8-29-02, Danny McBride
Horse Spittle
By Danny McBride
IPS Features
According to my Webster’s a hospital is “(1) a charitable institution for the needy, aged, infirm or young” OR “(2) an institution where the sick or injured are given medical or surgical care.” WRONG!! Hey Noah!! Time for an update.
First of all that “charitable institution” stuff has to go. A hospital is where a major medical conglomerate can fleece you and your loved ones for all you’re worth. Eight dollars for an aspirin. You’ve seen it. But that’s if they’re even open.
A recent New York Times piece by Joseph B Treaster documents the number of hospitals that are closing, or at least closing some units due to unprofitability and malpractice costs.
Hawkeye: “Hey, I need another unit over here.”
Hot Lips: “Sorry. We’re closed”.
And these are hospitals in big cities like Philadelphia and Tampa. Forget it if you live in rural America. You get hit by a car- -you lie there til you get better.
And the culprit? Would you believe INSURANCE COMPANIES?
But President Bush, the A M A and the insurance companies say no. It’s you and I that are at fault for ever having ever brought a medical malpractice suit. Well, I never have, so obviously it’s your fault.
I have a friend who had a kidney operation and they sewed him up with a sponge accidentally still inside- -yes, they opened him up later and took it out. Did he have any grounds for a suit? And what about the guy with advanced diabetes who went in to have his leg amputated and they took off the wrong one- -yes, later they took off the right one- -actually I don’t remember if it was the right one or the left one- -but let’s just say the other one. Did he have grounds for a suit? You’ve read these kinds of horror stories before. Something like this probably happens somewhere everyday.
And the reasons these mistakes get made? There are most likely as many individual reasons as there are miscues. But how about overworked, overtired staff pulling 12 hour shifts because the “Managed Care Industry” needs to make a profit- -and how can you do that if you pay the staff a living wage, keep their shifts reasonable and add more help? I know a nurse who is losing her medical insurance because her husband’s job situation has changed. She works in a hospital and doesn’t qualify for medical insurance. Sick or what?
Hospitals should be like streetlights. The city- -or county or whatever- -should maintain them as part of the municipal services you expect. Streetlights come on at dark and they’re there if you happen to go out and need to see. They are there for EVERYONE. I don’t always need one if I’m home at night, but it’s nice to know they’re out there.
What if I needed to go down a certain street and had to show my utility bill to some gatekeeper before I could walk with the lights on?
“Sorry. You have no proof of a paid-up light bill. You’ll have to walk in the dark.”
I might get mugged. HA!! Horsefeathers you say. Guess what? We’re all being mugged.
The American way of health care has become like the American way of exclusive country clubs. Only certain people are allowed to apply for membership. Many are refused. The qualifications are strict. You must maintain a certain income and be able to pay the steep dues involved. There’s a dress code. No guests are allowed that do not conform to club dictums- -you can read the subtext on this one- -and if you lose your social standing, you’re out. Do you qualify?
Of course there are public fairways. And the only fair way to maintain public hospitals in the manner which Mr Webster’s definition of “charitable institution” intends is to change the rules. Medicine for profit at an institutional level should be outlawed. Is the library in business to make a profit? Is the fire department? Is the local school? Sure, individual firefighters, librarians, school teachers, doctors, nurses and other professionals are entitled to a make a living commensurate with their abilities. But not the institutions themselves. Okay, you say, there are private schools, and private libraries and all, and there could still be private hospitals. But not to the detriment of the civilized populace.
Here in Los Angeles last year, the Sisters of St Joseph- -no relation to the aspirin- - sold their hospitals, Daniel Freeman Marina Hospital in Marina del Rey and Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital in Inglewood, to Tenet Healthcare Corporation. Tenet decided that the formerly Nun-profit facilities were still just that- -non-profit, and set out to close them. A hue and cry from the community convinced the California State Attorney General to ask a Los Angeles Superior Court to block Tenet from closing the hospitals. It worked for a while, but Tenet won out. These are small unprofitable facilites and Tenet has decided to put the plywood up over the windows. With the closing goes the Paramedic School, the Acupuncture Internship Program, the chemical dependency and psychiatric units, and a whole host of other specialized programs. Marina del Rey is valuable real estate and Tenet is in the business of making money. Expect the hospital to go condo- -to the highest bidding developer- -probably The Daniel Freeman Condos and Racquet Club.
This story is being repeated all across the country. It probably makes you sick. But you better not get too sick and need to go to the hospital. It’s closed.
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