An American hospital is a business—nothing more. Some may be subsidized by our socialist-leaning liberal government, but for the most part, hospitals need you there to get paid. And the longer you stay, the more money they make.
Sometimes a hospital is 100% needed (i.e. a heart attack or compound fracture to the femur), but it’s how they manage those numerous “gray-area” issues that makes them a total racket. If you know how hospitals operate, you can avoid their scams and avoid getting ripped off.
1. They rely on “urgent care” centers to generate their business
A few weeks ago, I went snorkeling in the Florida Key’s with some friends. I accidentally inhaled some sea water, and a few hours later, started coughing up liquid from my lungs. The next morning, I decided to drive myself to an urgent care center just to get checked out.
The doctor at the urgent care took an X-ray and an oxygen sample—paid via health insurance. I was feeling better and my oxygen count was good, but the doctor told me that my lungs “looked really ugly” and that I should be admitted to the hospital. When I asked him why, I was told that the hospital had “the proper respiratory equipment and medicinal treatments” for my condition, which he insisted was life threatening.
Now at this point, he’s got me a little nervous and believing (naively) that I would drop dead on the street at any minute from pulmonary edema. I’m not old, but being far from home and thinking that I was going to get some crucial respiratory therapy, I complied and checked myself into the local ER.
2. They will try to sell you on staying overnight for an “observation”
Um…you guys wanna put ANYTHING into this?
Once in the ER, all the staff did was take blood samples and urge me to stay overnight so that they could monitor me—there was no respiratory treatment at all. When I asked the nurses and doctors why I wasn’t receiving any medication or treatment for my lungs (as the first doctor implied I would get), they became irritated and kept changing the subject back to how “important it was” that I stayed overnight. Straight answers here were in short supply.
Four hours later, I was still in the same place – and there was no treatment of any kind. The entire time I just sat there, being sold by nurse-after-nurse on needing to “stay overnight.” It’s appropriate that most nurses are female, because the badgering just went on-and-on. Unfortunately for me, the only thing my body received during this time was a Cuban sandwich—not oxygen or medication.
I decided to leave. I was fine, and I could tell my doctor knew it too.
3. They don’t want you to know how your health insurance works
Out-patient is when you slice your hand, get patched up in the ER for a few hours, then go home—you are not at the hospital overnight. In-patient is when you stay in a hospital room overnight, and piss-and-shit into pans.
What hospitals don’t want you to know, is that with health insurance, your out-of-pocket expenses SKYROCKET once you become in-patient and spend the night there. The room costs money, the food you eat costs money, and your presence overnight allows them to literally charge you $12 for an aspirin every few hours. Then, you wind up paying off your $5,000 deductible for the next three years—all for an “observation.”
When I started asking the staff what my insurance costs would be and how it worked, they began to “disappear” to assist other patients, so I Googled it on my phone. They don’t want you to know how much extra in-patient costs vs. out-patient—and it’s why a lot of people get blindsided with ridiculous out-of-pocket hospital bills just for a cough.
5. They use scare tactics against you
A hospital wants you staying overnight—and their arsenal of fairy-tale bullshit scare tactics to make it happen is absolutely endless. Scraped your wrist? You need to be observed for a potential life-ending blood clot. Got mild indigestion? You could shit yourself to death from that possibly e-coli ridden hamburger. Your blood-work isn’t back from the lab yet, but let’s get those pillows ready anyway.
At the end of the day, the hospital wants their money, and it is in their best interest legally and financially to “keep an eye on you just in case” under the guise of “care-giving.” This creates a win-win situation for them every time—with you at the disadvantage.
6. Their nurses are overly-dramatic corporate lackeys
Aww…you POOR thing! You could, like, totally die!
ROK readers know that most women are drama queens and actresses, but I found that hospital nurses are turbocharged drama queens. Their minds and emotions are very chaotic—just like their jobs are.
Even worse, nurses attempt to play with their patients’ emotions, and this is easily accomplished because most people are already in a vulnerable emotional state while sitting in an ER. They are corporate lackeys that serve their masters by manipulating you into excessive hospital fees that you don’t really need to pay. Considering how overpriced the health care industry already is, their behavior is as predictable as it is abhorrent.
Of course, the nurses then get vindictive when you don’t go along with their corporate ruse. The second I told miss man-jawed plumper that I was leaving the hospital, she literally grabbed the IV stuck in my arm, and violently ripped it out like a 90’s feminist taking back her borrowed Melissa Etheridge CD. Yeah, very mature.
