Even the unemployed here in the U.S. cannot be denied healthcare at our hospitals. Even if they cannot pay their hospital bills, by law, the doctors must admit them and treat them as any other patient. And our government does provide and/or subsidize healthcare for the poor.
Yes they can, and they are denied care routinely, every single day.
I’ve spoken to several lawyers, they’ve ALL said no doctor is obligated to treat people.
Heart attacks, sure, but take a pain crisis...OBVIOUSLY a warranted ER visit...a doc in an ER after hours once told my wife to go somewhere else ‘cause he “didn’t do pain control”...I could not find an attorney who would take my calls, let alone the case.
And this was the ONLY hospital in our area our plan would pay for!
So...I could have taken the chance to go elsewhere and pay out of pocket ABOVE and BEYOND the $700+ we pay per MONTH...but...
I may as well have been talking to someone at burger king when I chewed out the hospial administrator.
I’m a nurse, was an Air Force medic, I’m definitely NOT for gov. healthcare; but this busniess about “by law people can get healthcare regardless of ability to pay” is smply not true at all by any stretch and certainly not true in all cases.
And we’ve heard all the stories about pt’s dying in the hallways, or sent home, and sure, they sue, but ummmm....it’s kind of late AFTER the funeral...and the threat of a lawsuit isn’t the deterrent people make it out to be!
If you’re too poor to pay for a doctor, how then are you going to pay for an attorney? Unless you’re literally dead, most lawyers won’t touch you!
PERIOD.
I’ve seen it all too often, both pesonally and in my practice!