A friend is near death -- Health Care in the US
I found out today that a friend (not that close to me but very close to others who are very close to me, and a person I have known for a very long time) is near death from a perforated intestine. The thing is, he was in pain and didn't go to the hospital because he has no insurance. He waited a week. I am stunned that he may die, worried about those close to him, and angry that this country allows this kind of thing to happen on a daily basis. If he had lived in England, or France, or Canada, no doubt he would have been in an emergency room on the first day. Instead, he took Advil and waited until he couldn't tolerate the pain another minute. He had two surgeries today, and will indergo several more, if he survives. The doctors called in his family members, because it doesn't look good.
This did not have to happen. If you read this, please, pray or visualize or think healing thoughts for him. Thanks.
And speak out about single payer health care. This has gone on too long.
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Ericka Lutz says:
My thoughts are with your
My thoughts are with your friend, Natasha, hoping for good healing. What a terrible (and all too typical) story. This has, indeed, gone on far too long.
Dennis Shay says:
Sorry about your friend. But let me comment on your tags.
Natasha,
A perforated bowel is bad, but his prognosis is not necessarily hopeless despite his delay in seeking help. Much depends on why and when the bowel perforated and how his health is in general. If he were low income, he could have gotten on medical welfare. If he were old enough he could have gotten medicare.
But more importantly, on the spur of any moment, he could have gone into any emergency department in the entire USA and gotten good care with potentially an extensive workup if needed. Finances are not discussed anymore until after treatment (mandated by law), and the medical personnel could care less at the time). The full array of specialists of the medical center must take rotating call for the emergency department to stay on staff.
Granted your friend would have been charged, but ER collections for uninsured patients is very low, most bills are eventually written off.
260+ Americans are covered with health insurance. And some of those who don't have it are, in fact, being penny-wise and pound-foolish. Socialized medicine is coming and soon, but I prophesy that those who have enjoyed "insured status" under the current system will "remember the good old days." Fresno, California, has more MRIs in service than there are in all of Canada.
There is a window into our future. The Veterans Admininstration Hospitals are US government run health care institutions. They dispense adequate care though in slow motion (and today, they are healthily backed up by the private sector.)
Realize that England has a system of private-care, private-pay medical centers for the well-to-do. Canada has the United States. People north of us who are put on long waiting lists for care, can drop down across the border and get their care "yesterday."
Don't expect socialized healthcare to be a panacea. It has a downside (which is steeper for some patients than others).
Natasha Bauman says:
Thanks, Ericka
I appreciate it very much.
And Dennis, I have to disagree with almost everything you said. First, my friend is in an induced coma until August because his sepsis was so advanced and far-reaching. He had to have his skin peeled off because he had a necrotizing bacterial infection. The doctors have clearly said that his chances of survival are less than 50/50. And whether or not it is true that he would have been treated had he gone to the hospital earlier (I am sure this depends on the hospital -- I have read plenty of horror stories in the LA Times about uninsured patients being shuffled from one hospital to another and dying in the meantime), What is true is he didn't seek help because he had no insurance. He was worried about the charges he would have to pay should he go in and get tests and then find there was nothing serious wrong with him. That's a simple fact. And it's a scenario that has played out with many thousands of other people.
I know plenty of Europeans who swear by their socialized medicine. I would take it any day over the system we currently have, which works very well for those who have good insurance, and are not confronted with insurance companies who deny their claims. My son was refused health insurance coverage by Blue Cross because he had tendonitis in his arm!
And even though charges may be written off by hospitals, that doesn't mean that the patient hasn't first suffered a great deal of trauma regarding the charges, and/or had his or her credit destroyed by the write-off.
I am one of those who believe that all the rhetoric about long waits and inadequate care in Canada and Europe is simply a scare tactic perpetrated by those who do not want single payer health care. Most of the pople who are against it are those who stand to lose money, ie insurance companies and doctors whose incomes might not be so high under single payer.
But in main, I am concerned and disturbed about my friend, and the fact that his claim on life is tenuous at this moment.
Natasha Bauman says:
Seth passed last night.
Far too young. And he did not go gentle.
Perhaps I should not be gentle with the rage I feel.
In memoriam, Seth.