cold
Published January 19, 2008 | 
Winter has frozen us
Let love take hold of us
(Cold cold cold)
Now we are shivering
Blue ice is glittering
(Cold cold cold)
- annie lennox
Now this is cold. In Los Angeles lawyers have filed a lawsuit on behave of a paraplegic man who was dumped on the street in LA’s skid row still dressed in a hospital gown. This has been going on for some time now and this case only became part of the public consciousness because a camera caught images of the poor soul crawling in the gutter with a colostomy bag. The practice of course is nothing new and was featured in Michael Moore’s film Sicko. In another news story hospitals are working with a company to provide fast credit reports for patients. This way of course they will know right away who can pay them. Maybe if they can decide who can pay them in advance they can avoid the bad press of dumping them on street after their poor credit rating is fully diagnosed. Of course the hospitals accused of such practices sport such fine names as; “Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center” or “Martin Luther King-Harbor Hospital” (which is now shut down). Something tells me their namesakes would not be all that pleased.
It’s the nature of life to go along each day doing as we do and addressing each issue as it becomes a real problem. It’s like patching a leaky roof. Over time though, after years of patching the roof becomes no longer stable. Patches only delay the inevitable. Eventually, you have no choice but to rebuild.
Makes ya just want to load up the boat and go for a paddle, doesn’t it??
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4 Responses to cold
It does. The humorist in me wants to suggest that they could have at least put some anti freeze in the colostomy bag before dumping the poor soul. The for real/bigger part of me says that this was no way for those bastards to treat another human being.
Yeah, it’s always these “under-currents” that bug me. The guys who make these decisions are all well-educated pillars of society. Somehow they easily distance themselves and get on with their days.
It’ s kind of a catch 22, either the hospitals eat the expence of poor patients and shut down because they can’t cover expenses or they kick the poor out on the street and stay in business.
Can’t really blame the people who run the hospitals because that is the choice they have in the US.
The joys of living in a capitalist society.
Sorry for chatting political:-(
That’s the thing with the health care system in the states. Hospitals are left in that position. Care is determined by accountants who serve the wrong master. Medical staff only have limited options within the system. And of course as you say Health Care in the states is a business and as such must turn a profit to survive. The real question of course is, should health care be a “for profit” venture? Does the model work? On one hand we talk about Americans being quite generous as individuals, and on the other we argue that only those who can afford good health care should get it.
But the problem is worse than that. Even those who can afford insurance are not always in better shape. Most of us know in our experiences with big business, that it’s a rare find when a large company is looking out for their customers. Thus we have cheap products, poor customer support and all the other hassles that go along with individuals dealing with corporations. Corporations of course are in a bind because they need to keep the profits up for investors. In a sense that’s all fine and dandy in most product oriented business because customers can always just go somewhere else. In the end as Dell computers learned, a company must serve its customers. In heath care however poor customer service is not just inconvenient, it can be deadly. Health care is also a monopoly of sorts which again works against the “customer”. Customers can’t just stop buying the product or turn to effective competitors.
In addition health care of each individual is beneficial to the society as a whole. Each one of us has a stake in the health care of our neighbors. Big business is not set up to address that element. Although it’s certainly in their best interests, they have no strong way to enforce healthy life styles, or deal with preventative care, drug addiction, psychological health and the rest outside of their system. The profit model does not encourage investment in programs for the non-paying customer. Those costs are left to society. Us. Other’s have to pick up the tab for the costs of poor health care while the corporations profit by limiting their exposure to loss.
A good health program would of course serve everyone and everyone equally recognizing that health care for every individual is in the end, profitable for the society as a whole. (Notice I did not say healthcare is a right, I said healthcare for everyone is in society’s best interest. ) It would be streamlined for efficiency in care and financially as well. It would combine preventative & psychological care based on each individual needs. It would pay health care workers well. It would also invest in education for those workers so they did not have insane debt when they entered the field. It would invest in R&D to the extent that it continues to encourage discovery. It would also encourage and reward private investment in R&D. It would regulate the system to be sure care in Augusta was the same in New York, or Philadelphia, or Spokane. It would not eliminate the profit motive, just adjust it. Each individual should be paid well for their service. However a small number of investors, raking in large profits where access is limited and care is mixed at best, does not work. Everyone must invest. Society must invest.
Yeah, nothing’s perfect. What I always find interesting is that here we often want to say that nationalized health care is not that good in other countries, so that proves it won’t work. Of course that could be debated, but even if we accept that then my thought is that if we’re so smart, then we need to come up with a national system that does work.
Sorry, there’s me going political. LOL!