atst wrote: ↑Sat Feb 20, 2021 11:03 pm I wonder how many of his lovely kind friends would have donated to his gofundme request to pay his medical insurance premiums every year if asked.

You sir, are an absolute genius and you have come up with the solution to the problem of medical insurance that is either expensive, very expensive, too expensive, prohibitively expensive, or astronomically expensive, depending on your personal circumstances. Now everyone can have insurance!

The US Embassy and the VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars US) association have both been contacted and informed.
This was posted two days ago, but later information says that John has become less alert and coherent since this visit.

Jack Farrell
All, as I mentioned previously in my posting. I am the Commander of the VFW here in Cambodia.
2 of my members visited John in the hospital yesterday.
John was awake and coherent and able to speak with them without issue.
John apparently had a small bleed in the brain from his fall. Scan results from yesterday show that the bleed has stabilized and they are monitoring to situation.
My guys will visit periodically and I will provide updates as the become available.

xandreu wrote: ↑Sat Feb 20, 2021 9:46 pm

simon43 wrote: ↑Sat Feb 20, 2021 8:24 pm I wish him well,

BUT....

Yet again we have an expat who appears to not have any medical/medivac insurance, and has to rely on the charity of others when things 'go wrong'.

What is the matter with people? This guy is seemingly intelligent and educated, yet is willing to rely on good luck not to have an accident, and the charity of friends and strangers when things do go wrong. He seems to have lived in Cambodia for years, and had plenty of time to sort out insurance cover or a medical cash fund.

If you don't have the money, or don't have the insurance, don't go and live in a developing country with sub-standard medical facilities.

You already know the answer to this, as does everyone who likes to judge those who succumb to unfortunate circumstances while out here without adequate medical insurance. But let me explain anyhoo...

Medical insurance is either expensive, very expensive or too expensive, depending on your personal circumstances. For those that fall in the expensive or very expensive category, it's a bitter pill to swallow. For those that fall in the too expensive category, they're left with a difficult life choice. Follow their dreams and take a risk-it-for-a-biscuit attitude, or remain at home, getting more and more frustrated at life and allowing themselves to be slowly eaten away with the what-could-have-been's.

In some ways, moving to Cambodia without adequate medical insurance is similar to committing a serious crime. People commit serious crime because they don't think they'll get caught, and in terms of falling ill while abroad, that it won't happen to them. Only, moving to Cambodia without adequate medical insurance is not a crime.

It's easy to cock one's leg over their high horse and wave their judging finger at others when they fall on hard times without an adequate safety net, but we all know why it happens.

Let's not pretend we don't.

I don't know the guy but I wish him all the best.

No high horse from me. As you say, "Medical insurance is either expensive, very expensive or too expensive, depending on your personal circumstances." For me, it runs to $200+ each month, which I have to fund out of my teaching income here in Laos. It's not cheap, and will only get more expensive as I get older.

But I get (IMHO), my financial priorities in the right order. Don't rely on charity from your friends, and don't put them in a "position of guilt" where they feel that they must help you.

I hope he pulls through this ordeal OK.

simon43 wrote: ↑Sun Feb 21, 2021 5:12 am
No high horse from me. As you say, "Medical insurance is either expensive, very expensive or too expensive, depending on your personal circumstances." For me, it runs to $200+ each month, which I have to fund out of my teaching income here in Laos. It's not cheap, and will only get more expensive as I get older.

But I get (IMHO), my financial priorities in the right order. Don't rely on charity from your friends, and don't put them in a "position of guilt" where they feel that they must help you.

I hope he pulls through this ordeal OK.

If the guy's friends want to bail him out, good for him. Nothing wrong with that. I've chipped in for my friends when they've hit trouble without insurance, and I'd do it again. Not out of guilt - because I care about them.

siliconlife wrote: ↑Sun Feb 21, 2021 9:02 am
If the guy's friends want to bail him out, good for him. Nothing wrong with that. I've chipped in for my friends when they've hit trouble without insurance, and I'd do it again. Not out of guilt - because I care about them.

Poor lad. Chipping in together to provide some basic hospital care for a close friend is one, but chipping in to fund basic care in Cambodia, then a medical evacuation followed by decent treatment is another thing. It's quite something to ask for.
Anyway, he must be loved. 72 donation already. I don't think 72 people would donate for me. But even that massive gesture only covers part of what's needed.

UPDATE

Santa Cruz man helps out father figure after medical emergency in Cambodia
John Futch fell, hit his head and suffered stroke
By Ryan Stuart | [email protected] |
February 23, 2021 at 8:13 p.m.

SANTA CRUZ – A Santa Cruz resident, Michael Delorio, is leading the charge to get a former news editor and Vietnam War veteran medical treatment oversees after he fell, hit his head and suffered a subsequent stroke.

John Futch, who is now a resident of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, was the managing editor of the Long Beach Press-Telegram before he left the country to enjoy his retirement. Futch also served as a father figure for Delorio while he grew up. He was Delorio’s mother’s boyfriend during Delorio’s youth.

