Surgical Procedure
On arrival your patient will be offered counselling, have the options and the procedure explained then educated in her chosen method of future contraception. A short lunch break precedes the assessment by the First Certifying Consultant who is also the operating doctor. Where a Consultant believes that a patient requires further time to consider their decision, further counselling will be advised and an appointment made for a later date.
The assessment by the Second Certifying Consultant follows shortly after the patient has seen the operating doctor. Surgical abortions at AMAC are carried out under local anaesthetic, with oral &/or intravenous sedation using suction curettage.
It is extremely important that your patient is informed before they arrive that:
- General anaesthetic is not available.
- Sedation prevents patient from driving for 12 hours.
- A responsible adult is requested to accompany them home.
- The whole procedure can take up to 6 hours.
- Payment is strictly required on admission (personal cheques are not accepted).
- If English language is inadequate for informed consent, the patient must be accompanied by an impartial interpreter (partners or family members are not deemed impartial by our Consultants).
After care:
Written postoperative instructions are given to your patient to return to you in two-three weeks time for a check up, or sooner if a complication arises. A letter from our operating doctor containing details of the procedure will arrive at your surgery 24-48 hours following the abortion. This letter includes a complication section that we request you fill in and return to us if a complication occurs after leaving the clinic.
Cost:
The fee is $1,000 (incl. GST) for the whole day procedure. A charge of $250.00 applies if the patient has undergone the morning assessments but does not wish to proceed to surgery. Full payment for the procedure is required on admission. Facilities are available to pay by EFTPOS, Visa, MasterCard and cash. Personal cheques are not acceptable. Patients being funded by their health authority must have written confirmation of payment. There are no exceptions to this requirement.
It is important when referring non resident patients that they realise that any post operative check up care or care/hospitalisation resulting from post operative complications is their financial responsibility and not that of the referring doctor or AMAC.