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408 Comments
- AugustZephyr, on 07/01/2008, -6/+119Case study for the phrase: "Not my job"
- inboxnews, on 07/01/2008, -17/+124This is a CITY RUN mental health facility. Read GOVERNMENT RUN.
fta: "The agency that runs the municipal hospital -- the city's Health and Hospitals Corp. -- fired several staffers as a result."
http://www.nyc.gov/html/hhc/html/home/home.shtml - inactive, on 07/01/2008, -29/+129My fianceé, an American resident for fifteen years, grew up and was educated in the Soviet Union. While she has nothing but scorn for the old soviet system, she says the American system of health rationing is a constant source of surprise and horror to her and her colleagues from the former Soviet states.
- Minarchian, on 07/01/2008, -40/+122Now how is that an example of health care?
Somebody should have recognized that something was wrong with her, but you need to blame that on everyone that didn't care to pay attention. Not the dang healthcare system. - moracity, on 07/01/2008, -45/+101Sorry, this is not an example of U.S healthcare. It is, however, an example of two other things:
1) People suck and don't even care about one another anymore.
2) This is a county hospital run by the GOVERNMENT. This is what happens when the government interferes where it doesn't belong. This is what messiah Obama wants to bring to everyone. This story is a shining example of why government-run/managed healthcare is bad. There is no accountability when the government is running the show. For some reason, people give government a pass. This unlikely to happen in a privately run hospital. If it did, action would be swift and merciless by the shareholders. - Ghorkvos, on 07/01/2008, -1/+41This is an example of diffusion of responsibility similar to what happened to Kitty Genovese. Really its a sad occurrence when people just sit around and do nothing expecting others the take responsibility but none do.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffusion_of_responsi ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitty_Genovese - GiJoeBob, on 07/01/2008, -4/+44"Other patients waiting a few feet away didn't react. Security guards and a member of the hospital's staff appeared to notice her prone body at least three times but made no visible attempt to see whether she needed help."
This is what is wrong with AMERICA, not the health care system. - inactive, on 07/01/2008, -7/+42maybe you should come to Canada then. Our wait lines are so long. Here is an example: My dad broke his leg skating, and twisted it all the way around. We drove to the hospital and he was in an emergency room in 5 MINUTES. Your wait time down there in the states pales in comparison to the 5 MINUTES we had to wait. Man i wish lines in Canadian health care werent so long
/sarcasm - Rotzooi, on 07/01/2008, -12/+41Like always there are short-sighted comments "our health care system sucks", "no, it's the best in the world!".
In fact, both are true. We have (one of) the highest levels of medical care - it's the capitalist distribution of it that is teh suck.
It's the American way. I hope not for much longer, but for now it sucks to be sick if you're poor. - blackinthmiddle, on 07/01/2008, -4/+32Unfortunately, emergency rooms look at people in one of two categories: people who are about to die and everybody else. If you're not on the first list, you're not a "real emergency" as far as the hospital is concerned.
My builder was doing work on my neighbor's house a few years back (the day we had the blackout in the northeast in august) and essentially cut off two of his fingers from his right hand. He's right-handed. He goes to Northern Westchester hospital (New York) and they tell him to wait, while he's bleeding. They then give him gauze and *ask him to sign in*! The doctor was running around and told him although he'll take care of him, he's not an emergency as far as he's concerned.
So he gives him a local anesthetic and says he'll come back in 5 minutes when it starts to kick in. 30 minutes later (and the anesthetic almost worn off), he comes back. He offers to give him another shot, but my builder just told him to stitch him up. He said he felt every stitch! - inactive, on 07/01/2008, -12/+38I have "good" health insurance. In spite of that, I waited in the emergency room with a broken shoulder and multiple lacerations from a bike accident for 14 hours. That was Howard University Hospital here in Washington DC.
- blackinthmiddle, on 07/01/2008, -5/+30What will make things even worse is that the Hospital will fight tooth and nail to keep the judgment against them as low as possible. I knew a brick layer who almost lost his hands and it was deemed his employer's fault. He received a check for less than $200K...NINE YEARS LATER!!! This was, of course, before lawyer's fees. If the hospital were to say, "My bad" and open their checkbook, you wouldn't feel *so* bad. But they add insult to injury by fighting things.
- DrivinWest, on 07/01/2008, -10/+35I'll probably get dugg down for this, but my experience with American health care beats the hell out of what I've gotten in France, Germany, and the UK.
In Germany I'm required to pay ~250 Euros (US$380) a month for full coverage. The same coverage in the U.S. cost me $10 a month. The only caveat was that I had to pay a tiny co-pay in the U.S.; $75 for an ER visit, $10 per doctor visit, $10 per prescription. All told I probably paid less than 10% in the US than I now pay in Germany.