While Futch and Delorio’s mother were never married, Futch was around for most of Delorio’s life. He was also never formerly adopted by Futch, but still sees him as a father figure.

“For all intents and purposes, I consider him a father. He effectively raised me.” Delorio said. “He was present for all of my memorable life, and he lived with me since the second grade.”

Futch has no next of kin, according to Delorio. He has a brother, who is also undergoing hospital care, and a few cousins that he isn’t in contact with. Therefore, Delorio felt it was his duty to care for Futch, a man that had supported him his whole life.

Hospital bills for Futch’s care continue to stack up and payment timelines in Cambodia are much shorter than in the U.S. Some hospitals in the Southeast Asian country expect payment within 24 hours, or they will stop administering care. Delorio, and other activists for Futch’s recovery have been able to move him to another hospital that has a 30-day billing period.

However, the quick turnaround for large sums of money is no easy feat, especially for a young professional. On top of that, Cambodian hospitals have a strange policy for American patients. The hospitals tend to inflate the cost of care for American citizens and charge more for their services, according to Delorio.

“We’ve heard the same thing,” said Keith Higginbotham, the communications director for Rep. Alan Lowenthal, who is working to get Futch the care he needs. “Unfortunately, Michael is in a situation where he is not there on the ground to argue with them on the price.”

That is why Delorio started to a GoFundMe to raise money for Futch’s hospital bills. His current goal is to raise $100,000, but he suspects he will have to raise much more. The original goal would be the start of his treatment, which will depend how long and how intense his care needs to be, Delorio said.

He also believes he will need to medivac Futch back to the U.S. due to a lack of stroke treatment centers in Cambodia. Delorio researched medivacs and found out the cost upward of $200,000.

“There is no way to get an insurance coverage out of that. All the costs are considered reimbursed fees,” Delorio said. “For that $200,000, we might have to come up with it in cash. That’s terrifying.”

For now, Delorio is focused on getting Futch into a stable condition. Flying him back to the U.S. is already risky with a head injury and would be more dangerous if he isn’t stable. However, that means continuing to pay daily hospital bills for the time being, but even that isn’t easy.

One of the biggest complications for Delorio is communication. He has been in contact with Futch’s Cambodian girlfriend ever since the accident, but there is a language barrier between the two.

He also has not been able to contact Futch directly as he has been in and out of consciousness since his accident. Delorio has received pictures and videos of Futch, as well as spotty news of his treatment and recovery. Therefore, Delorio doesn’t have the full picture of what is happening.

That is one thing Lowenthal’s and Rep. Jackie Spier’s offices are trying to fix.

“We would like for the embassy to send someone to the hospital who is fluent in Cambodian and English to provide Michael with updates and full transparency of what is happening there,” said Tracy Manzer, communications director for Spier.

The embassy hasn’t been much help since the news of Futch’s accident, Delorio said. The embassy has only gone to the hospital twice to check on Futch’s status and report back to Delorio, he said.

The embassy is also unable to help with the money transfer process. Therefore, Delorio has had to go through a long money transferring process to get the money to Futch’s girlfriend.

He is worried that may cause fraud alerts on his account. He is relying on the goodwill of someone that he doesn’t know. She isn’t a new figure, but Delorio has never met her personally. Lowenthal’s and Spier’s offices are also working to make sure that money is going to the right place.

“It’s one of the reasons that we wanted somebody like the embassy or American Citizen Services to be hovering around,” Higginbotham said. “To make sure whatever money John is sending is used to make John better.”

Delorio has already raised $23,815 for Futch’s medical care, as of Tuesday. He said he is very grateful for the support he has received from the community. Former coworkers and army buddies, as well as various community members, have rallied together to raise the money needed.

“People have been coming out of the woodwork all across the country,” Manzer said.

However, there is still a long way to go, and the fundraising effort continues. Anyone that is interested in donating to Delorio’s effort to pay for Futch’s medical bills can do so at gofundme.com. From there they can search for “John Futch’s Medical Expense Fund.”

“John and Michael are probably going to have to raise quite a bit of money to get John home. The more people that know about it, the better,” Higginbotham said. “The number of people (John) has helped along his way is so phenomenal. Now he needs our help.”
https://www.santacruzsentinel.com/2021/ ... -cambodia/

I'm curious. Was he on a moto when he fell back and hit his head?

rozzieoz wrote: ↑Thu Feb 25, 2021 8:54 am I'm curious. Was he on a moto when he fell back and hit his head?

He stepped out of a tuk tuk and fell if I recall well.

Kammekor wrote: ↑Thu Feb 25, 2021 9:16 am

rozzieoz wrote: ↑Thu Feb 25, 2021 8:54 am I'm curious. Was he on a moto when he fell back and hit his head?

He stepped out of a tuk tuk and fell if I recall well.

How awful! We are far more fragile than we realise.

Hospitals don't charge more for Americans. They charge more for all foreigners.