A Horror Story To Remember:


An owner of a very prominent business here in San Jose, a “gringo”, was driving home from a “bar” on Saturday night when he missed a very sharp turn in the road near San Antonio Belen.  His car hit a light pole and he was knocked unconscious.  The police arrived and could not communicate with him.  They found his cell phone and started calling the numbers on it.  After about 35 to 40 minutes, crucial time, he was finally transported to “Hospital Mexico” and was in the so-called emergency room for 4 hours.  They finally got to him and stitched him up and put him in a room with 6 other patients.

It turned out that he fractured both his hips and had numerous lacerations and broken ribs.  Well, he was on his way to “recovery”.  His legs were weighted down over the end of the bed for some time.  He went into surgery; they tried to repair one of his hips but were unsuccessful.  In the meantime, his left leg turn black and had to be amputated.  He went into shock and almost died.  They operated on him again and to this day I haven’t a clue if he is dead or alive.  This happened 6 months ago. 

I’m sure you all have heard of the “horror” stories regarding medical treatment here in Costa Rica. 

Think if he’d have had the “Alert Emergency Service” Card.  He would not have been taken to a public hospital…….

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This happened to one of our own staff.  One of our Investigators was leaving an ATM near a very prominent bank.  As he was exiting the ATM machine, a man accosted him with something like a 2X4 and broke his collar bone and fractured his shoulder.  He was robbed of the $300 from the ATM and luckily was helped out by a bystander.  The police were called and they “talked” to the man that perpetrated this crime and let him go.  Remember, there is no justice here like in the states.

Well, an ambulance took our staffer to Clinica Biblica, a private hospital and considered one of the best in Costa Rica.  They started intravenous work on him and asked him if he had any money.  The answer was no, because he was robbed.  Bingo, out came the intravenous needle, they propped him up on the gurney and gave him his “sayonara”. 

He staggered out of the hospital entrance and someone helped him out to the closest public hospital, San Juan de Dios.  There he was treated and released but still with a broken shoulder and slight concussion.  Public hospital’s will help you but with minimum attention.  Not a place to be.

Actually, this is what gave us the idea of “Alert Emergency Service”.  If our staffer would have had his card and medical personnel on the crime scene would have called us, we would have taken care of his problem on the spot.