Shetty docs save man’s life
(CNS): A 49-year-old local man and his family now have plenty to look forward after a life-saving operation at the Shetty hospital, which was also the first of its kind in the region. Despite having $1 million worth of insurance with CINICO, Albert Seymour, who was suffering from severe heart failure, was told by an American hospital that he didn’t have enough insurance to cover the costs of a transplant and effectively sent him home to die. However, with the opening of the new hospital in East End and the arrival of Dr Devi Shetty’s experienced heart surgery team, Seymour was given hope. Now just two weeks after his operation to insert an artificial heart pump he is heading home to begin his new life.
The complex and state-of-the-art surgery is a coup for the Health City Cayman Islands and has put the medical centre firmly on the cardiac specialist map with this successful specialist life-saving procedure. Seymour was fitted with a Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD) and the entire procedure equipment, aftercare and follow-up was estimated to be less than half a million dollarsby the surgeons, supporting the claims made by the hospital’s founder, Devi Shetty, that he can cut the cost of healthcare even in the western world.
This life saving procedure is a significant alternative to a heart transplant for people suffering from serious heart disease when medicines fail. Speaking at a press conference about the operation Thursday, doctors explained the problems faced by patients who have serious heart disease.
"The challenge with heart transplants is the availability of a donor heart," said chief cardiac surgeon Dr Binoy Chattuparambil, who performed the lifesaving surgery on Seymour. The senior cardiothoracic and vascular surgeon, who has performed more than 5,000 surgeries in his career, said the waiting period is so long that most patients die before getting assistance.
"In this situation you can provide LVAD as a final choice of treatment or as a temporary measure until you get adonor heart," he explained, adding that of the numerous heart surgeries done each year in the United States, only a small percentage of LVADs are performed.
However, the operation has a high success rate and a great tool for places such as Cayman where transplants are not yet legal, and if they were, finding a compatible heart in such a small jurisdiction would prove even more challenging. In addition, almost 80 percent of LVAD patients get discharged within three to four weeks after the procedure.
"After one more month they should be able to go shopping, and two to three months after surgery, all things being equal, they should be independent," Dr Chattuparambil said.
After barely being able to breathe and forced to sleep sitting up just two short weeks ago, following the operation Seymour is now walking around unaided and climbing stairs. He now carries a battery pack when not at home to keep his artificial pump in full working order, and the doctors said that the device in Seymour’s heart will last for many years.
Dr Chattuparambil was not the only one responsible for saving Seymour’s life, as a complex procedure such as this also requires an experienced cardiothoracic surgical team, with cardiology support, high-end critical care and anaesthesiology support the doctors explained.
The team included Dr Chandy Abraham, Dr Ravi Kishore and Dr Dhruva Krishnan. Additionally, nurses and physiotherapy services are important to provide around the clock care, leading to enhanced recovery and outcomes. All this works in concert with laboratory and imaging services and supporting clinical services such as pulmonology, nephrology and psychological care.
Although the LVAD procedure has been performed at Health City's affiliate hospital in Bangalore, India, many times, it is a first for the Cayman Islands and the region. The team at the hospital said it marked the beginning of a new specialty that aims to bring the latest advances in the management of advanced heart failure to the entire Caribbean at affordable costs.
Dr Ravi Kishore said that the processes regarding the creation of a specialist heart clinic at the HCCI was well underway and would be kicking off within one month as the team actively seek out referrals to offer state-of-the-art and technologically sophisticated treatments for heart patients. Working with regional health authorities in the Caribbean as well as the local Health Services Authority, the doctor also said that the hospital would be creating the first Caribbean register for heart disease.
Check back to CNS next week for more news from HCCI.
Category: Health
Everyone can spout off here as much as they want…the one hard fact is that the medical system here, along with the US system it was copied from, is broken. When doctors and dentists openly do unecessary tests and recommend plans that are clearly just there for fund generation rather than the well being of the patient, then it is time to change the system. And here we could change if we wanted and Cinico would save a fortune as would people on private plans.
What is the flipside. The wife lost her job due to having to travel and care for her husband. They do not have a washing machine and she has to do her laundry on her hands. So ALTHOUGH the surgery was a success these rich people taking praise forgot to mention that and how difficult life is going to be from now in.
Oh dear 14.34, so the "rich" people should have let him pass away? If you are so concerned, get together with you buddies and buy them a washing machine, or let them use yours. Oh, you probably don't have friends.
