How SURGERIES in Germany work

This video provides an overview of what having surgery in Germany might look like and what to expect based on Jen's experience.
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NALF: Surgery At A German Hospital
👉 • Surgery At A German Ho...
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⏰ Timestamps:
00:25 - The German Health System
01:36 - Define if you need a surgery
05:03 - The days before the surgery
13:07 - The day of the surgery
18:51 - The release day
11:39 - Costs of a surgery in Germany
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[@emaanfaiz3678]

I hope you're feeling better now sis! I'm a 17 year old student in Pakistan and studying abroad in Germany has been my dream since my uncle moved there to become a biologist and showed the beautiful life there. Unfortunately he got into a seizure in the bathroom and his entire spinal cord was damaged. The doctors in Cologne literally came up with a solution for a very risky life threatening surgery on the bed and thankfully after a very painstaking process he survived and is on the road to recovery, religiously taking care of himself all alone in the rehab center. He told me that at first he was pretty stressed that 40% of his salary was going to taxes but when his surgery which was technically about 4 million euros (it's just a guess), he just had to pay about 20000! All due to the amazing healthcare by the government! I want to study civil law hence I'm learning German. I'm at the level A1 but it gets pretty tough to speak a language which nobody in my environment speaks. Plus language learning is unfortunately a costly process. I love your content girls keep it up 💗

[@Nat-vr6nw]

20000 is still painfully lot for a person with public healthcare 🤯 gute Besserung to your uncle

[@emaanfaiz3678]

@@Nat-vr6nw thankyou nate! I just confirmed with him and he said it was 6000 I forgot it. Yes he is doing much better thankfully he survived the surgery as he was into cycling like he would go from city to city every weekend hence his body could survive the ongoing bleeding. He is doing the best he can in rehab. Are you a German cuz I would love to improve mine!

[@pookyac42]

​@@emaanfaiz3678 Hi mate, I would suggest a maybe different way of learning a language: Learn the German language like you learned your native language, by immersion. Put down the grammar books. 😉 When you were a little child, you learned single words like mum, dad, etc., and you already know that in German too. Then kids learn phrases, not single words nor grammar. You can have a nice conversation with an eight or ten years old child who knows literally nothing about grammar rules, right? So I would suggest to surround yourself with the language. Listen to audio books you can read, listen to German TV on KZbin as it has subtitles most of the time. This way you learn whole phrases and the meaning of words according to the context. When you make a shopping list use German words and when you do something, explain it in German. For example if you go downstairs to get your bike and ride it to buy some bread, tell this story in your mind - in German, just try it. I'm riding my bike. I buy fresh bread. Ich fahre mein Fahrrad. Ich kaufe frisches Brot. - and so on... You pick up a letter - name it in German ✉️😉 Oh and last one - always learn the word plus the article as one thing. They will be needed later in grammar. 😉 Don't learn car - Auto. Instead you should learn... the car - das Auto the ball - der Ball the sock - die Socke ... and so on.

[@pookyac42]

Also useful are Hello Talk or Tandem to get a language learning buddy. Slowly and others for penpals, DeepL for translation.

[@emaanfaiz3678]

@@pookyac42 woowww these are such cool and convenient tips will definitely try em out and let you know thnx bud!

[@arnodobler1096]

I always got a Rothaus Tannenzäpfle every noon and evening, but I also knew the hospital's chef and he knew me. 🍻

[@scarba]

For the hospital it’s called an Einweisung not Überweisung. A Chefarzt is called a Senior Consultant

[@janvozar9715]

Hi Simple Germany, I spent more than 1 month - in April 2022 in the hospital in Berlin. My observations: 1. I paid 10 EUR per day, but there is a limit of 280 EUR per year 🙂 2. in my case - at Berlin's hospital - the WIFI was horrible, and I spent a lot of money on mobile internet. 3. I can confirm. The food is strange. Same food in Germany in 2022 as in Slovakia in 2012 🙂 4. It's true that doctors speak English, but medicine English is special. I did not know some medical terms. 5. Some nurses liked me because my room was like an English conversation course. 🙂 6. It depends on the hospital - I have experience with the Vivantes clinic. In case it is not urgent, you can check the hospital's references on Google.

