Didn't Castro have a speedy recovery from intestinal surgery for diverticulitis (a condition marked by weakened spots in the lining of the colon that form sacs or pouches that have become inflamed and bleed due to rupture, resulting in infection in the tissues that surround the colon) [July 2006] -- only a year later and still not recovered and after calling in a specialist from Spain?

All of the initial "reports" (propaganda) were that he was "recovering quickly."

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"Spanish Authorities Confirm Surgeon Flew to Cuba to Study Possible Castro Surgery"

Spanish authorities confirmed Monday [Dec. 2006] that a leading surgeon who treats ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro has flown to Havana last week to study whether he should undergo more surgery. [How often does Castro receive treatment from non-Cuban physicians?]

Dr. Jose Luis Garcia Sabrido, chief surgeon at Madrid's Gregorio Maranon hospital, traveled to Cuba's capital Thursday, Madrid region health official Manuel Lamela told reporters.

He also added that Madrid's health department has been sending medicines to Cuba since June, but he declined to say which type of medical material or anything about Castro's condition.

Garcia Sabrido is credited with having operated on several important personalities in the past and is very prestigious in Spain and abroad. His work and experience is well-known by the Cuban government as he recently addressed a surgery conference on the Caribbean island.

~ I wonder if this is the same kind of treatment that Cuban "peasants" get with their "free" health care? Michael Moore should look into this.
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"Castro's Surgery Seems to Have Been Botched"

MIAMI (Reuters) Jan 17 - Cuban leader Fidel Castro has long prided himself on Cuba's doctors and free public health care system, but that system seems to have let him down after he fell ill in July, U.S.-based doctors said on Tuesday.

"It's not a good story. Too bad they didn't send him to Miami for surgery," said Dr. Charles Gerson, a clinical professor of medicine in the gastroenterology division of New York's Mt. Sinai School of Medicine.

U.S. medical experts were also puzzled by El Pais' report that Castro had undergone a third operation to implant a Korean-made prosthesis, possibly an artificial stretch of bowel, after a second failed operation to clean and drain an infected area and perform a colostomy.

"I would say that that would likely be a very risky situation because of the nature of the large intestine, which is a sewage line," said Dr. Stephen Hanauer, chief of gastroenterology at the University of Chicago.

He said the use of a prosthesis in such cases was "experimental" at best and unheard of in the United States.

Spain's El Pais newspaper, the doctors -- who have no first-hand knowledge of Castro's condition [maybe they do] -- said Castro had received questionable or even botched care at the hands of health experts on his communist-ruled island.

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"What Is Wrong with Castro?"

"(Castro) will be in bed for several weeks." (official reports from the Cuban government)

Although Cuban medicine is generally not considered to be of the same quality as American medicine, it is considered advanced for a Third-World country [?]. Cuban surgeons probably know that bed rest after surgery is now frowned upon. The current trend in post-operative care is to ambulate patients as soon as possible. In the biggest abdominal operations done on patients (liver transplants, pancreas resections, aneurysm repairs) every effort is made to get people out of bed in the first day or two.

[to lessen the possibility of a pulmonary embolism from thrombophlebitis (DVT) and post-operative pneumonia, as well as an increased length of hospital stay]

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"Cuba's Castro Still Sidelined a Year After Surgery"

Moore forgot to mention these "little" problems:

A year after he [Raul Castro] took over, however, Cubans have seen little progress in solving their main woes: low wages, high food prices, decrepit housing and deficient public transport.

Cuesta Morua, said Cubans are too busy with their daily survival to think about politics, as they try to supplement their incomes by stealing from the state and selling on the black market, [sic]

Despite the loyalty that many show to Fidel Castro, calls for reform are widespread.