I am glad someone got help. Insurance here is a ripoff anyways. I applied for my helper and was quoted $560 /month as she is "over weight" though her medical indicates she is perfectly healthy. Legal discrimination for limited benefits. We are now exploring other companies options but having said this you can see why many illegally opt to remain uninsured…
Compare the costs in terms of GDP of an insurance based programme with a state run and financed programme. The state system is much much cheaper.
Only because the services are rationed.
http://www.m.webmd.com/heart-disease/features/lvad-end-stage-heart-failure-new-advances-in-treatment
I question the "one million dollars in insurance coverage". If the patient was covered under the standard health insurance contract, (and I have a feeling that with his condition that's probably what he had) he would have had a million dollars in LIFETIME BENEFITS. However, that coverage only allows $100,000 (one hundred thousand) PER ANNUM (I.e. In a calendar year) in benefits. Therefore his insurance would not cover anything more than that at any one time. And if he had used any of those benefits for the year, he would have only had what remained.
LIFETIME BENEFITS means just that – benefits during your lifetime. We have to look at the annual benefits. We don't have a figure for what it would have cost in the U.S. and we don't have a figure for what the actual cost was at HC. You can be sure no US hospital will accept a patient for these services with available benefits of $100,000.00. Can we get the actual cost at HC?
Health city charged 10 times more than a similar procedure in India. Helath city saw an opportunity to finally do one surgery and pulled a fast one. CINICO is aiding and abetting this behaviour. And Cayman tax payers are paying ,as CINICO is completely paid for by CI Govt. This was a not a heart transplant .
If you compare this to charges in India, you should also compare the cost of living of both the countries, and when you do, you will realise it is equally expensive in both the countries. If you could cut down the cost of living of the Cayman Islands to equal that of India, then the fee charged for this procedure may probably also be similar to that in India.
Your argument is flawed – the cost in the US for such a procedure is less than what Health city charged CINICO.
Health city was supposed to be providing affordable healthcare. CINICO ( or Mr Seymour) has just been charged twice as much as an US hospital would have charged for the same procedure- LDVL . So what is Shetty's business model ? Get cosy with CINICO and grab Cayman Business? If that is the business plan – and it has to be that since no else is coming to this expensive island or to health city for treatment – then why did we give around $800 million in future concessions to Shetty? If health city is going to gouge CINICO and treat Caymanians, let's not pretend that medical tourism is for real. Healthcity obviouly cannot keep costs down because Cayman is expensive to start with – so it's original business plan is out.
I also want Health City to work. There is a huge amount of goodwill to buy into their message that they will provide quality tertiary level care so that we can get care right here at home that we would have to travel overseas for — many times at great additional expense. In addition, we can get the care quickly — such as neurosurgery when speed of delivery is critical to the quality of life for the patient post surgery.
However, it seems we were misled — we seem to be facing a pricing system that is placing this care beyond most Caymanians' financial resources.
most disappointing.
i am happy for Mr. Seymour, but I doubt that CInnico is going to be able to foot the bill for most of the pensioners and civil servants in this pricing framework.
by the way, there seems to be something wrong with this article — it claims the man had a heart transplant — but what he had was a valve replacement — a different procedure. Sure, a million might not get you a new heart in the US — but ….
anyway, can CINNICO get into the act and try to negotiate prices for referrals for the more common heart complaints for which Caymanians have to be flown to the US for. I would really much prefer to get this care on island should the need arise.
so we still do have high hopes that Shetty will work put for us.
Agreed. A similar procedure in India costs about USD, 75,000. In the USA cost is $250,000 and Health city charged USD 600,000 !! Go figure.
Hey, bright box, your argument would carry a lot more weight if answer me this one question: Would you be willing to trade your standard of living and pay cheque for that of India? Dis ain't Bombay, Bobo! Dis bees Caymans, deh Chahley-mon.
What planet are you living on?
Don't you know the difference between India and Cayman? Even if the procedure cost more, so what? It saved a man's life!
Do not be silly….it is clear that the procedure in the USA was over $1,000,000 that is why it was done here…..the insurance company could not pay the USA cost…please read before you comment!
If that were me I would have applied for a UK passport, got patched up enough to make the 12 hour flight and pitched into the nearest hospital hoping for a heart transplant. Sucks for the UK as that's what taxes are for, but being sent home to slowly die isn't really an option either.
Good on the Shetty crew for buying this guy some more time.