[@simplegermany]

Thanks for sharing your experience, Ján!

[@n1vca]

A major part of the friendly experience with the nurses was possibly not only the nurses overall great attitude. I think your positive, humorous and sweet vibes make it instantly into any sensible persons heart and it may reflect in bringing out the best in those around you. 😘

[@beatrixpastoors1104]

Very informative as always. :-) I want to give some additional information: 1 week before the surgery you have to come to hospital for a MRSA swab. That doesn't take very long. It is advisable to bring towels and wash clothes with you and a bath robe or morning gown. In case you are able to get up soon after surgery you better bring sportswear like jogging pants and sweatshirts along (which Germans usually don't wear but in the gym...) The German food in almost all public institutions is very similar: you have bread rolls with butter/margarine and cheese/cold cuts etc in the morning and the same in the evening, but with slices of dry bread, and a warm meal at midday. Apart from the regular meal you can order light or vegetarian food. It's mostly very traditional German food, so fish an Fridays and stew on Saturdays. And what expats often don't like is that some sweet dishes are served as a main meal and not as a desert, like Apfelpfannkuchen,. Milchreis mit Kirschen or Quarkauflauf mit Kompott.

[@maithreyankuppusamy5005]

My experience was similar, they even gave me headphones to watch tv, had good wifi, and lunch was usually good - you could choose between a few options but the breakfast and dinner were just a few pieces of bread. All the doctors could speak English but the nurses did not. Knowing a few german terms for common ailments helped. I was given Tilidine for pain relief which is an opioid and was advised to stop it in stages. I was allowed visitors during both my surgeries in 2020 and 2022. Being a small town, my Hausarzt was just across the road and the discharge summary was sent by fax. If you are lucky you will get an electric bed otherwise it would have to be adjusted manually. It is usually a nice gesture to leave some coffee money for the nurses.

[@simplegermany]

Thanks for sharing your experience! We hope you recovered well as well 😊

[@katya_harek]

thank you for the info! I have two stories about urgent surgeries and their efficiency Couple of month after I arrived to Germany I had to have an urgent small surgery on my finger. My gp knew about the problem, but he didn't give any treatment. So at some point I had to go to the emergency room at our hospital. First, they said there, oh, you need an appointment. But the finger was really bad, so I insisted, and they took me the same day. After the surgeon examined me, I just had to wait for a few hours, and everything was done in 20 min. Next few days I was coming for a check up and to change the bandage. Another fascinating story: our first working week, my colleague buys his first bike and starts riding it home. 15 min in he falls and breaks his leg. In two hours they operate him to fix it, even though he didn't have an insurance card yet - just applied for it.

[@simplegermany]

Thanks for sharing! Circumstances always vary and your finger was probably not considered that urgent. Glad all went well after all.

[@Lurkzor]

The best thing about working here in Germany

[@vaishalithakkar2738]

Thanks for making these videos. Super informative!

[@rishiraj2548]

👍 thanks! Wish you great health

[@Blackmountaingal1]

Hi Jen, wishing you a speedy recovery!

[@unicornlord5559]

your videos are a blessing

[@wendyw.2778]

I was in hospital in 2021 for serious brain surgery. I ve got novalgin to help with the pain, and i was at the recovery room for several hours after surgery. The food was ok (there were several choices for each metal, nothing to write home about, but ok)

[@chiydemaliosmanova2863]

Thanks for this video, girls! It was very useful. 🙏🏼

[@laureneastwood5936]

Another great video! Sadly I learned most of this the first time I was in the hospital, so I felt more prepared for the second time 😵‍💫 but also your live stream in July entertained me that time! It was a real boost!

[@andreea.andreea]

I wish you all the very best!

[@joannunemaker6332]

I'm glad 😊 you are doing well.

[@HeyItsSarah30]

This was really informative and I wondered about that. I would like one about the dentist as well

[@turjo119]

Well I'm someone who is kinda scared of going under the knife cause of my experiences back home (ahem lack of proper anesthesia/ or only local anesthesia ) but this fills me with confidence if I ever had to do get surgery. Thank you as always for sharing the information along with your experiences!