6. They rely on gullible and emotional patients
Hospitals don’t want critical thinkers as patients. They have their own agenda, and want gullible morons who will swallow whatever opinionated BS is spoon fed to them. When you are faced with a less severe ailment like mine, ask cold hard questions to the doctors in order to help sort through any potential BS. Don’t accept vague statements, and always seek to clear up any gray area. What is the name of my condition? How is it treated? What specific equipment does the local hospital have to treat this?
In a lot of cases, hospitals rely on gullibility, raw emotions, and low IQ’s as a means to prosper financially. According to Trusted Choice, over 60% of all bankruptcies are due to medical expenses. Hospitals don’t care, and because the average Boobus Americanus has the IQ of a toaster, this is a very convenient racket for them.
Conclusion
I believe that the condition of my lungs was bad, but also believe that the severity of my ailment was exaggerated in an attempt to take advantage of me. I was BS’ed by a series of agenda-driven medical professionals, and my lack of respiratory treatment or medication in the ER was the smoking gun.
If you feel fine overall and you are not getting direct answers or treatment specifics from your arrogant and egotistical academy award winning doctor, get the hell out of there and save yourself the $300 copay. Don’t be a beta hypochondriac and buy into a hospital’s BS.
Read More: How Charity Organizations are Scamming You Out Of Your Hard Earned Money
A couple of years ago, Mexico shut down 16 hospitals for not displaying their prices prominently for all patients to see.
That’s considered heresy in America for some reason.
The present consensus is that a good deal of the obscenely inflated costs of American Medical Care can be traced back to the Health Maintenance Organization Act of 1973. Prior to that Hospitals were non-profit. Search the terms “Nixon + HMO” to learn in detail about how things changed.
Also, don’t discount that a lot of healthcare is “Preventive Medicine,” meaning that treatments and referrals happen in order to avoid malpractice lawsuits down the line. (I could tell you some war stories here.)
Reality is that mostly the body heals itself, and usually requires no medical intervention whatsoever, intervention that often proves deleterious to patient health. Hence we see the paradox of persons with abundant health-care resources and usage having a shorter life expectancy than those with only average access, to say nothing about its negative impact on their finances.
Other than for catastrophic accidents, a healthy lifestyle – diet, weight, exercise, etc. – is usually sufficient for disease prevention and negates the need for doctor visits, something that the Business of Medicine doesn’t want you to know.
Just a thought.
VicB3
Before Obamacare I used to have really good insurance. My employer paid 100% for it and the cost was about $200/month from them. I had $0 co-pays on just about everything and drugs were covered most for $5/$10 per month supply. Deductible was $1000 and the one time I had to go to an the ED (car crash – fortunately checked out OK) my co-pay was $250.
Now I pay $200/month for health insurance and the employer pays about $600/month. Deductible is $5,000 and nothing is really covered until that kicks in except a few things. Drug coverage is maybe 50% of actual cost which is even high for generics these days. It is really sad to hear a usual topic of conversation at work start with “yeah…I am close to my family deductible for the year so I am going to have that elective procedure done right after Christmas….Jimmy is getting his wisdom teeth out over Fall break whether he likes it or not…and my wife is thinking about having that procedure done so she is saving up her sick time…we should be able to hit the tax deduction threshold too…” People are actually scheduling their medical care based upon their deductible and the calendar year. Never heard of that before Obamacare destroyed private insurance.
A simple web search will amply demonstrate that Obamacare was written by the insurance companies, drug companies and HMOs to their own benefit. In other words, a perfect example of what is called “Rent Seeking Behaviour.”
Add to that the people who voted it in had never read it and had no idea what it actually said, and you have the disaster of the present day American Health Care System.
(Without devolving into a nativist rant, we’ll leave out for the moment of the strains immigration – both legal and illegal – have put on that same system. We see people from relatively primitive background who have never had *any* healthcare and with per-existing conditions, suddenly afforded fully modern and comprehensive treatments, and at no or little out of pocket cost, costs that are shifted onto the general populace, i.e. you and me. It’s not sustainable.)
That’s the thumbnail anyway. Hope it helps.
Just a thought.
VicB3
Hardly anyone needs their wisdom teeth removed. Scam!
Fuckin obamaHUSSAINcare !!
