SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) – Wanda Serrano arrived at Puerto Rico’s largest public hospital before dawn to take her 17-year-old son to an appointment. Six hours later, they were still in the packed waiting room hoping to see a doctor.
They had gone to San Juan’s Centro Medico to see one of the many kinds of specialists the teen needs for treatment of a genetic disease called tuberous sclerosis, which can cause tumors to grow on his brain, kidneys and other organs. But specialized medical expertise is increasingly difficult to find in the economically troubled U.S. island territory.
Six hours in a waiting room is no longer the exception, but the norm. A pediatric neurologist recently told Serrano that her son, Cedrik, needed to wait 10 months for an appointment.
“I live terrified every single day,” Serrano said one recent morning as she clutched his medical records and peered anxiously down a fluorescent-lit hallway for a nurse or doctor. “You feel powerless. You can’t do anything except wait for that date to arrive.”
Doctors have gradually left Puerto Rico during a decade-long recession that has gripped the island and driven more than 200,000 people to the U.S. mainland seeking better opportunities.