News

TOM HAULE, co-anchor:

A Georgia man is headed to Cuba for surgery to fix a rotator cuff. The operation would cost $20,000 in this country, but only $4,000 in Cuba . He'll spend two weeks in Cuba recovering, as part of that cost, too. The trip is being arranged by Choice Medical Services of Canada.

Spokesman Daren Jorgenson tells KNX the man, named "Sam," will certainly need more time for physical therapy, but he'll have to deal with that on his own, after he returns home.

Mr. DAREN JORGENSON (Choice Medical Services): Rotator cuff is pretty basic and the rehab is pretty basic. It's just, you know, following certain guidelines on exercise and mobility and stuff like that. And the bottom line is, you know, with Sam, he's a self-employed carpenter. And he hasn't been working for five--five months.

And he can't afford the surgery in the US so, you know he--would he--of course, the best option is for him is to have the surgery and have the rehab all done in one place, but if it's not gonna happen because of financial pressures, what's the next best alternative?

LINDA NUNEZ, co-anchor: Well, you know, when you have rotator cuff surgery here in the United States , you have orthopedic surgeons who say your downtime is quite a bit longer than the three months that you're allowed physical therapy. I mean, you have professional athletes who go through rotator cuff surgery and they're out for a year. So, I--

Mr. JORGENSON: It all depends on--on how the patient recovers. We would encourage Sam to come back and do some follow-up rehab, or follow-up with his local physician. You're right, it's a surgery, and you can't just whip down there for two weeks and come back and--and think everything's fine. It's a long process to rehab some of these situations. And the best thing is to educate the patient.

And then it still comes back to, is it better for him not to have the surgery because he can't afford it, or is it better for him to have the surgery and to have rehab that maybe is not as--as consistent as it would be if it was all done in one facility--but it's the next best thing.