Our Life in France – medical care
(Please note that this post reflects our experience in the early 1990’s – I can’t speak for what anyone would experience today.)
One of the first things we discovered when we moved to France was that they still used aspirin to reduce fever in children. I immediately called my mother and asked her to mail some Children’s Tylenol to us. The day it came, Vance woke up sick. We called a doctor, who came to our apartment, and he said Vance had an ear infection, which was rare for him. The doctor wrote out some prescriptions and went on his way. When we took the prescriptions to the pharmacie to be filled, we discovered they were for an anti-inflammatory and EYE drops (which we didn’t buy). They don’t use antibiotics to routinely treat ear infections and let me tell you, Vance ended up becoming very ill. He slept all the time because his fever raged, only waking long enough to throw up. We had to take him to a pediatrician and insist on an antibiotic before he got better.
We were covered by the national health care since we paid taxes in France. We paid a small fee when we saw the doctor, and never had to file any insurance papers. Vance only saw a doctor when he was sick – check-ups were done at school. Getting an appointment wasn’t any more difficult than it is in the US. The doctor’s office wasn’t very plush and only had a few people working there. Overall, I felt that their health care system was just adequate – we knew one American family that had to return home because their child became ill and needed medical care.
When Vance was given a liquid medication, we were given a small glass bottle with a little bit of powder in it. We had to fill the bottle with water and mix the medication ourselves.
One thing we discovered is that the French thought the best way to administer medicine was through suppositories, so we had to make it clear that we weren’t comfortable with them. One time I had a really sore throat and asked Carl to go to the pharmacie to get something for it. As he left, I said, “Don’t bring home any suppositories!” He went in and explained that I needed something for a sore throat and asked what the pharmacist suggested. When she put about ten items on the counter, he asked her to narrow it down to three. He bought those three without really paying attention and came home with, you guessed it, suppositories. I never used them, so I can’t tell you if they worked or not.
OMG Kathy! It is one thing to guess what things are in the grocery store, or not have proper closets, but is a whole different business when you can’t get satisfactory medical care! Makes you wonder how everyone survived!
Interesting. Makes me happy I live where I live. I had a kiddo who had lots of ear infections and I can’t even imagine no antibiotics for that. I know that they have been overused to some extent, but for my kid needed them.
I remember suppositories being used when I was a child (very young) – haven’t thought about those in years! I hope you all didn’t have to deal with anything more serious than the ear infection – scary! And using aspirin on kids – in the 90s? My kids were young in the 80s and we didn’t use aspirin in the US back then!
It’s funny that American pediatricians aren’t using antibiotics as much as they used to to treat ear infections.
I wouldn’t be too keen on the whole suppository thing either.
OMG….I can’t believe what I just read; totally unreal, from the aspirins to the suppositories and everything in between. Thanks for sharing.
For some reason the suppository thing made me think of Freud. Very interesting that they would think it is the best way to administer drugs.
I love this series Kathy!
Yikes! I felt pretty confident in the UK healthcare system when I lived there, but I didn’t have children and I didn’t have a language barrier. Glad you all survived!
I hope their medicine isn’t like this now! How scary. I don’t think I’d be too fond of the suppositories either and I’m grateful I had antibiotics as a kid whenever I had an ear infection or strep throat!
As a mother, it had to be so scary for you when Vance got sick. Knowing what he needed but wasn’t able to get. Being a retired RN, I really enjoyed this week’s edition as far as what their health care was but not so as far as your experience. Its probably not pc, but when people complain about our system, I wonder is they know what other countries are like. I unfortunately, when in Aruba, ended up in the hospital and had surgery and the care was downright scary. Once again..another enjoyable article. I love to learn about other cultures. Hoping you have many stories to tell.
CMash
Ugh.. suppositories suck, I can understand how difficult it must have been initially to adjust to a new country’s systems. It must have been a scary experience when Vance got sick, and there was little in the way of treatment.
Suppositories for a sore throat made me laugh – I would have had to say, “No thanks.” just like you did!
I’m glad you had the Tylenol sent just in time – you had enough to worry about already.
OH NO! I would die there if I had to use suppositories. Too funny.
It’s scary enough to be out of town within the US let alone outside the country. I always think of this when traveling.
My friend who lived in Belgium loved the healthcare she and her kids received because the doc lived and had his office around the corner plus would make house calls. But I don’t remember if anyone got really sick – I’d say not.
That would definitely be a culture shock. It seems so strange that the health care would be vastly different in those ways. You would think that they would have known that aspirin was bad for children. The other things I can see as being more traditional or preference (although really, who would prefer suppositories?).