@VICB3,
I still remember that snake Nancy Pelosi telling us we have to pass ObamaRape (err, “CARE”) so we can see what’s in it…
Even the “fact-checking” website Snopes admits she said it, though they try to soften the blow…
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/pelosi-healthcare-pass-the-bill-to-see-what-is-in-it/
Though in retrospect, I’m finding many LOLs from the context…
“You’ve heard about the controversies within the bill, the process about the bill, one or the other. But I don’t know if you have heard that it is legislation for the future, not just about health care for America, but about a healthier America, where preventive care is not something that you have to pay a deductible for or out of pocket. Prevention, prevention, prevention–it’s about diet, not diabetes. It’s going to be very, very exciting.”
Yup. It was EXCITING all right…
What are you saying reminds me of a question at Radio Erevan:
– It’s true that Adam lived 900 years but now we live only barely 80?
– Yes, it’s true.
– How come?
– Meanwhile the science of medicine evolved very much…
Unfortunately medicine is know in a dead end with doctors in the posture of blind guides.
Wait, you are comparing modern medicine to a myth?
Only that in this case the modern medicine is the myth
Seeing a hospital doctor (private) costs me $2. My pharmacist will sell me any drug I can name over the counter. Antibiotics $1-2 a bubble pack, paracetamol $1/100, probably the same drugs sold to you. America is destroying the western world with it’s excessive medical costs.
first world shit hole, at its best !!
Can you get Cialis/Viagra without a prescription there John?
Just bought 2 bubble packs of 4 viagra at the Burma/Thai border, 8 pills for a total of $3. Very useful when you’re drunk and don’t want to waste your ‘bar girl purchase’.
In CO, they passed a law requiring medical providers to post prices. Still as of August 2018, I see TONS of medical providers NOT posting prices online for basic services.
Why? They are fighting this in court. And medical providers do not seem to give a f-k about enforcement. They KNOW they have bought all Democrats (and Gov Chickenpooper) in State of CO and about half the Republicans. We have a pedophile-type rich-parents loser named Jared Polis running for Gov in CO, saying he will force Socialized healthcare upon State and raise middle class State income taxes to 50% or so. They could not afford it in a tiny socialist-minded State like Vermont, but this lunatic Polis wants this on a State 20x size of Vermont. 🙄
Why are health providers they suing State about this law that went into effect earlier in 2018? Because they claim medical pricing of services is a “patented secret”, therefore, not required to be posted and a “secret”.
Having worked with lawyers who did HOURLY BILLING of clients instead of Flat-fee cases and instead of contingency case (like personal injury – no win, no fee), I have seen GROSS ABUSE OF HOURLY BILLING.
And with lawyers, you have right as client to see description and accounting of hours worked and billing. In hospitals/most medical providers, the scam does not even allow patients to see list of services most of the time and they use words like “electrolyte supplement” for Jell-o and charge $25 for a cup!
Oh and depending on your individual health insurance, prices using insurance may be more then cash price. 😡
Illegal aliens get 100% free healthcare. Free for them, you stupid American taxpaying workers pay 100% of cost directly via higher hospital costs and/or via taxes and “emergency Medicaid” (which is code for illegal alien Medicaid).
The whole system is a scam. ObamaCare was passed and forced down our throats to help collapse the system so we can have an UK-style hellish system, where govt decides life and death, no appeals, no safeguards.
What we need is full repeal of ObamaCare once traitor anti-American rodent McCain is dead for good (yay!) and then eliminate illegal alien healthcare and make it a felony to conceal healthcare pricing. Full Bill of Rights for patients to fight off billing scams by hospitals, because hospitals have staff full of lawyers to sue and harass any patient that complaints.
Otherwise, sooner or later Dumbocrats will take power and we will have UK healthcare in USA. Illegals consume most care, seniors will face death pannels, and everyone will suffer greatly. Once Socialized healthcare is in, it is in forever. HealthCare will become HellCare. We will long dream of paying high hospital scam bills.
Democrats healthcare = VA for everyone, except politicians and the rich. UK hell system.
Doctors are in an interesting situation. Society views them as smart, positive, patient centric and of great morality and care. They work on the most intimate and complicated information to mankind – the human body. They thus have a hold on us. They are keepers of knowledge and techniques that really no one can challenge (esp in regards to surgery). And that is how they are given total access with the banks, big pharma, junk food and corrupt politicians to fuck us over.
Prevention is not crucial and is a way to end their business. Proper medical research is not important unless it gets big money and hence the rubbish or patent trolling.