Excellent story! I seriously wonder what would be the outcome for Mr. Seymour if the Shetty Hospital staff were not able to assist. Shame on the C.I. Government; Mr. Seymour would die!!! Who will be next? What is the Government doing to save Caymanians lives? CINICO is obviously not the best or close to the better Health Insurance for the people. The Cayman Islands has one of the best GDP in the world, is in the top seven Financial Centers in the world and can't provide proper Medical Health Insurance for its people – wake up misinformed, misguided, selfish and lazy Politicians……!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
13:34.I really hope you are just being mischievous and that you are not as ignorant as you appear.Despite the fact that the second sentence of the article states "Despite having $1 million worth of insurance with CINICO," the gentleman was sent home to die. FYI Cinico is a Government owned company,so when you ask what Government is doing I have to wonder what else do you expect from Government.Do you believe that they should have had a spare heart in stock just waiting for Mr Seymour to come calling .Before you criticize ,take the time to understand what you are reading.
Why is it always the governments responsibility? Why isn't it your own responsibility to take care of yourself instead of waiting for a handout. The guy is lucky to even have cinico. Most Americans do not have health insurance. Others around the world would jump at the chance for the many opportunities available in the Cayman Islands. We incentivize people not to work.
The vast majority of Americans have health insurance, even before "Obamacare."
13:34, I see the lights are on but nobody is home.
**cue crickets**.
Congrats to Health City's expertise. I know they also did a shoulder replacement three weeks ago on a local patient who has recovered well. This facility has already shown its benefit to Cayman and will surely serve us well in the future. Kudos to those who had the foresight to attract Dr. Shetty to Cayman and support his vision.
On the insurance issue, CNS please question the matter of health insurance coverage for retired employees of public authorities. You will discover that CINICO does not cover retirees of the authorities; only retirees of Government departments are covered. Therefore retired employees of ALL public authorities are left to fend for themselves for insurance coverage. Government is aware of this dilemma but what are they doing?
Sad Statement on the USA health system model. And I begrudgingly use the word health.
We are allowing ourselves to be robbed of our money and our lives
Uh, why do you expect US hospitals to automatically accept Cayman health insurance ?
I would not base a chicken run on anything American, muchless model our health care system after theirs.
Amen! God is good!
You are an idiot !
14:44.He says while talking to the man in the mirror.
No he says that to someone who believes the universe appeared by magic and is run by a wizard in the sky.
You mean the doctors and nurses.
21,000 children die each day from poverty, hunger and easily preventable diseases.
Where is your god now?
The poverty, hunger and disease infestation you speak of can be abolished in 1 week by the elite rich of the world! Don't act like God is at fault here, it is MAN-KIND. Those "elite rich" do not care about the hundreds of thousands of innocent children who suffer and die year after year, THEY DON'T CARE!
You need to humble yourself and realise why the world is in the mess it is today, it ain't GOD my friend, it is man-kind!
I ask you this 07:44, WHO IS YOUR GOD? Man? Do you worship other human beings, others who are no better or more than you are? What does that say of you?
so what's your God doing about it also? not a damn thing! Sit and down shut and don't bring God into this!
Really really happy for you and family Abo. Take it easy now, let's eat more roast chicken, fish and vegetables.
This is one of the downfalls of Democracies that are too vultured Capitalist. They do not provide any free health care for their citizens. At least in Canada they tax their citizens for health care.
MY Canadian friend has been waiting for years for surgery, and my father has been waiting over 3 weeks in the UK for the results of his biopsy for cancer, because the state funded systems are overloaded. It may be 'free' – paid for with50 percent income tax – but govt healthcare sure as hell aint perfect
We are taxed here and no free health care. The government needs to stop lying to the World that we are tax free. We pay up to 75% of our salary to thetax system.
There is no such thing aqs "free" healthcare, someone is paying, usually us the Citizens, paying for those that have abused their bodies and health and then expect the public to shoulder their medical bills!
It is indeed wonderful that Mr. Seymour had a successful operation and will be able to continue his life. However, I don't believe any hospital would not accept a patient with one million dollars worth of insurance.
May be CINICO could have paid for the transplant if the government slugs had no credit cards.
A half-million Cayman dollars for a temporary solution?
That's almost THREE TIMES what that procedure would have cost in the U.S.!
Health City charging a half-million CAYMAN dollars (more than US$600k) for a temporary measure and then touting it as a revolutionary, cost-saving solution is like asking someone to be thankful that you patched their flat-tire and only charged them double what a new one would've cost.
Let's call this what it is — Health City found out how much insurance Mr. Seymour had and charged them one cent less than what would've made them squeal. CINICO is a money-hemorrhaging government 'enterprise' and that's likely due to approving procedures such as these. CINICO could've put Mr. Seymour's family up in the Four Seasons and paid for a LVAD implementation to be done at Cedar-Sinai and STILL had a hundred grand to spare.
