Forced incarceration’: American archivist responds to Las Piñas hospital amid passport issue

[Lee]

7 minutes ago, RBM said:

Sadly Lee I could name a few foreigners here that would not agree P146K is a paltry sum.

Almost every foreigner that I have ever met here locally falls into this category unfortunately.

Might be prudent for a Philippine historical group to try and purchase Mr.Tewell's archive collection before either he dies or his Flickr account disappears.

I wonder if P146K would be enough to get this done? Probably not.

[Joey G]

1 hour ago, Lee said:

Almost every foreigner that I have ever met here locally falls into this category unfortunately.

Like Rocky said.... "you should planned ahead"

 

[Lee]

Here is Mr. Tewell's deportation notice dated 27 Jan, 2023 that he posted on FB.

Would have thought that he would have had to leave the PI months ago. Isn't there a time frame when this order would have to be obeyed?  IDK

 

 

[mountainside]

In his home country he'd have been immediately released, but that wouldn't be the end of it.  

"In the past five years, more than half of U.S. adults report they've gone into debt because of medical or dental bills, the KFF poll found.  A quarter of adults with health care debt owe more than $5,000. And about 1 in 5 with any amount of debt said they don't expect to ever pay it off."  "Millions are being driven from their homes or into bankruptcy, the poll found."

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/06/16/1104679219/medical-bills-debt-investigation

I can't help but wonder:  Would the man being discussed be better off if he'd suffered his medical problems in the US?

[Lee]

2 hours ago, mountainside said:

In his home country he'd have been immediately released, but that wouldn't be the end of it.  

In his home country he would have been eligible for Medicare and all or most of the costs of the surgery would have been paid.

 

[MikeB]

Under Philippine law (RA 9439) it's illegal to detain patients who want to leave except for 1 curious proviso:

Patients, except those who stay in private rooms, who are partially or fully recovered and who wish to leave the hospital or medical clinic but are incapable to pay, in part or in full, their hospital bills or medical expenses/ hospitalization expenses shall be allowed to leave the hospital or medical clinic and shall be issued the corresponding medical certificate and other pertinent documents for their release from the hospital or medical clinic upon execution of a promissory note covering the unpaid obligations. The promissory note shall be secured by either a mortgage, or a guarantee of a co-maker who shall be jointly and severally liable for the unpaid obligations.

So if you splurge on a private room (or your condition dictates it) you may be staying a while.

https://www.chanrobles.com/republicacts/republicactno9439irr.html

[manofthecoldland]

Born in July of 1943. Not quite 80 years old and with some serious medical needs. Either not able or unwilling, to pay for the medical services he wanted, needed and agreed to.

I would suppose that he was aware of the way medical treatment and payment for services rendered works in the PI, or how he could get medicare benefits back in his home country.

He is elderly and pursuing a noble hobby of archiving old photographs of the PI. Most laudable and admirable, in my opinion. However, sad to say, that doesn't mean he can avoid the responsibility of his freely chosen use of PI medical services. 

Many PI citizens die prematurely, due to their financial inability to access either the needed medical services or medications, that they need to continue living.

It is a big mistake to think that entitlement to medical services is a given. This is not a universal right, even if we wish it was. Westerners sometimes overlook this when in a different country and culture, and should always keep that in mind. Especially when elderly, or with existing medical issues and needs. Most expats do.

What really surprises me, is that he was probably well aware of all of the above, but decided to take the risk to pursue his passion for archiving old photographs.... a commendable service provided to the PI citizens of the future, at the risk of his ending up in a knotty situation that should have been avoided with a small bit of foresight and planning.

In light what he was doing, despite his age and medical risks, I wouldn't be surprised if he found some charitable angels to bail him out, after the press releases. 

I can see this from different angles, and am still not sure whether to crown him with a fool's cap or a tarnished nimbus halo.

[fillipino_wannabe]

33 minutes ago, manofthecoldland said:

Born in July of 1943. Not quite 80 years old and with some serious medical needs. Either not able or unwilling, to pay for the medical services he wanted, needed and agreed to.

I would suppose that he was aware of the way medical treatment and payment for services rendered works in the PI, or how he could get medicare benefits back in his home country.

He is elderly and pursuing a noble hobby of archiving old photographs of the PI. Most laudable and admirable, in my opinion. However, sad to say, that doesn't mean he can avoid the responsibility of his freely chosen use of PI medical services. 

Many PI citizens die prematurely, due to their financial inability to access either the needed medical services or medications, that they need to continue living.

It is a big mistake to think that entitlement to medical services is a given. This is not a universal right, even if we wish it was. Westerners sometimes overlook this when in a different country and culture, and should always keep that in mind. Especially when elderly, or with existing medical issues and needs. Most expats do.

What really surprises me, is that he was probably well aware of all of the above, but decided to take the risk to pursue his passion for archiving old photographs.... a commendable service provided to the PI citizens of the future, at the risk of his ending up in a knotty situation that should have been avoided with a small bit of foresight and planning.

In light what he was doing, despite his age and medical risks, I wouldn't be surprised if he found some charitable angels to bail him out, after the press releases. 

I can see this from different angles, and am still not sure whether to crown him with a fool's cap or a tarnished nimbus halo.

That's not his story though is it. He says he paid for most of the bill, just not for the operation which they made a mess of.

[GeoffH]

8 hours ago, fillipino_wannabe said:

That's not his story though is it. He says he paid for most of the bill, just not for the operation which they made a mess of.

Even if what he says is true that doesn't give him the right to "just not pay the bill", at a minimum he'd need to take some sort of legal action against the hospital (and/or the doctors). 

That would apply even in most of our home countries, ie the fact that there is an obligation to prove some sort of negligence (not just alledge it).

[Dave Hounddriver]

1 hour ago, GeoffH said:

at a minimum he'd need to take some sort of legal action against the hospital (and/or the doctors). 

That would apply even in most of our home countries

I suspect not.  If I get a bill in Canada that I disagree with, I tell them:  "Sue me because I am not paying".  I do not incur the cost of suing them here in Canada and I would not do it in the Philippines either, but that's me.

As to the passport thing, most sane people would just report the passport as lost and get a new one.  Once that was done, if I had money I would look into hiring a lawyer for malpractice, although I would not expect much to come of it in the Philippines.

If I even suspected the whole fiasco was going to become a nightmare I would just go to another country.  There are a lot of them to choose from.