[@narumichan6630]

Hope u feeling better now jen

[@Jav82]

Thanks. Very informative. I had my first experience past week when I had to go to the hospital ER. Had a terrible stomach ache that sometimes went to the back.. Attention was superb. They did all the needed tests, ultrasounds scans and so. Not a single penny had to pay. Fortunally it was just a cronic gastritis and they suggested me to make a new appointment to schedule an endoscopy for further check.

[@simplegermany]

Glad to hear and hope all further checks will go well too!

[@imharikrish]

What a coincidence! I'm about to have surgery next week, and you posted this. Thank you for yet another informative video!

[@simplegermany]

All the best for your surgery! 😊

[@jasonsubhan8479]

Dear Jen, you look so snug lying in the hospital bed. I hope you are fully recovered. We are so lucky living in Europe having access to excellent healthcare. Hospital food should be good and nutritious as I think it's a way of helping patients to recover. Thank you both for making such an informative video.

[@davestfx8249]

Hospital food 😪 is a universal complaint..... according to a hospital nutritionist, hospital meals are designed meet specified nutrition requirements, cater to the tastes of as many patients as possible, and the meals have to survive the trip from the central kitchen to your room. .It looks like it's a no-win proposition. In the middle of covid in 2020, I spent 28 days in hospital and probably ate hospital food for 20 of the days... i gave it a grade of b- but then again, I have eaten a lot of military "food," so even hospital food was an improvement.... fortunately, the nutritionist put me on special meals to prepare me for surgery Trick is to get those special meals. The second trick here in my local hospital in Ontario, Canada, is to persuade the nurses to let you do a jail break to the on-site tim Hortons coffee shop or Starbucks. Unfortunately, they were closed when I was a patient ..... The surgery process for elective surgery is very similar between Ontario and Germany except that there is only the public system. The post-operative at home nursing care in ontario is also similar and is arranged by the hospital Hopefully, you are feeling much better and were able to schedule a relaxing recovery vacation....

[@simplegermany]

Thanks for sharing your experience! Yes, I am all well and we hope you are as well 😊

[@wechooselife8481]

This video comes at such a good time for me, thank you. I'm heading into my fourth surgery in Germany but my first one where I have to stay in hospital for 4 to 5 days 😱

[@simplegermany]

We wish you all the best and a speedy recovery! 😊

[@marcoantoniorodriguezvillanuev]

En los casos de urgencias es muy similar todo, excepto lo obvio que es el ingreso, es decir, no haces todo el tramite de preingreso, simplemente llegas por urgencias y listo. En mi experiencia me pareció que fueron muy cuidadosos con el tiempo de estancia postoperatoria, manejo del dolor, preocupados por el tema del idioma y de que entendiera todo, realmente, dentro de lo malo, fue una buena experiencia. Muy buenos datos en este video, sobre todo lo de los audifonos por el tema de los roomies😂, saludos y que sigas mejorando

[@simplegermany]

Y tu tambien! 😊

[@sujithgnth]

Hi there, Nice video and I really hope you recovered. Could you please create a video on supplementary Insurance? I am bit confused on different aspects. Also may be a video on investment as well as private pension and its alternatives. 😀

[@simplegermany]

I’m doing great 😊. Thanks for the suggestions! We do have a video on investments already: kzbin.info/www/bejne/n3nRiGain8prhNk 😊

[@fannychristozova8158]

Hospital food is a "clasic"! All time, pretty much everywhere... I don't know if that's a European thing, cause people from the US might raise eyebrows, I don't know really. But what you said and showed is totally relatable. I'm also glad you're doing well, Jen! Last time was basically a year ago and I was already around, we never knew about any of this meanwhile happening. By the way I had a very close friend undergoing hopitalization in the peak of the pandemic. Yes, visiting was out of question for me, but family members were allowed to visit. I didn't know for you it was that harsh, so much that a spouse could not visit. And anesthesia conditions do suck generally, but you still had it less stressful, here it's absolute rule no consumption of any food and water for 12 hours before you arrive for the surgery, and the procedure itself is after blood tests and waiting for another 3-4 hours. I had a minor surgery some two years ago and those 12+ hours were the toughest. And funny enough Ibuprom was not allowed for the pain, I was prescribed several other options to choose from, but not the Ibu. 😅

[@simplegermany]

Super interesting to read your experience! So no Ibu, meant you had weaker or stronger pain meds? :) The last surgery was in Nov. last year. I'll talk more about it on the next video ;).