I’m trying to figure out how in the heck a suppository would even help a sore throat to begin with lol. It’s always interesting to see how things work in different contries.
Wow maybe I should learn to spell heh. contries = countries
Oy! I think this would drive me crazy. Hopefully things have improved by now. There’s more to medical care than suppositories!
That sounds like quite an experience and must have been quite an adjustment for you all. At least you could get some tylenol from the US! One thing that my cousin in Germany has shared is that they are more open to Homeopathic treatments and natural things compared to the US which doesn’t accept them as well. Your suppository story made me laugh, I would have done the same thing! No thanks!
This post made me laugh!!! and thank God that we don’t have that type of health care!
Oh my, I definitely would not have been comfortable with the health care there especially with children. Suppositories- absolutely not! lol.
LOL – I dont mean to laugh…. but ok, I laughed…. the ending of this post is quite funny!
I love these posts you do about France!
Kathy, your post made me laugh.
This series is wonderful.
Or should I say, très magnifique!
Daniel laughs at me, but I still buy all my over-the-counter medicine in the US. The Germans also have some wierd stuff going on, though they don’t seem to be as fixated on suppositories. I can’t imagine those being helpful for a sore throat!
Strange! When I lived in France (2007), I actually had great experience with the pharmacies. They had amazing cold meds, and once I had one of those headaches that left me incapable of moving, and my (fluent in French) friend went to the pharmacy to pick up meds – they did try to send her out with aspirin, but luckily she managed to convince them we needed more than that. Whatever it was knocked the head-ache right out (as well as me). I only had to go to the doctor one, thank god – I wasn’t on national insurance (as I was on a student visa), so it was a ridiculously complex experience to get an appointment, go to a lab for tests, bring the lab results back to the doctor, wait for hours, go to the pharmacy… it took all day, literally, to fill one prescription for antibiotics. C’est la vie, je suppose!
Culture shock! I wonder how much has changed since then? Our friends in France love the health care there, so it’s probably a lot of what you’re used to.
Eye opening – I wonder if suppositories are still the delivery method of choice!!
It always fascinates me to learn about healthcare systems in other countries – but it must have been scary, at times, acquiring that knowledge first hand!
Thanks for sharing!
Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness.
It sounds like a very frustrating system! I can’t imagine the anger and helplessness you must have felt when your son didn’t get the treatment he needed. I know I would have gone crazy with a sick child and couldn’t get access to antibiotics! What a nightmare it must have been for you!
I go up and down about living in France based on these posts … and this is one of those in the con column!!!
Yeah…I remember the suppositories thing. My cousin used to live in France, and when she came down to India she was really surprised that we use so much oral medication
It must have been hard enough to deal with treating you and Carl … advocating for your child brings a whole other side of ‘mama bear energy’ to it!
When I had my first migraine the hospital gave me some type of suppository for nausea. At that point I didn’t have much of a choice, and would have taken meds by any delivery method. But for a sore throat?! Huh?!
Wow – sounds like quite an experience.
I’d refuse the suppositories, too! Especially for just a sore throat.
I haven’t had much time to read blogs but I had to come and check on your latest installment on Life in France. I found this very different from our expectations for health care. Good thing no one was seriously ill.
Oh yes, that socialized medicine is great!
The government must have been aware that French people have healthy diet, or do they?
I don’t know why but mixing the liquid and powder is not surprising at all. If it’s already mixed in the US, then the bottle was already open?
I searched on the dictionary what suppositories are and I salute you for not using these! How stupid – sore throat and suppositories?
LOL! This post was great! I think it’s strange they don’t use antibiotics to treat ear infections, but at the same time you hear about doctors overprescribing antibiotics and antibiotic resistant bacteria! There has to be some sort of middle ground though, Vance sounds like he was pretty sick. Good thing they listening when you insisted on antibiotics.
Your stories of France are so interesting, and funny too. lol
I’m enjoying your posts about life in France. You really should write a book about this. The sore throat episode reminded of the sign in my father-in-law’s shop: “If your feet smell and your nose runs, you must be built upsidedown.”
I have no idea what suppositories are.
When I was in France, I got sick (of course), and I went to the uni clinic since I was a student. I was a little worried about the English to French thing, but the Australian students all assured me that if I said everything with a French accent, the doc would understand me. Anyway, she told me, “Tu as en rhume,” and I was like, Yeah I already knew that. Then she gave me these tiny little pills that were red and tasted like candy. I’m not sure what they did, if anything.
un rhume. Sorry.
suppositories! OMG…for everything…that is crazy. I wonder how much the medical system has improved since you left.
You can’t give a kid aspirin? God, you just made me fear parenthood. I don’t know this stuff.