Posted on 02/06/2004 5:21:35 PM PST by lewislynn
Ordeal finally ends for family
By JULISSA McKINNON
BEE STAFF WRITER
Luz Maria Saldivar and her children, 15-year-old Natalie and 13-year-old Norberto Jr., needed to pay their respects to Norberto Saldivar Sr. and 12-year-old Gerardo, who both died in the Jan. 14 crash. Their bodies were flown home and were buried at Lakewood Memorial Park, Hughson.
The family had been driving on a desert highway in Mexico, returning home after the family's first vacation to Luz Maria Saldivar's native land. She was sleeping when the crash occurred about 11 a.m., and awoke wracked with pain from a broken left arm and leg.
Even though emergency surgeries had been done on Luz Maria, 43, and her children, and doctors had stopped administering treatment, the Saldivars weren't allowed to leave Hospital Universitario in Saltillo, Mexico, until Saturday, almost three weeks after the accident.
Only after a $15,000 cash payment was sent to the hospital by the Saldivars' relatives in California were the mother and two teenagers released.
Reyna Saldivar, the children's aunt, said the hospital refused to accept reimbursement from the family's insurance company. They wanted the cash up front, she said.
"They just didn't want to deal with the paperwork," she said. "They wanted the money in full. It was horrible. We had to be calling them and calling them."
All the calls from the Saldivar family and their insurance company were futile. Hospital officials would not budge, Reyna Saldivar said.
After several days of bickering, Luz Maria Saldivar's brother Gabriel Barajas emptied his savings and wired $15,000 to the hospital.
A medical flight that began in Georgia late Saturday ferried the mother and her two children from Mexico to Children's Hospital Central California in Madera.
Hospital says money not there
Monday, Reyna Saldivar said a Saltillo hospital official called, claiming the $15,000 hadn't arrived.
Reyna Saldivar said she confirmed with Western Union that the money had been picked up and called the hospital official back.
"I told him, 'Listen, if you think you're going to get more money out of us, you put us through hell for 2 1/2 weeks. I never want to hear your voice again,'" she said.
Despite the children's long stint at the Saltillo hospital, doctors did not discover all their injuries, she added.
Staff at Madera's Children's Hospital discovered that Natalie Saldivar had untreated hip and leg fractures, hospital spokeswoman Micheline Golden said.
Doctors in Madera continued caring for some of Norberto's remaining head contusions Golden said, and he was released Thursday.
The medical staff in Mexico had treated the children's most life-threatening injuries, Reyna Saldivar said. Natalie lost her right arm in the wreck, and Norberto Jr. suffered severe internal bleeding and remained in a coma for several days.
Tom Killian, a California Highway Patrol officer who helped connect the Saldivar children with the Shriners Hospital in Sacramento, said that eventually Natalie will go there to get a prosthetic arm.
He added that the Mexican hospital essentially held the Saldivars hostage for $15,000 ransom.
Think vacation plans carefully
Killian said the family's ordeal with the Mexican medical system makes him think twice about vacationing south of the border.
"I'll never go to Mexico on vacation. Can you imagine being in some Mexican hospital and being a tourist they think they can get money out of? They'll hold you for ransom," Killian said.
Reyna Saldivar said her family probably won't be traveling to their native land anytime soon either.
"At this time, we don't feel like going there," Saldivar said. "It's not to say we'll never go there again. Someday I'd like to see my uncles in Guadalajara. But right now, I'm afraid to go."
Bee staff writer Julissa McKinnon can be reached at 578-2324 or jmckinnon@modbee.com.
Remembrances may be made to the Saldivar Family Memorial Fund, Bank of the West, 12710 Bentley St., Waterford 95386.
DON'T GO TO THAT CORRUPT PESTHOLE.
I wouldn't spend ten cents in that corrupt cesspool. Mexico sucks in more ways than one.
I don't know but I do know some people have a funny idea about doctors and hospitals having some kind of authority over them....Maybe they wouldn't give them their clothes.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
Welcome to Amerika. You want to get from hospital A to hospital B without paying an ambulance charge? Best of luck. You check out without a physician's blessing, your insurance won't cover the stay at hospital A. Rules are rules.
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