Additionally, I've found American doctors to be more accessible (they don't disappear for months at a time) and their willingness to treat pain makes Germany look like it's stuck in the 1800s. e.g. after major oral surgery where they sawed her jaw in half, my girlfriend was given 600mg tablets of Ibuporofen - three f-ing Advil! When she complained about the pain, they upped the prescription to 800mg. They also cost an outrageous price (funnily enough we had a bottle of 300 200mg Advil pills that we got in the US which cost us less than $10). She went to another doctor who essentially told her to suck it up; surgery is painful. I think Germans like being miserable, but that's a whole 'nother topic.
My experience is purely anecdotal, but at the very least I hope to convey that there are some people in Europe who long for American health care! - Jpardue, on 07/01/2008, -2/+26The health care in the US is good, but the COST of health care in the US is ***** LUDICROUS!!
- Minarchian, on 07/01/2008, -9/+32She was in a psychiatric emergency room.
Obviously you've never seen what strange things are happening in psych hospitals.
I used to visit a friend of mine worked in one...some really strange ***** happens there, including people groveling on the floors, fool. - SuperKewlGirl, on 07/01/2008, -34/+57Honestly it dosen't suprise me - our health care systems sucks
- skipdog172, on 07/01/2008, -7/+29I'm sorry but I work in a hospital. You seem to think that because you have "good" insurance that other people in need of EMERGENCY medical care should be pushed to the side while you go to the front of the line. Or you think that "good" insurance means that hospitals can't be busy? I just can't understand your logic.
I don't understand how "ER wait times" can be prevented. Don't you realize that the only way this is possible is to completely overstaff the hospital and increase health care costs even more?
What kind of solution do you propose?
You were at an ER that happened to be busy. No magical system can prevent this. The ignorance of digg is really showing today with some of these comments being dugg so far up... - inactive, on 07/01/2008, -6/+28Did you read my comment? She has nothing but disdain for the old soviet system.
- Scheissen, on 07/01/2008, -15/+37Screw universal healthcare, did you guys even read that article? She was in a municipal hospital. Not a private one. That hospital is maintained by the town.
- chispito, on 07/01/2008, -1/+22Yes but that has nothing to do with the healthcare system, it has everything to do with that particular emergency room and its staff.
Explain what egregious errors of the system caused that problem. - SkippyDoorknob, on 07/01/2008, -2/+22Cutting off two fingers is not an emergency?!? It's not like he had a case of the sniffles.
- pilot3033, on 07/01/2008, -15/+33yes, and underfunded one it seems
thus the problem. - TinternAbbot, on 07/01/2008, -1/+17Six people were fired, so even if you knew nothing about healthcare, you'd realize from the article that this is NOT typical.
- bdette, on 07/01/2008, -14/+29We have the worst healthcare system in world. In other words if you are rich you have good health care. The rest of America....pray that you don't get sick or injured.
- filmbandit, on 07/01/2008, -2/+17the observation about Soviet medicine is interesting -- for the last few months i've been making some armchair-league comparisons about the U.S. to the Soviet Union of my 70s and 80s childhood. Back then, the U.S. news reported regularly about Soviet Union's dysfunction -- affecting every area of Russian life. Infrastructure was crumbling, there was no adequate health care, no considerations for privacy or human rights, corruption and cronyism ruled, there were no effective government protection agencies etc. On some levels these failures feel familiar here today in the U.S. to what was reported to us about life in the Soviet Union before the wall came down. i've been looking for the book someone has written about these comparisons but haven't found it yet. if you know of one let me know.
- inactive, on 07/01/2008, -8/+23That's *****. You clearly have never been outside the USA. I lived in Brazil for years, and there was always a neighborhood health clinic you could just drop into for free.
- sadisticmind, on 07/01/2008, -5/+19Sounds to me LIke inboxnews doesn't know how to read.
- gernblansted, on 07/01/2008, -5/+18My wife used to work for a health insurance company. Her job was calling people and telling them the procedures they need won't be covered by the insurance company. She was forced to tell people there children would die because even though a procedure existed that could save their lives, the insurance company wouldn't cover it. It's the worst job she ever had.
When you say something like "The U.S. doesn't have health rationing.." you show yourself to be a shill for the multi-multi billion dollar insurance industry or ignorant of the 20 ton gorilla in front of your face.
BTW - Just because you work your ass off to make insurance executives filthy rich doesn't mean for a second you'll get the coverage you need. There are many many people who are dead now only for reasons of profit, and many of them say the same thing you would when you get denied - "But.. But..." - hawkeye17, on 07/01/2008, -1/+14This tragedy is also indicative of a lack of basic ***** humanity that is sweeping this country the last 8 years. Anyone who saw her like that and did nothing should go to jail for being inhuman. Sickening.
- thesauce, on 07/01/2008, -6/+18I broke my arm once on superbowl sunday.
Had to sit in a ***** plastic chair for over 6 hours before anyone even took a look at it. Some dumbass came in, said "yeah it's broken" (no ***** *****!), tried to put on a cast, ***** up like 30 times, and billed me for thousands of dollars.
Yay. - bobartig, on 07/01/2008, -1/+13We don't have the worst healthcare in the world, just one of the worst amongst first world countries. That, and we don't have national healthcare, like most of our peers.
