To put this in perspective, will national healthcare make this kind of thing better or worse?
My husband and I were in a head-on collision in Ireland.
God was good, and we were spared major injuries, and we survived the major impact of airbags. But we experienced National Free Healthcare firsthand.
We were not checked out at the crash site. (Our Renault met with a truck ferrying a car.)
We walked to the ambulance and were not provided any restaints or support..no seatbelts, necks, ribs, great unkowns...
We were never x-rayed or subjected to the usual routine required at a US emergency room. We did not see a doctor, but were “seen” (note: not examined) by young persons, qualifications unknown. The whole process took less than an hour.
There was the possibility of spinal injury, cardiac tampenade, broken ribs, collapsed lung, etc. that could have led to a major episode sometime after leaving the emergency room. Fortunately, both of us have a medical background and were pretty sure we were OK, aside from being very sore, etc.
I’m not sure a NHS second opinion would have been fruitful.
And then, ignorance is bliss! No exams, no tests, no x-rays, no news is good news!
We know from living in Germany, and our contact with socialized medicine that our experience is more typical than not.