Professional Fees
A Dubliner who emigrated to UK early 70's to get myself (a) an education and (b) work appropriate to my intelligence I sympathise with what's "between the lines" in this thread! My then 82-year-old widowed mother became frail and needy 3 years back. Happily she received wonderful medical care in a Dublin teaching hospital and for the last year of her life in a residential nursing home...funded by a lifetime of high contributions to VHI insurance!! Questions and discussions with medics concerned in her treatment were no problem (I work in the NHS in the UK and know what to ask) However when it came to Social Workers, nursing staff, GP's etc. they positively EXUDED disapproval of attempts to discuss their decisions and financial implications of my mother's care. One of the reasons I appreciate this Askaboutmoney forum is this reticence to discuss money and terms openly in Ireland. Now in my late 50's, having travellled widely and seen how other people approach money, this aspect of Irish culture still puzzles me. If I go to my GP with a potentially life-threatening condition (or even something trivial but anxiety-provoking) I want WHATEVER treatment is necessary to alleviate it. That's not a situations where one should have to haggle about how much it will cost and these are situations where not knowing the financial implications can add to the stress and the illness. It does not seem ethical that professionals in Ireland (it doesn't happen here in UK!!!) can ask for "what they think they can get". Apropos the arduous training of medics and what is being purported to be their low initial salary, we need to remember that all healthcare professionals are trained at the expense of the State, are provided with a job for life and excellent pension schemes as well as social status, and commit through the Hippocratic oath to serve, not to exploit, their patients and clients.