Doctors in the west are coopted by neoliberals and they both get rich. Meanwhile docotrs pretend to care by following social justice wariors – drug additts, “refugees” aka illegal immigrants, homesexuals who have unprotected sex and get AIDS – all get free treatment. IM right wing but in regards to healthcare and education I beleive it should be free or cheap for all with a focus on prevention of disease and social ills. Clearly that isnt happening.
When the guillotines strike no doubt mant corrupt doctors heads will meet the blads of justice.
Make sure to focus on your health. Get fit, keep weight, eat well, sleep plenty, moderate alcohol, don’t smoke. Dont hang around and get stress for feminists, cucks an d SJW tpes. Focus on your self. Dont believe doctors if your gut instinct says so. I know a man who for years suffered hyer tension and went on every medication for it. He lost hair, had skin rashes, blood noses and it was always an issue. He stopped it. He maintained a good weight. He asked for a 72 hour blood pressure monitor… and found he suffered white coat hypertension – that is blood pressure related to stress. The medications made him worse and infact made him complacement. He beleived drugs were the solution, and that he could do nothing. LIES. And finally a good doctor even said to him that “your doctors before were wrong, you can mostly reverse hypertension and the drugs dont have to be for life” Medicine should be focused on science, prevention and progress. Now it is focused on profits solely.
You missed it by a mile.
Doctors are your friends, dude. They are also being squeezed by Corporate Health. Are you aware that approximately 400 doctors commit suicide every year? After a lifetime of rigorous studies, with loads of student debts chained to their nutsacks, they get kicked around by the hospitals and insurance corporations, and tons of government regulations.
Not seeing a way out, they end up hanging it up. For every doctor employed ion corporate health, there are 40 or more employees in administration.
I hear Indians will work for half…
Well, there may be truth to that. When I went to the ER some two years ago, and held hostage…oops, I meant for observation, both attendings were Indian. Get this, both had Italian (as it appeared on their roster) last names, like Tomasso or D’lingulio, I shit you not.
The best way to avoid going to a hospital is to assume that it doesn’t exist. Think about the ancient times when there were no such entities, and cure yourself with alternative medicines like ginger and organic stuff. One can easily search internet about the symptoms and can get quick details about the actual problem of illness with its multiple curing and healing routes.
Tell that to a torn ACL
Just fly to turkey, get a boat to Greece then walk to Germany and say your 15 years old and from Aleppo then you will get everything for free.
America used to be the healthiest nation before medical licensing was introduced.
That’s why George Washington died from tonsillitis and with 2 teeth in his mouth lol
Oftentimes, in an ER, you are frequently treated like shit, unless you’re a ‘privileged’ group – like illegals. True story – Once Saturday morning, I had a very large kidney stone that had me in agony. I knew it was a kidney stone (having had prior stones), and I knew exactly what I needed for the pain. They wouldn’t do jack shit until I was triaged, which they wouldn’t do because they were busy treating Mexicans with stubbed toes and minor cuts and sniffles. For part of the four hours I was waiting, I was curled up on a rug on the floor because it was the LEAST uncomfortable place. Still nothing. Checked several times – was told they’d get to me when they could, and that I was ‘next’. Which was a crock. Finally called my GP (who is VERY patient-centric). Fortunately, his PA was in for clinic that Saturday; I was told to come in and they’d see me immediately. When I started to leave the hospital, the hospital staff suddenly became quite concerned about me. I let them know in no uncertain terms, and with a little salty language, that they could shove themselves sideways up their own asses, recalling aloud for all present at how they’d ignored me for almost 4 hours. They suddenly wanted to keep me there, and I needed ‘observation’. The PA gave me a shot of the proper pain med, and in 3 minutes or so, I was sleeping on the exam table. Got taken home, and got the first good rest in about 3 days. Then because I was able to relax, I passed the stone naturally a few hours later. Unfortunately, with the same docs as gatekeepers to meds (I can understand the rationale for class 1 drugs), we’re at their mercy. And hospitals that don’t give a rat’s ass about you – only your money. Drives me and my sons to keep in as good of shape as we can so we can avoid the medical racket.
Want to contribute an article on kidney stones? It’s an interesting health issue. Details here: http://www.returnofkings.com/submit-an-article
@Adam
Kidney stones are some of the worst pain you can have. It feels like your body is being sawn in 1/2 from the top down.
The pain is so bad that even in the days before anaesthetics and antibiotics people would risk having them operated on even though it was sure death. That’s how bad they are. Kidneys pump a tremendous amount of blood to filter and the renal artery is large.
