I worked at a hospital, and one missionary who ended up as a patient nearly died from a ruptured appendix. He asked the mission prez 4 times to go to a doctor following severe abdominal pain and was told to keep "working". Only after he became septic and couldn't move and was running a 104 temp while vomitting was he taken to a doc who admitted him to a hospital. He nearly died. Why do mission prezes ignore potentially life threatening illnesses? I've heard of a few situations like this...does anyone have a similar story?

I hear of this so often on the board. I was fortunate that when I became ill with a blocked kidney, my mission president got me excellent medical care right away and made sure I did follow-up the rest of my mission. President Righi and his wife were very kind. The worst of it was my parents were informed of my surgery but not of the outcome and SLC was very much less than helpful. My mom was scared and kept in the dark and is understandably angry with the church to this day about it.

The best thing I did on my mission was in the last few months I had a companion who was a large kid who lost massive amounts of weight and a cause could not be found. I was told he was basically just home sick and work him hard. I didn't feel right about it and decided to talk with our new mission president. He was having interviews with us and I *insisted* the president send him to the same hospital where my previous mission president sent me. My new president was a bit exasperated with my insistence but he did it. It turned out this kid has a very serious medical condition and was sent home for treatment. It may have saved his life.

So, if missionaries are sick, they need to *insist* and their families need to *insist* they get proper medical care.

That's good! So it's not all bad...

A lot depends on the mission president, and mine was particularly sensitive to the medical needs of his missionaries. We had a missionary with a rather primitive prosthetic hand that caused him a lot of embarrassment. President Righi got this young man a then state-of-the-art prosthesis that very much changed how this missionary felt.

Also, I was fortunate in that Argentina, where I was serving, had socialized medical care, so prior to being hospitalized I was able to get help on my own for low-cost. I went to one doctor who had me get shots of penicillin twice a day for a week (no fun!). The doctor in the lab told me this other doctor had misdiagnosed me with an STD and I should find a better doctor. It happened there was a young doctor next door to where I was living. I saw him and he sent me to a hospital about 20 miles away for an IVP. I came back with the x-rays and blood results and he told me I needed surgery or I would die.

So, I was hospitalized in a private hospital in Cordoba where other missionaries were treated for serious illnesses. When I was interviewed by the chief surgeon, who spoke fluent English, he told me, "Don't worry, elder, I haven't send any of you home in a box yet." Apparently, he had saved the life of a missionary who was bleeding out from an ulcer. He and the chief of urology took some large stones out of my kidney. I was in the hospital for a week and then stayed at the mission home for a few weeks to recover. Afterward, I stayed in the city to be watched and for follow-up until the last few months of my mission. I had been given the chance to go home but refused, being a gung-ho straight arrow pain-in-the ass. :-) I never saw a bill, my family never saw it, and the president told me not to worry about it.

I was in a situation to help myself due to the country's medical system and I was lucky to have such a caring mission president.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/15/2011 10:08PM by robertb.

And if he had died, it would have made a great martyr story.

I wonder if MP's are instructed to keep the missionaries working till their feet bleed off, and if they are sick, to by no means allow them to get medical care as it may affect the churches bottomline and health insurance costs.

Here in the US, an adult goes to a doctor, clinic, or hospital when he or she decides to go. How does it work on a mission? It sounds like missionaries ask the mission president if they can go like they are asking permission. Is this the case?

How are medical expenses handled for missionaries? Does the mission provide outside insurance, or does the LDS church self-insure? Do missionaries carry insurance cards? Or are they totally at the mercy of the mission president for payment of medical bills?

6 years ago when I was still on my mission we carried insurance cards issued by the morg. I think it was Deseret Mutual, the cards had a behive on front. My MP put his retired schoolteacher wife in charge of screening who got to see the doc and who didn't. The only way to get treatment without permission was to show up to the hospital in an ambulance.

I figured thier reluctance to send people for treatment is because the morg cares more about money than they do people. For example I was biking up S. Rice in Bellaire TX and when I was following my comp across Bellaire Blvd I got struck by a car making a right on a red. I could walk fine so the cops gave me a ride home instead of calling an ambulance. within a short time the leg that had taken the brunt of the impact swole op to the size of a grapefruit at my L knee. Mission mom told me to rest and use ice packs and heating pads. Next morning it hurt like hell to walk, let alone bike and I had a greenish and black streak running down the inside of my leg that led to a purple and black spot that started to spread from one side of my foot to the other. I called and told her multiple about it and all she said was that I should take an extra hour to study and take it easy while biking, she wouldnt even make a short cross town drive to look at it herself, I guess driving into town from Sugarland was too much trouble. It wasn't till later when We had dinner at a members house who was also a nurse that I was informed my injury was potentially very dangerous and I needed to see a doctor. I was scared to confront mission mom with the nurses opinion because we had been forbidden to seek medical advice from members who were medical professionals. So I ended up just adding asprin to my regimin to prevent clots. It took a while to heal and luckily no blood clots ended up killing me, no thanks to the fucking penny pinching morg.

My brother's companion stepped on a rusty nail, severely piercing his foot. They asked the MP to go to the ER for a tetanus shot, and the MP told him to "Walk it off." Asshat.