[@fannychristozova8158]

@@simplegermany Weaker. But I'll undergo one last before moving, so I don't know as of yet. Next month I'll know and much more as well!

[@simplegermany]

We hope you will have a lot of positive news then next month 🤞

[@Kyuunex]

If you ever make a followup video in future, I have a question, for surgeries that require a donated organ, how do the pre-surgery procedures go? Is there a waitlist? Is it long? How does one sign up to become a donor in an unfortunate event they pass away? etc.

[@simplegermany]

Regarding pre-surgery, we don't know specifics as it probably also depends case by case. We believe there is a waitlist but we don't know about the criteria. In Germany, you can carry with you a donor ID (Organspendeausweis), where you can mark under what circumstance you would like to donate your organs. You can find more information on this website: www.organspende-info.de/organspendeausweis-download-und-bestellen/

[@anshulgupta4010]

Nice Video. Which hospitals did you get your surgeries done?

[@simplegermany]

Marienhospital in Düsseldorf

[@anshulgupta4010]

@@simplegermany is it the one with fancy rooms that you talked about

[@simplegermany]

It has old and new rooms. Both experiences we share were in the same hospital.

[@souravsuresh2766]

Hi, I am from India. My girlfriend and I want to move to Germany. My girlfriend is applying for a PhD in Germany. If we get married, am I allowed to live and work in Germany as her dependant while she does her PhD?

[@simplegermany]

Yes, as a spouse on a family reunification visa you are allowed to live and work in Germany as well. You can find more about the correct visa for you and its requirement with this visa navigator: visa.diplo.de/en/index.html#/vib

[@souravsuresh2766]

@@simplegermany Thank you so much for your reply. This was extremely helpful. I have another doubt. I have heard from somewhere that we need to be married before she gets her visa otherwise I can't join her as a dependant. Is it true?

[@simplegermany]

Usually yes, you need to be married. Your best bet is to double check the requirements with your German embassy :)

[@chiydemaliosmanova2863]

Hey girls, may I have some suggestions from you for Gynaecologists surgeons in Düsseldorf?

[@simplegermany]

I had my surgeries in the Marienhospital.

[@CTBauer]

I am curious. You said that it cost 10 EUR per day in the hospital, then you said the surgery cost about 3,000 EUR. Is there a separate charge for the hospital stay and for the surgery?

[@simplegermany]

My public health insurance paid for everything. I just paid 10 euros per night that I stayed at the hospital.

[@souravsuresh2766]

Someone is replying in the comments section with your photo but a different account.

[@fannychristozova8158]

Report that, as unwanted commercial bla bla, this one! Impersonating bots, yes they appear. I also received one, actually two, we just report them. :)

[@simplegermany]

Yes, unfortunately it's a KZbin issue that some spammers get passed their security measures. If you see someone impersonating us, please report them, as Fanny suggested :). Thank you!

[@aslhanakn1634]

I am just going to take a blind guess and say that it's endometriosis surgery by the looks of it. If it is so, know that you are not alone. Sadly, there are so many of us here. I would love to know your experience if my guess is right. I hope that you won't have to have a surgery again. Geçmiş olsun -_- .

[@simplegermany]

Thanks for your support :) I'll talk about it more in detail on the video coming out next week :)

[@kostadindimitrov1745]

I would like to talk about my experience

[@fannychristozova8158]

Е, говори де... 🙂

[@kostadindimitrov1745]

@@fannychristozova8158 Ще има ли кой да ме чуе?

[@fannychristozova8158]

@@kostadindimitrov1745 Yes, definitely!

[@kostadindimitrov1745]

@fannychristozova8158 ok,thank you.Where exactly can i talk about it,because here there isn't very much confidential.

[@fannychristozova8158]

@@kostadindimitrov1745 I'm not sure what you mean. Usually people around here just go ahead and tell stories of their own, or add information to their knowledge, and it can get sometimes personal to a level they can't really expect understanding from most acquaintances irl, I've come to realize that's only normal. I can assure you it's also pretty safe and friendly. Also, do you mean a hospital/surgery experience in Bulgaria or in Germany? Either way, it's fine to tell it. :)