If you have recurrences of this always carry a hypodermic and morphine with you. You don’t want to be lying somewhere in pain and in your case for hours at the ER.
Also, have your doctor write on his prescription pad or stationary what your condition is and instruct the ER doctor to immediately administer 30mg morphine IV.
This is a portion of a thread, relating to this topic, on Bogleheads.com written by an ER doctor :
https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=238610
# 1 Buy health insurance
When you go to the ED with a truly emergent condition, you’re not going to be in any sort of position to negotiate prices. Far better to be associated with someone who has already done that for you and has far more pricing power than you do.
If you can’t afford health insurance, apply for Medicaid. If you don’t qualify, try to buy through a PPACA exchange. If you have a very low income, the subsidies are typically quite large and most of the middle class qualifies for a subsidy of some type. Even a family of 4 making $80K might be able to buy health insurance at a 50% discount after the tax subsidy.
If that still doesn’t work for you, consider a health sharing plan. While these do not provide as comprehensive coverage as a PPACA plan, the “share” might be half as much as health insurance premiums.
Health insurance is expensive stuff because it gets used all the time and health care is expensive stuff. If you think you’re only going to pay 2% of your household budget on health care while the nation as a whole spends nearly 20%, you need to reset your expectations. You’re doing well if you’re only spending 10% of your income on health insurance and health care.
Another option, assuming you can work, is to get a job where health insurance is offered as a benefit. If you can’t afford health insurance, and your job doesn’t offer it, you should continually be in the job market looking for a better job.
# 2 Expect to pay your maximum out of pocket costs
If your maximum out of pocket cost is $10,000, expect to pay that and be pleasantly surprised if it doesn’t get that high. If that is too much for you to afford, buy an insurance policy with a lower deductible/out of pocket cost. The total cost of your ED visit is generally going to be a four figure amount, between $1,000 and $10,000.
# 3 Don’t go to the Emergency Department if you don’t have to
Since emergency care is such expensive stuff, don’t go there if you don’t have to. This is a very expensive place for convenience care. If you’re not having an emergency, exhaust all other options before turning to the ED. This includes nurse help lines, your cousin, your neighbor, your primary doctor, your cousin’s primary doctor, telemedicine, and urgent cares. But if you’re clearly having an emergency, for heaven’s sake go to the ED. Far better to owe $10K than to lose life, limb, or eyesight. If you’re not sure, do the best you can. Doctor’s offices and urgent cares are good at quickly sending you to a higher level of care if needed.
# 4 Don’t take the ambulance if you don’t have to
An ambulance ride costs $1500-2000. An Uber costs $20. If you need the ambulance, for heaven’s sake call it. But if not, call an Uber. This also applies to interhospital transfers. “Doc, I don’t want to go by ambulance because it’s so expensive. I know there is the liability thing, but I’d be willing to sign all that Against Medical Advice paperwork if you think the chances of something happening to me en route are less than 10%.”
Just because the ambulance came to your house doesn’t mean you have to ride with them to the hospital. Your taxes cover the trip to your house and the assessment by the medics. Your health insurance (and you) covers the trip from home to the hospital. Don’t worry, you won’t offend the medics. If they’re really worried, they’ll follow you there. That’s a good sign that maybe you should have just gotten in the ambulance.
# 5 When you go to the ED, consume as little care as possible
When you first meet your doctor in the ED, make two things very clear to your doctor. First, that you would like to avoid doing anything today that can safely be done later as an outpatient or not at all. Second, that you understand that there is a great deal of uncertainty in what they’re doing today and that you’re not going to sue her if something isn’t identified on this visit. Repeat this multiple times during your visit. Use words like “I’m willing to share this risk with you if it can save me substantial amounts of money” and “What would you do if it was your wife or child?” “Can this be done safely later if I’m not getting better?” What are the downsides of not doing that test or treatment today?” “What do you think the chances are that this is actually something serious? I’d rather not get a huge work-up today if you think the chances are less than 10%.”
If you don’t want a $10 tylenol or a $100 morphine shot, don’t take any medication while you’re in the ED. If you’re writhing in pain with a kidney stone, you’ll be more than glad to pay $100. If the pain or nausea isn’t too bad, just let the doc or nurse know that you’ll tough it out and wait until you get prescriptions to go home with to treat those symptoms. “Do you think it would be safe to skip the IV dose here if I go to the pharmacy right away afterward and start taking the antibiotic prescription?” “Is there a cheaper medication you can prescribe that would work? I don’t mind a few more side effects or having to take it three times a day if it is 1/10th the cost.”
