A top Elon Musk aide has revealed that after he injured his throat while eating fried chicken, leaving him unable to speak or swallow, doctors told him to wait six weeks before he could get the problem checked. Nikita Bier, head of product at X, said that a piece of fried chicken “tore a part” of his throat while going down, leaving him with a painful injury.
Nikita Bier (R) serves as the Head of Product at Elon Musk-owned X (formerly Twitter)
“Ate a piece of fried chicken tonight. It somehow tore part of my throat going down. Now I can barely swallow (or speak),” Bier said in an X post.
In what can be read as an indictment of the American healthcare system, he added: “Doctor says: ‘You can get it checked out with an endoscopy. Earliest availability is in 4-6 weeks.’”
Why the long wait for a routine medical procedure?
An endoscopy is a medical procedure that allows a doctor to look inside a patient’s body. It uses an instrument called an endoscope, or scope for short.
In Nikita Bier’s case, he was asked to wait for at least a month before he could get the painful injury checked via an endoscopy and treated further. The internet credited the long wait to the American healthcare system, which is often criticized for its high costs, complex administration and uneven access.
One major reason patients often wait weeks even for routine procedures is capacity constraints. While the US has advanced hospitals, it has a shortage of primary care doctors, nurses and certain specialists relative to demand. Insurance-related processes and high out-of-pocket costs also contribute to delays.
Internet says ‘come to India’
Indians in the comments section of Bier’s post invited him to visit India for treatment, where patients can frequently walk into a hospital, get tests done the same day and schedule minor procedures within days.
“Fly to India. You will get to see a top doctor within an hour of landing, and an endoscopy and further consultation within the next six hours. You can be back home in three days flat,” wrote X user Narayanan Hariharan.
“Is healthcare really this bad in America?” another person asked.
“Fly to India, get scanned, diagnosed, treated / operated the same day. Fly back to the states,” X user Aravind advised. “Will take 40 hrs to and fro flying, 12 hrs for medicals. Cost 1/100th. Less than 2 days to get treated.”
Entrepreneur Aman Gairola praised India’s healthcare system, writing: “It would take 48 hours in a worst case scenario here. People never realise the amenities the country provides. Surely there are shortcomings, but its getting better each day.”
(Also read: NRI reveals how ‘India cured me’ after 10-year return, blasts US profit-driven healthcare)