Dog Attack

On May 15th, Sadie and I were on a walk when my neighbor's very vicious Phu Quoc dog attacked us. We were both bitten, and my left tibia was bruised and fractured. I knew immediately that my leg was broken or fractured, but the French-Vietnamese Hospital released me after a simple x-ray and a rabies shot (yes, the neighbor's dog was un-vaccinated which meant that I had to safeguard myself against Rabies). I had to be half-carried out of the hospital that night, after being told by the Vietnamese ER doctor that my injury was insignificant. He completely missed my fracture (which showed on the x-ray) so he assumed I just bruised my knee, despite my protests that I was in immense pain, couldn't walk and the obvious tell-tale sign of having a melon where my knee once was.

After hopping around for a week, and being sick as a dog (no pun intended) from the rabies shots, I went to see an American family medicine doctor working in Vietnam. He order an Ultrasound, and then when that showed that my swollen knee was full of blood, he ordered an MRI. I had to go to a hospital in District 10 for the MRI, since these machines are scarce in this country. No one there spoke English except for the radiologist, who informed me that I had a fracture and lots of bleeding from the bone (hence the melon for a knee). I was handed my MRI scans, and sent on my way (walking-again). I limped out of that hospital and went home.

My family doctor called me late that night, and when I told him the MRI results showed I had a fracture, he had me come to his office early the next morning. My leg was splinted and I was given crutches (12 days after the accident!), and plans were made for me to fly to Singapore to see an orthopedic specialist at NUH.

The hospital and doctor in Singapore were fantastic--night and day difference from being treated here in Vietnam. No surgery was necessary, and I was able to go home in a few days. A little humour helped with the healing too: my night nurse's name was "Shita" and my day nurse's name was "Hwee Hwee".

Of course, there are no consequences in Vietnam for a vicious dog that attacks other animals or humans, or for it's owner. There are no laws for containing loose dogs or vaccinating them. The dog's owner insists that her dog wanted to "play fight" with my dog. The ignorance is overwhelming, especially when you think about what could have happened to a smaller dog or child.

The French-Vietnamese Hospital is sub-standard. Unfortunately, it is the only place I know to go to in an emergency where the staff can speak English.