I somehow doubt Argentina lets every foreign visitor to that country avail themselves of free medical care. I know this is the case here in Canada. If Americans get sick here, they or their insurance pays, big time. Just because medicine is socialized does not mean it is "free" to all, I in fact pay a lot to tax dollars to keep the system afloat. Someone somewhere saw a bill, and paid it.

This was the late 1970s, so I don't know what they do now. In fact, I'm not really sure of what they did then, except I was ill and the public hospital helped me for the initial labs. I paid something, but it wasn't like here in the U.S. At the time the exchange rate was also such that I could live on less than $200 a month. I see what you are saying. My main point was I was able to find help for myself. I'm certainly grateful for having received it. I'm sure someone paid for the subsequent surgery, probably the church.

I was in his mission after him and I never paid for any medical care while I was in argentina either.

They, like all civilized countries, have free medical care for the poor. I never had any major surgery like robert, but all the basics that I was treated for (one case of bronchitis that turned into walking pnuemonia and some dental exams if I recall correctly) were free, neither I nor the church paid for them.

Steve,

Did you have President Gazzoni? If you did, how was he in the long haul? I was in Lujan de Cuyo, Cordoba (twice) and San Miguel de Tucuman. 1977-1979.

Aside from the dictatorship, I thought Argentina was a nice place to live. I liked the pace of life, people were friendly and well-educated.

I had 2 sons serve in Argentina in the early and mid 90's, Cordoba and Mendoza. To this day my second son says he nearly died of depression.

He really did not think he was going to live, it was that bad, and maybe mostly he just did not want to live. They offered him no help whatsoever, because it was all in his mind. Whatever.

How's your son doing now? I know it has been many years but the damn depression can hang on.

He is doing wonderfully because he went back to school for 11 more years and is now an oral surgeon in Spokane. (He has taken out the wisdom teeth of John Stockton's kids, his claim to fame).

But I do not think he has had another severe bout with depression, although he did twice before the mission. He may be on meds, I don't know.

He is TBM for all the world can see, but he is MY boy, most like me of all my 5 kids, extremely curious, and I have little doubt he knows the truth by now, even though he must remain in the church for family and business reasons. He is a brilliant young man and absolutely loves the profession he chose, which I think has really helped.

About a year ago I was involved in operating on a senior missionary for a non-critical matter. His Deseret Mutual paid up promptly for the best of private care.He had no idea I was exMo.

As a newly graduated doctor-the only Mormon doctor in my state I was expected to provide care for the missionaries,gratis.I was never once thanked by mission authorities.

If TSCC feels it has a hold over you they will exploit it.

Oh yeah, right on you are. My ex is a dentist in here in SLC and the church is all the time sending him missies to have him fix up their mouths for free. It is just expected that he do it.

It's because of shit like this that I don't want my son serving a mission for TSCC. He's already decided not to.

serving a mission I still qualified for National Health coverage. Blew me away. I only used it twice for really minor things. Still, I couldn't believe they were covering an American Mormon missionary. This was in the mid 80's.

in Oakland CA the bullet went right through our Ford Pinto (just above the Pinto's infamous exploding gas tank).

I don't think our MP was even tempted to pull us out of downtown Oakland (since gawd's revelation had just declared bringing the gospel to the people of Oakland was a good thing).

One the missionaries that baptized me served in Oakland about 1975. He said they would knock on doors and then hear the toilet flush. When the occupant answered the door, it was "Oh, sh*t!" because he had just flushed his drugs due to mistaking Mormon missionaries for cops. The missionaries who baptized me were Monson and Reshke, if that rings any bells.

Glad you didn't get blown up :-)

... we looked EXACTLY like immigration officers right down to the red faremonts. One day while driving the freeway (i880 as I recall) we pulled up right next to two guys in the exact same car with dark suits and white shirts we stared at each other and all began laughing. They were older than us, but just as dorky.

Haven't thought of that in a while.

I was really sick toward the end of my mission. thank goodness my comp & a member lady got together & loaded me into the car and took me to the hospital before it was too late. under her physician's care I was admitted immediately.

and it is all about MONEY! when the MP heard he hauled ass to the hospital to see me & find out what was going on. I was too sick to care.The MP had never been so concerned about my situation before. the mission office arranged for me to stay with a prominent member who was an MD and had large home as soon as possible to get me out of the hospital SO IT WOULD NOT COST THE CHURCH SO MUCH MONEY.

Even as sick as I was, It became very apparent that LDS INC doesnt give a damn about a missionary's personal well being.
It was very troubling.

BUT FAR WORSE was the realization when I got home that my parents were perfectly prepared for me to "die in the service
of the lord & to reap the windfall of sympathy & attention.
THAT shocked me. Welcome to reality! After all, they are
MORmONS! & thats how real MORmONS really care about family.

I could get into the details that prove exactly what I am saying. SUffice it to say for right here that its one HELL of a startling realization that your life is just fodder for other ppl's GOD DAMN MORmON WET DREAM, and that included my stupid ass MORmON parents.

Our relationship has NEVER been the same, not that it was that great before. I was totally blind sided as I saw the REAL, SICK, UGLY side of my stupid ass ULTIMATELY SELFISH & SELF CENTERED parents that I never expected to be there.

You have parents like that, and you still call yourself "Lucky"???!!!