Drunk Drivers and Bribery in Taiwan

After living in Taiwan, I didn’t understand why it was rated highly for corruption and bribery. http://www.transparency.org/country#TWN I hadn’t seen any of it and assumed it only went on with the gangsters or government. It’s not. It is viewed as a way of showing regret, so it is used by everyone that can afford it.

It was around 10:00 P.M. on a Wednesday night. I had just got home from work and was settled on the couch when my phone rang. It was my manager. She told me that my friend, Ms. Essex, had been hit by a car while driving home from work on her scooter.

The scene of the crime. Drivers drive on the right side of the road in Taiwan. Notice the car’s position on the wrong side of the double yellow line.

I later learned that she was hit by a drunk driver. The woman had made a left hand turn and gone into the oncoming traffic lane, hitting Ms. Essex head on. Ms. Essex’s leg had been pinned with her scooter and the car on top of her. Someone had to scream at the woman to back her car up to get it off of Ms. Essex. The woman seemed to not understand what had happened. Some friends of hers showed up on the scene and had her downing bottles of water before the cops could arrive. She still had a BAC of .08. She told the police that she had eaten soup with beer in it. With the police reports, CCT camera recordings (everything is caught on tape here), and photos of the scene, this woman was very guilty.

The small town hospital was transferring Ms. Essex to the Changhua hospital, so I rushed out to be there when the ambulance arrived.

I posted on Ms. Essex’s facebook page, saying that she was in the hospital and to give her parents my number. I didn’t know how else to get in touch with them. It is a scary part of living abroad. What if something happens? It’s not like you hand out your mother’s phone number to everyone you know. This worked though and I had her mom on the phone and talking to her in the ER.

Our manager dealt with the translations and clerical while I tried to keep her calm. She was in an extreme amount of pain from her leg and needed a tomography. I was photographing every x-ray and writing down everything the doctor said.

She had a fractured 9 tibia plateau and a depression fracture of the lateral condyle and the medial condyle was depressed. She would need surgery to have 2 metal plates and 16 screws put into her crushed leg. She wouldn’t be walking for at least three months, maybe even six months.

The doctor pulled me away from her bed to make some decisions. I felt uneasy, but there was no one else there. I instantly became the go to for the doctors and insurance company. The doctor asked, “There are two kinds of plates. This one is very expensive, but it is very very good. We have one that is less expensive, but she could have many problems.” I didn’t hesitate, “She wants the expensive one.” I learned later that expensive was the equivalent of $2300 USD. A bargain in my opinion. I thought Kelsey would agree with this decision.

I was also told we would need to get her 24 hour care, which would cost around 3,000 NT (about $100 usd) a day. I later found out that this care could not be attained, so I offered to stay.

 

Hospital care in Taiwan is very different from what I’m accustomed to in the West. Families take care of their loved ones in the hospital. The nurses administer injections, I.V.’s, and drugs, but the family empties catheters, bathes the patient, and provides any assistance the patient needs. No food is given to the patient by the hospital, this is brought in by family. No towels or soap are provided; this, along with lots of other miscellaneous things, must be brought by the caregiver. I didn’t realize this until the parents of a Taiwanese friend were kind enough to bring some of the basic things needed for the hospital room.

The next day, she was taken into surgery and everything went well.

One of the recovery gifts that didn’t include a box of apples.

Two plates and sixteen screws. She can now stick magnets to her leg. All of this metal could be removed after two years or left in for life. It is up to the patient.

Then the drunk driver tried to visit Ms. Essex in the hospital. This was shocking to us, but in Taiwanese culture, they do it to show regret and the cops would look very badly on the driver if she didn’t show regret. She brought apples, a popular gift for someone recovering in Taiwan. We give flowers, they give apples.

As Ms. Essex recovered, negotiations were to begin. It is normal for the guilty person and their family to be in the hospital room for this negotiating. We said this was very uncomfortable in our culture and had the family stay outside of the room. A relative who spoke English came in. I showed him the photos of all the x-rays before and after the surgery.

When negotiations began, Ms. Essex had already been given several wads of cash by the family for her immediate expenses.

Casts are no longer plaster. They mold plastic to your leg and then strap on with velcro. It can be taken off easily.

Insurance here works very differently too. In Taiwan, patients claim it on their insurance, even if it is paid by someone else, so basically the hospital gets paid and the patient gets paid the same amount. I explained that this is fraud in our countries and I was not comfortable. When I finally got our negotiator to understand that her insurance would cover all of her medical expenses, we began to understand each other. The money the drunk driver was going to use on Kelsey’s medical bills would now be redirected to her settlement. We spent ten days in the hospital. I don’t think I have ever been so tired in my life.

A few days after Ms. Essex was discharged from the hospital, a deal was struck. She was to be paid for the salary she would not be collecting over the next three months, taxi allowance, flights for her family, nursing care, and various other expenses. She had to meet the family to sign the paperwork. I believe this meant she couldn’t pursue the woman for any more money in the future. During the signing, the mother of the drunk driver asked how old Ms. Essex was and tried to matchmake with her son who was a similar age. The papers were signed. A huge wad of cash was handed over and the deal was done. In my eyes, this was bribery. It was a fee paid to make sure the driver didn’t go to prison and that the cops wouldn’t have to pursue charges against her. My manager told me that at any time, the driver could simply say she would go to prison and then she wouldn’t have to pay any money. So, in my eyes, they were buying her freedom. 

 

It was so interesting to talk to locals about it though. They didn’t view the insurance issue as taking money twice, it is how things are done. They don’t view what happened as bribery, it is showing that the guilty party is really sorry. 

 

This system is better than many things back home, but dealing with negotiations during the high stress of a loved one coming out of surgery is horrific. Expecting a drugged up patient who is in constant pain or a sleep deprived caregiver to make decisions is unrealistic. I was yearning for insurance companies, police, and lawyers to simply deal with it all. On the other hand, this way gave fast results, both parties walk away feeling better, and the lawyers don’t get a cut.