Posted on 06/29/2010 5:29:25 AM PDT by Patriot1259
From the patients in my office we can learn why Medicare and Medicaid cannot control costs. Neither the President, the Congress, nor learned journals are telling these stories.
A spry, cheerful patient told me that she had fainted under the hair dryer in her beauty salon. The rescue squad rushed her to the emergency room of the nearest hospital. On the way, she was alert and speaking clearly with no weakness of her arms or legs. She told the rescuers that this had happened once before a few years ago.
All indications pointed to a simple fainting spell. Maybe she was dehydrated. The warmth from the hair dryer probably caused blood vessels to dilate and her blood pressure to drop.
Nevertheless, she spent three days in the hospital with EKG monitoring, and underwent a CT scan, an MRI, an EEG, and endless blood tests— all normal. Several specialists were called in for this “complicated” case. Finally, the patient insisted on going home even though some advised her to stay a little longer. She commented on how she probably would never have even been admitted had she not been covered by Medicare. And Medicare (working people and their as-yet-unborn grandchildren) will probably pay more than $20,000....
(Excerpt) Read more at thecypresstimes.com ...
This is exactly why we are finished as a nation.
I wish Liberals would choke on the word ‘deserve’! Except for the clinically disabled or mentally deficient people who MUST be cared for (and who Christian Americans WOULD and consistently DO subsidize whether federally mandated or not)...no one deserves anything at the expense of their neighbors. Period
The doctor ordered a chest x-ray which I questioned.
The doctor said "because your mother is having trouble breathing."
"She never said she had trouble breathing", I argued.
"But she said she's sleeping with two pillows which indicates that she's having trouble breathing."
"She said she's dizzy when she lays down. That's why she's sleeping with two pillows. I'm questioning this because this hospital has a reputation for ordering unnecessary tests!"
The doctor huffed "Alright we won't do the chest x-ray then."
But later, after they admitted my mother, the hospital gave her a chest x-ray.
After all ways said and done, and my mother was released, I reminded her that her doctor once told her she had to do exercises with her head that to keep the "crystals" in her inner ear stirred up. She started doing them again and her symptoms went away.
The moral to the story: I should have gone to medical school.
The fact that there are something like 15 lawyers for every emergency room physician in the United States is relevant to any discussion of this article.
There are many reasons why government can’t control medical costs. One fundamental reason is that when things are ‘free’ there is never enough of them to go around. There is a reason why stores always run out of ‘freebies’ during promotions.
That said, in the example given, there is also physician concern about law suits that comes into play. These days any patient that presents to an emergency department with syncope or near syncope gets a big work up.
“city of New York probably dropped thousands of dollars...”
the more EMT/Fire/Police calls...the more the unions have a claim on the city for personnel and bennies....the impetus for “overesponse” is huge.
If the hair salon had not called the ambulance and something happened, they could get sued.
If the hospital had not done everything it could to make sure nothing was wrong and something happened, they could get sued.
One thing that would reduce medical costs in a huge way is tort reform.
Then there is my 2.5 month old niece who running a 102 temp that would not come down with children’s tylenol, was taken to the local ER, ears and throat were checked, nada, baby sent home with instructions of more tylenol. Baby is rushed to second hospital after fever rose to 105, she had bacterial spinal meningitis, nearly died. It took 3 antibiotics, and a dose of children’s motrin (which is a NO, NO now for a baby that young) to bring the 105 temp down after 3 days of trying other methods.
If hospital #1 had done it’s job, she would have been admitted and treated sooner. They have health ins.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.