Health Care - In Mexico

Me and doctors – we don’t always go well together.

Maybe it’s because I was born at home with midwives, and that set me on a path for alternatives to mainstream medicine.

Maybe it’s because my first dentist worked out of a school bus and had psychedelic pictures for us to color while we waited, and by comparison mainstream medicine is just so boring.

Maybe it’s because when I went to get my first vaccines at 17 before traveling to Thailand the rabid nurse verbally attacked my mother for being a bad parent, endangering all of society with her unvaccinated daughter, and nearly reducing our great nation to rubble. Bedside manner? Fail.

Maybe it’s because homeopathic remedies always seemed to work for me.

Maybe it’s because the last dentist I went to in the States couldn’t figure out how to explain to me (in small words I would understand) the dental work he assured me I needed.

Maybe it’s because when I went for a physical exam a few years ago the doctor lectured me on my wanton ways for being sexually active (at age 25 and married) and for drinking alcohol (unlike most tea-tottling twenty-somethings I know). When I asked what kind of lifestyle changes I could make to reduce stress in my life she said “Lifestyle changes are too hard. Let me prescribe you anti-anxiety medication.” Judgmental. Unprofessional. Pill-pusher.

Maybe it's because of all the horrifying stories I hear from friends.

For whatever reason, I expect to be disappointed most of the time.

However, I’m very pleased with the medical care I’ve been getting down here in Mexico. Not what I expected.

I think that when we finally go flat broke in month or two we may have to start using the public health care system, which, from the stories I’ve heard, can sometimes be just awful. Until now, however, we’ve had enough money to pay for private health care, and we’ve lucked out with some wonderful people – first our doula and doctor pair that supported us throughout my pregnancy and labor, and now our pediatrician. Can I hear three cheers for fantastic doctors?

So we drive all the way to Guadalajara to see our pediatrician. But we absolutely think it’s worth it. Our pediatrician is fully supportive of his patient families informing themselves and making their own choices about health care.

Informed patients? What planet is this man from?

One example of this is that he respects whatever choice his patients make regarding vaccines. He’s willing to modify the vaccination schedule however the parents want. That should be a given, in my opinion, but really it isn’t. Also, he provides the fancy new vaccines that contain no mercury, the ones available in the States. We could get Hanix vaccinated for free through the Seguro, but we’d have no choice in which vaccines he’d get, or when, and apparently they usually use the old mercury vaccines that we no longer use in the States. This is as best as I can figure out, anyway. Information can really be hard to come by.

So we are vaccinating Hanix, but we’re not giving him the full set of vaccines that is recommended, at least not yet, or all at once. We gave him his first vaccine yesterday and will give him the next one next month.

I don’t mean to open up a debate about vaccines, because I know many people have very strong opinions about it, while others are very unsure what to believe. I do strongly believe, though, that every patient (or, in this case, the patient’s parents) has a right to accept or decline medical recommendations. In the end, it’s up to us to be informed and make the choice that’s right for us. I appreciate having doctors who agree.