All this means is that we, the Caymanian taxpayers (yes, Cayman has taxes — fuel tax, import duty, user fees, license fees — and anyone who suggests otherwise is a moron) will be picking up the tab.
So, good job, Health City and CINICO. You've managed to figure out a way to provide the same level of care available onshore for only triple the price.
Of course, you won't hear that mentioned in the press conference…
Did you actually read the article? "Despite having $1 million worth of insurance with CINICO, Albert Seymour, who was suffering from severe heart failure, was told by an American hospital that he didn’t have enough insurance to cover the costs of a transplant and effectively sent him home to die".
Did YOU actually read the post? They didnt do a transplant, they did a completely different procedure which, although the transplant would have costmore than 1 million, according to the poster the procedure Shetty did as an alternative culd have been done in theUSS and would have cost less than helf what it would have cost in the US.
Yes the original poster looks like he read it, analyzed the article and said that we should not compare apples and oranges. The guy still did not receive a heart transplant. He received another procedure which if he did it in the USA would be cheaper. It is unfortunate that the hospital he went to did not provide him that option also.
I do find it interesting that he was in the USA for the heart procedure with cinico. I understood that once procedures are available on island, you could not get a referral to go overseas. Could anyone clarify? I don't understand how he was turned down in the USA and then got a referral to shetty.
Good on him and lucky for him a solution was found.
A pig will always find mud.
I checked the link, it is dated 2000. It is also just an estimate based on someone's experience prior to year 2000.
THEY SAVED THE MAN'S LIFE!!
You can't put a $ value on that! Regardless of whether it could have been done in the US or not, the fact is the US hospitals wouldn't accept him / his insurance. What do you want him to do, lay down and die.
I don't know Mr Seymour but I'm glad someone had the expertise to save his life and whoever you are, you'd better hope that you don't have CINICO because if you or someone in your family have a heart problem and need attention the US will turn you away just like they did Mr. Seymour.
AND then, if you're lucky, you can lick up your words and go to Health City. Wouldn't that be a slap in the face for you!
To " half million dollars," thank u for posting and thank u for taking the time to research this information. I believe that rather than being a cost-effective local option, the Shetty hospital is aiming to be a money mint for the owners. This confirms another atory which I heard directly from someone enquiring about a heart procedure for her mother. The figures quoted sounded way more than realistic US $figures.
i planned to check them out myself, as I am beginning to think that Shetty Hospital may not really be the God-send I had hoped as someone in the age bracket that might one day need its services.
i am beginning to feel quite disappointed.
Shows the barbaric nature of the decision of the government not to provide proper health care for the people. Income tax, it has its benefits.
What are you talking about. CINICO is a government programme.
An inadequate one.
Why is it that government has to provide everything for everyone? I find it rather sickening. People drink, smoke, use drugs and destroy their bodies and health while squandering what little they can earn and then expect that it is government's responsiblity to spend millions on them to get them well enough to continue the same lifestyle. Now I am not saying this was Mr. Seymour's case as I don't know him, but I am saying this in response to comment posted at 23:33. And I am a born Caymanian to Caymanian parents and grandparents. And I am old enough to remember when Caymanian men were proud to work hard at any job they could find to support their families. It just seems like this generation takes responsibilityfor nothing.
You are making a thinking mistake. It is NOT the goverment that pays, but your fellow citizens, It is call a caring society, or in the us socialisme.
Shareholders of privatized insurrance companies make millions of you.
So the better system is that we take care of eachother.
I don't think we should take care of the lazy and the reckless. I'm ok with the elderly. But the young and able bodied should fend for themselves.
As a European it still amazes me that there can be a limit on ones health insurrance.
Healthcare should be for everybody, not just the ones that can afford it, which is the american system, copied to here by our caring christian politicians.
I am glad for the guy, the east end hospital could give him the help he needed, but still half a million dollars ?
Healthcare should be governmental and keep it away from privatized companies.
Well to have universal healthcare we would have to have income tax which isn't really compatible with our economy. It's sort of a necessary evil for us I think.
As a European it amazes me that people have to wait for ages to access necessary healthcare, or be denied it altogether, because the state has to ration out the available resources, whereas they could access it immediately under a private system.
If you can afford it.
