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    • I think "never event" was chosen because it will not be reimbursed (negative compensation). But, with the law of unintended consequences, I suspect it will be used to seek tort compensation.

      10 months ago by symtym

      in » Never Events the New Class Actions? symtym

    • The "Never Event" is unfortunately named. In Australia a list of similar events are called Critical Indicators. I accept that they are preventable, but it is hard to say never in medicine...

      10 months ago by DrCris

      in » Never Events the New Class Actions? symtym

    • I wonder about the full disclosure issues. While I believe in them, I think that we are unnecessarily limiting the scope of disclosure practices to physicians. I believe that lawyers, politicians,...

      1 year ago by raja, MD, MS

      in Your Business

    • We don't already have a two-tiered medical system? One for the well-off, and one for everyone else?

      1 year ago by Chuck McKay

      in Concierge Medicine

    • This is important information, especially for an elderly person on the Medicare part d plan. They don't need any more nasty surprises like being declined for care

      1 year ago by Darwin Corby

      in MRSA: Medicare’s Superbug

symtym

...a physician meandering medicine, law and technology...
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Death for Profit

Started by symtym · 1 year ago

Some Hospitals Call 911 to Save Their Patients | NYT | 4.2.07
Should a hospital be able to handle a medical emergency?

The answer may seem self-evident. But patients at some hospitals may find the staff resorting to what someone might do at home in a crisis: call 911 for an ambulance.

That happened recently in Texas, where [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ ... Continue reading »

2 comments

  • Charles

    2 years ago

    Seems to me Grassley, Baucus, Stark and the rest of congress would better spend their time in and out of committee addressing the unscrupulous politicos working for or in public office who, for their own enrichment, pander to the legal profession, the insurance cartels, the pharmaceutical companies and the various business and special interests that make specialized hospitals something more noteworthy than other specialized business catering to elite in search of basic needs like food and shelter i.e. classy restaurants, and five star resorts. Such establishments also turn away those who can not pay the price. The issue is not what those with, can afford, but what those without, can not afford. What you have really highlighted is that national health care initiatives have progressed no further than our basic right to call 911, which in an emergency, is the implied responsibility of the health care facility that, knowing you must eat, sends you to McDonalds or knowing you must sleep, sends you to Motel 6.
  • symtym

    2 years ago

    Charles

    I think you are missing the point, it is the physicians and their investors that are acting just like the ones you are indicting, "the legal profession, the insurance cartels, the pharmaceutical companies...." Profit has motivated the creation of specialized hospitals that lack basic safety features.

    Your statement, "[t]he issue is not what those with, can afford, but what those without, can not afford[,]" has no logical relevance to the article. Specialty hospitals *only* cater to those with the ability to pay.

    This article is, plain and simple, another example of cream-skimming the healthcare dollar, and doing so in a manner that may potentially harm or kill the very clients they seek. Trading a savings for a potential threat is not a wise investment.

    As more cases of harm and death mount, Congressional angst will rise and specialty hospitals will become the subject of ever increasing regulatory burden and their profitability may very well vanish. They may die, not because they are not successful, but because they are not safe.

    The other side of the coin, which I have touched upon before, is what is the cost of cream-skimming to acute care hospitals and the overall cost to healthcare in the communities served by specialty hospitals. A search in this blog on "specialty hospital" will show several related articles.
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