Centro Medico Bournigal Clinic in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic

If I could leave no stars and still leave a review I would. Please don’t come to this hospital if you are an American and in an emergency. Their only goal is to rob you blind. We were brought to this hospital from a cruise for appendicitis for 11yr old. There was blood on the sheets of the bed and blood all over the floor of the cubicle they put us in. The medical center on the cruise had printed a copy of our passports, insurance card, medical report, and given us a copy to keep, and sent a copy for the hospital. The nurse the paramedics gave the packet to, put it down on a cart as he walked by and left it there for over 30 min before we grabbed it and put it with our stuff. PASSPORT AND INSURANCE INFORMATION LEFT OUT IN THE OPEN FOR ANYONE TO GRAB. Within minutes after going to do the imaging the doctor had come back to tell us that he needed to have surgery immediately. Another doctor came to talk with us (I’m 90% positive he only inserted himself into the situation because he saw we were white Americans and saw $$$) and told us the surgery would be $15K upfront as our medical insurance would not cover anything - even though our insurance is listed as an accepted insurance on their website. I explained to the doctor that we could not pay $15K on the spot. When I asked for alternatives, he just said that the surgery needed to be done. I told him very clearly we don’t have that kind of money, he asked how much we could pay and I said at most right here right now $2K. He said there was no way he could come back to his “boss” with $2K and there was nothing else they could do. When he left the cubicle I told Dad I guarantee our hospital bill is going to be $2K. Thankfully I was able to get ahold of an air ambulance. When the doctor came back again I told him I had already made alternate arrangements. He strongly implied that flying 11yr old out was the wrong move as his appendix would burst mid flight and he would not make it to surgery. I told him that was a risk he was forcing us to take as he still had not given us any other options. A bit later someone new came to the room and told me I could go to the front and pay the $2K bill,lo and behold exactly what I said I could pay for the surgery. I told her it was funny that the bill came out to exactly how much I said I could pay and asked her to please bring me a printed itemized copy for both Dad and I to look over. An hour later she came back with the bill which included a $200 for the doctor that let us know the surgery would be $15K (and tried to guilt us idk what else he did) and another $30 for an IV THAT WE BROUGHT WITH US FROM THE SHIP. Not once did they check on 11yr old, make sure he was ok, provide any kind of pain, anti nausea, or antibiotics medication from the second we told them we would be leaving at 11am until we left at 7:30pm. NOT ONCE. When I went to the office to pay the bill the doctor was in the office hanging all over some young nurse, practically had her sitting in his lap. But wants to tell me he had to go to “his bosses” no sir, I guarantee he was a medical director or something of the sort making the calls. We are SO THANKFUL that we made the decision we made. 11yr olds appendix had ALREADY ruptured into a 12mm perforation that was surrounding it. The perforation was in the shape of a pancake - thin and wide - the imaging in the DR was very outdated and did not see that, had they done the surgery - they would have cut into the perforation and we honestly don’t believe he would have made it through surgery.