My partner and I have excellent private health insurance in the UK and it only costs us £326.00 per month and this is after two major operations, CT scans every three months for nearly four years, top specialists, medication that costs over £5000.00 per month (which the NHS won't pay for as they say it is too expensive) and many other procedures. Care in private hospitals with your own private room and bathroom. Little to no waiting for appointments and you are treated like a person, not a number. While the NHS is very good for certain things, I hate using it, and I would never have received the care that I am getting on the NHS.
It amazes me that people believe that government run socilazed medicine provides unlimited quality healthcare. I have a co-worker whose father eventually was diagnosed with terminal cancer in the UK. I say eventually because it took over six months to see the right doctors and get the right tests. Why? Because the HSA has limited money and resources just like any evil private organization. Currently have a freind who has a parent terminal with cancer in Canada. They have waited 8 weeks to see a palative care doctor. They were told that the only one available had gone on a 3 week vacation and no one else was available. They can't get any home care assistance either. They are not paying anything but there are certainly limits on what is given. A former employee who has gone on to be a an MD in the UK would always tell me how barbaric the US system is compared to Europe. When I asked about stories as mentioned above his response is that people have to accept that there are limited resources available and people will have to wait or not get certain treatments. Guess who decides that, it certainly isn't the patient. Whether its an insurance company or a government there are limits on what is available. Those limits are based on money available.
This is why i'm moving to Europe, pay my taxes and when I need proper health care I will get it. I take paying taxes any day than being left by the way side to die if my insurance policy coverage is less than one million.
Tell me where you going to.
I believe there are two points to be made here:
1) The cost for a similar procedure in the US was evidently over $1,000,000. Whether the cap by CINICO was reasonable is, in my mind, fairly subjective, as at some point an actual $ value for a human life comes down only to subjective judgement. There won't necessarily be a definitive right or wrong answer, because it will be based on an individual's values and perspective.
2) The cost through Shetty Hospital, as we like to call it, was less than $500,000. Through the reality of being a less expensive procedure (a LVAD vs. full transplant) and savings from a combination of specialization efficiencies, national legislation, and internal policies to reduce risk and overhead costs, the treatment of this individual actually cost significantly less than it did in the US.
In this particular case, point #2 meant that the obstacle of point #1 was overcome and allowed for this man to receive a life-extending treatment. In a broader sense, point #2 indicates the viability of Shetty Hospital to attract medical tourism AND reduce local expenditure on health care procedures. The savings from lowering local costs would hopefully then be passed on to everyone via their health insurance plans (lower premiums, smaller copays, etc.). It is also an affirmation that a huge part of health care costs (in the US in particular) is the direct result of policy and overhead, not the actual procedure itself. We can take advantage of that by being a better alternative in the realm of healthcare.
This is a ridiculous assertion. The cost at the Shetty Hospital was TRIPLE what it would've cost onshore. This guy couldn't get a heart transplant in the U.S. — not because he didn't have enough insurance — but because no heart 'donor' was available.
Had the opted to have the LVAD done in the States, it would've cost roughly a third of what Shetty charged.
So, this guy opted to have the Caymanian taxpayers (through CINICO, a government enterprise) foot thebill for triple the cost all because he wanted to have the surgery done without leaving home.
Anyone who thinks that Shetty is or will ever be cheaper than the U.S. is deluding themselves. Since when is ANYTHING in Cayman cheaper than it is in the U.S.
Cayman is a high-cost jurisdiction — and that's just a fact of life. Insurers would be well advised to research the average costs of procedures before green-lighting Shetty's Hospital to charge inflated fees for procedures easily available in the U.S. for a fraction of the cost.
The cost for a TRANSPLANT was a million. This was not a transplant – it's the medical equivalent of gaffer tape. I'm very glad that it has bought this gentleman more time, but it's not what he really needed
Breaking news! Doctor saves mans life!
It is certainly news for the Cayman Islands. Those who had to travel to the U.S. hospitals in a wheelchair are certainly appreciates having quality cardio hospital on this island. Your sarcasm is inappropriate here. One never knows what is around corner for him.
Stupid comment. If you have nothing to say why bother to comment?
I guess theres got to be a first time for eveything.
Fantastic, life-affirming news. Wish him all the best and thanks to the medical team that saved his life.
This is wonderful news. We have so much to be thankful for. Thank you Dr. Shetty and team. May this hospital continue to prosper
Hope you have a long and healthy life Mr. Seymour!
Great news indeed for heart patients that the cost of this life saving surgery is available in the Cayman Islands and also that at such a drastically reduced cost.
Congrats to Cayman Health City and Albrert. This is the type of news story worth reading.