We also pay more for healthcare per capita than those crazy europeans that have better coverage. - Digger1218, on 07/01/2008, -5/+17Ok. So how would universal coverage have prevented this?
- blorc, on 07/01/2008, -7/+19Wow, the original poster got rocked. Guess the snarky title doesn't work so well now.
- Jlaugh, on 07/01/2008, -5/+16Yet all other first world countries have cheaper more effective state run healthcare. It's not government that's the problem it's the fact that we have for profit healthcare, with multiple bureaucracies.
- Kronos6948, on 07/01/2008, -5/+16Exactly. You only need to see how any other government run business works. Take a trip to the DMV, and imagine those people as your surgeons.
- geodebug, on 07/01/2008, -2/+13The royal's couldn't stop Tony Blair from gargling Bush's balls for seven years.
I like Royal Crown Cola though. - bjornski, on 07/01/2008, -0/+11Half of the other people in the emergency room wouldn't have been there for their primary care.
- yosserhughes, on 07/01/2008, -2/+12On the bright side, no-one stole her purse.
- arronlorenz, on 07/01/2008, -3/+14Racist? When did the article blame race? How was this in any way shape or form racist? Because she is black means that the staff, and patients around her are all racists?
- CrazedLeper, on 07/01/2008, -7/+18If your forefathers had been willing to serve the Royal family, you'd have free national health care like all of the Queen's commonwealths do now. But your forefathers wanted to be free so now you are "free". You still serve the Queen (by deception) only you get none of the benefits and you don't even know it. Suckers.
- Asheis, on 07/01/2008, -0/+10damnable.. you beat me to it!
It's not what's wrong with america, it's whats wrong with people in general. It's a well know fact when people have a sense that it isn't their problem to deal with personally, they just don't act.
Saying it's America's fault is ignorant and inflammatory. If the poster isn't american, they can go to hell. If they ARE american, they should be ashamed of themselves. I'll be the first to admit that america isn't the beacon of perfection in the world today, but it isn't as bad as many of these people are making it out to be.
All this, coming from a liberal.. who'da thought? - choopie911, on 07/01/2008, -10/+19And for some reason conservative americans are convinced that Canada's healthcare is crap. I've never had a bad experience personally, and one of my friends was recently hospitalized and has been taken amazing care of.
- filmbandit, on 07/01/2008, -2/+11and some of us work our asses off and are still denied health care because we have pre-existing conditions. here in texas we have a state-run health risk pool for people like me that have been denied. a health insurance policy with them costs $700/month.
- lwoodnj, on 07/01/2008, -11/+19No, he's pretty much dead on. The reality is that government funded or privately funded have the same problems, and Government Run will only result in further disaster and neglect.
- inactive, on 07/01/2008, -9/+17"Excuse me Miss, do you have insurance? If not, you'll have to drag yourself out."
- commenter01, on 07/01/2008, -2/+9"throw more money at the problem"...
Not surprising, coming from a mac user. - randumbusername, on 07/01/2008, -2/+9come on now, you know the solution is to throw someone else's money at the problem. this way you'll look compassionate.
- Jlaugh, on 07/01/2008, -2/+9Yeah actually I never once saw a bill in Canada, yet had perfectly adequate care. The Canadian system works for more people more of the time.
- alexforcefive, on 07/01/2008, -1/+8And the fact that this doesn't happen in the UK only reaffirms your conviction that universal health care is a bad thing?
- lwoodnj, on 07/01/2008, -1/+8Why...wouldn't the Hospital fight tooth and nail to avoid judgment? Many things about this make sense:
1. In many situations, the Hospital is justified in trying to avoid patient suits. Too many of them are frivolous. I've talked to doctors, and the reality is we sue for all the things we shouldn't and let slide the things we should. Now, nothing can be taken seriously. Greed has ruined things more than anything else.
2. Why should a hospital be for blame for something like this? I mean, as Inboxnews says, we don't know the whole story, but I'm willing to bet the hospital didn't just "saw off his hands" for no reason. Doctors are doing an incredibly complicated job that's not as simple as Ford producing a car. There are no "guarantees" in medicine, and people need to stop acting like the Hospital is the Grocery Store of "making you healthy". It's not: They're humans, very smart and capable ones, doing the best they can with incredibly difficult situations. If a doctor makes a decision to try to save your life and it goes badly, that's LIFE. He's doing the best he can, TRUST ME: They're not emotionless robots that don't care whether you live or die; they get wracked by guilt and stress over these things. We can't keep punishing people for trying to do the right thing and be courageous. This attitude of "The Hospital is responsible for me and must deliver a product of my good health" is simply immature.
Oh, and:
3. If you hurt yourself on the job or doing something stupid or whatever, and the hospital can't fix you up good as new, THAT'S NOT ITS FAULT. You did something risky, you got hurt, they're doing the best they can to help you, but they don't have to PAY you because they couldn't fix you up. It just doesn't work like that. They're not your parents. They're just people: you got hurt, they're not magicians, take responsibility for the fact that you got injured and stop trying to act like someone else owes you for your pain. They don't. They did what they could. -
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