. And considering the terrain, they probably know how to fix a broken leg competently.

 

[Steelers0854]

I would read your policy carefully. It's unlikely to cover a medivac flight from Norway to the US to fix a broken leg just because you'd prefer to have it done back home. It almost certainly has a clause that the insurance company doctor has to sign off on the medical necessity of receiving care in the US because competent care is not available locally.

And, as others have mentioned, Norway has excellent health care. And considering the terrain, they probably know how to fix a broken leg competently.

This is true in most cases however there is a company called MedJetAssist that will transport you from anywhere back home provided you are more than 150 miles from home. There are also policies that will cover civil unrest etc.

 

[Steelers0854]

and that's why i buy medevac insurance....so that i can be flown home immediately to have the surgery at home...
the insurance covers a private medical plane with medical staff to take me back home.

I think for me it would depend on the injury and where I was located. In Norway with a leg bone sticking out of my skin and I'm probably staying put and getting it fixed there.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

and that's why i buy medevac insurance....so that i can be flown home immediately to have the surgery at home...
the insurance covers a private medical plane with medical staff to take me back home.

I was recently looking into this. Mind sharing what company/policy it is?

 

[jahber]

I would read your policy carefully. It's unlikely to cover a medivac flight from Norway to the US to fix a broken leg just because you'd prefer to have it done back home. It almost certainly has a clause that the insurance company doctor has to sign off on the medical necessity of receiving care in the US because competent care is not available locally.

And, as others have mentioned, Norway has excellent health care. And considering the terrain, they probably know how to fix a broken leg competently.

Norway is pretty excellent. I considered having my kids there because their maternal mortality rates put ours to shame. I wonder if there's money to be made putting pregnant women on cruises to Norway. Hmmmmm.....

 

[SuperDry]

This is true in most cases however there is a company called MedJetAssist that will transport you from anywhere back home provided you are more than 150 miles from home. There are also policies that will cover civil unrest etc.

That's very interesting - I didn't know that such a thing existed. Looking at it briefly, it covers ONLY the medivac back to the US (assuming international travel), if you are hospitalized. But it doesn't cover any medical expenses other than the medivac. So by definition, you're going to have an overseas hospital bill to go along with a hospitalization event, and for that, you'd need a different travel medical policy to cover.

There are so many options. This does give me good opportunity to mention something that I think is often overlooked: lots of people say "get travel insurance" but skip over the wide variety of what's available. For example, I have an annual travel medical policy that covers doctors visits, hospitalization, and medivac (if medically necessary), but NOT anything non-medical. So, I self-insure for things like cancelled or delayed flights, lost luggage, etc. I think it's cheaper for me to do so than to pay for coverage, especially buying per-trip coverage that the cruise line or travel agent might sell. Also, I mitigate risk of missing the boat by always flying in the night before.

 

[Steelers0854]

That's very interesting - I didn't know that such a thing existed. Looking at it briefly, it covers ONLY the medivac back to the US (assuming international travel), if you are hospitalized.

Actually it covers anythin 150 miles away from your home. So if you live in CA and get hurt in NY you can use it to medivac home. Correct it is literally just the transport. One of the popular options seems the be the annual coverage so it covers beyond your trip.

 

[Ofinn]

Norway is pretty excellent. I considered having my kids there because their maternal mortality rates put ours to shame. I wonder if there's money to be made putting pregnant women on cruises to Norway. Hmmmmm.....

Isn't there a lot less people in Norway? There's also very little poverty, obesity, drug use and all the other issues we have in the US. Just my opinion, but women appear a lot healthier in Norway. I don't think I saw one over weight person there except the Americans getting off the ship.

 

[Terapin]

Interesting link:

http://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/compare/Norway/United-States/Health

It appears health care in Norway is equivalent or superior to US health care. I'd feel comfortable being treated there rather than risk complications due to time and flying after a traumatic injury.