If you’ve got something serious enough to admit you to the hospital you’re definitely going to hit your max out of pocket, so might as well just get what your doc thinks you need done.
By the way, it’s important to understand that some admissions to the hospital are “observation admissions” and some are “inpatient admissions.” Depending on your insurance, that may involve different amounts of co-pays or co-insurance from you. Medicare in particular is this way.
# 6 When the bills come, read them.
Take a look at the bills once they show up. After you get over the sticker shock, make sure they are reasonably accurate. Is there a pharmacy charge but you didn’t get any medications while you were there? Is there lab charge but you didn’t get labs? Bills are wrong all the time. Contest them if they are. Wait until it “runs through insurance.” That first bill might be showing chargemaster prices, not the real prices.
If you’ve gone to an out of network hospital, you might be “balance billed.” That means your insurance and the hospital or doctor don’t have a negotiated agreement and your insurance company refuses to pay the whole bill. This becomes particularly problematic so many people, including legislators, are working on solutions to this. The problem is just outlawing balance billing gives the insurer enormous negotiating power over the hospital/doctors (why should we negotiate with you when we can just pay you whatever we want). But other solutions basically put government in the position to set prices for a private transaction. It’s a tricky problem to solve and is best when the hospitals/doctors and insurance companies just make a good faith effort to negotiate a fair price/payment.
If you can’t afford the bill, contact the hospital. They often have assistance programs that reduce the bill or allow you to pay interest-free over long periods of time.
@Drater,
” make two things very clear to your DOCTOR.”
“…you’re not going to sue her…”
So you are making an example scenario of the Doctor being “her” !? Why not HIM !??
Didja notice on commercials for drugs that it’s always HER and SHE when referring to doctors? Women now make up a majority of med school students. Yet another profession that’s becoming too feminized. Pretty soon, it’ll be rare to find a man on any college campus, let alone in the ‘gatekeeper’ professions. And yet the women will STILL claim victimhood and want special perks.
Well said. And these females are given all the incentives, even though they are NO match to MEN.
Not just for Drugs, Pharmacists or Doctors, this is happening to every Govt. & Business sector, including PayPal !! Always females are being highlighted !!
I stayed at the hospital overnight, twice, in the last two years. I do have insurance. But I might as well pay the entire bill myself.
Before I had insurance, it cost less for me to pay the doctor and hospital out-of-pocket. You read that right.
I don’t want to divulge too much personal info here. But I have said and I still say, insurance and the medical industry are a scam. Obamacare ain’t worth shit. I have private insurance. But AHCA has driven prices up and quality down. That’s what happens when you listen to communists.
Yeah, plus if you elect to leave, as in declining treatment or overnight stay, the nurse or MD will say that your insurance wont cover anything. I’m sure thats a lie, though.
Absolutely true. Your ignorance and vulnerability is exploited to manipulate you. Your insurance company, hospital and the AMA have formed a cabal to fleece you. Pricing of services is usurious and opaque. Dr’s fail to or avoid counciling patients on the most rudimentary diet and exercise programs, and instead choose a path of medication and surgical treatment only AFTER symptoms present themselves. Check any prescriptions for reactions with other meds you may be on…they dont…Most of the opiate addiction problems in the USA can be traced to conventional medicine and cover up by the AMA…I could go on, but you get the picture…if you have medical needs, shop your doctor like you would any other large purchase item..your life might depend on it.
In general I agree with the author’s tone and content, but with particular respect to points 1 & 2, there’s a major factor which he’s overlooking.
If your doctor or an urgent care center sets you up for further testing, or sends you downtown for a stay at the hospital, a big part of that is them covering their ass against dirty lawyers and their slimy, litigious clients. A single missed diagnosis can end a doctor’s career & take every penny he’s ever earned or could earn away from him. Patients know this and many are watching like a hawk for the tiniest of slips, so they can take that doctor to the cleaners. So if a doctor thinks there’s even a 0.5% chance something might be wrong with you, he’s got no other option really. He has to send you on to care that he himself probably feels is highly unnecessary, just to protect himself from disgusting vultures.
Those are really great points, but in this case though, he didn’t get the treatment in the ER that his urgent care doctor said he would –
so essentially, he paid a $300 ER copay just to cover that guys ass. If he had known better, he could have left the urgent care center, gone right to the beach bar, and saved alot of headaches.
.
Your point is spot on though about the insurance and patient scamming though – the whole medical care system is a total joke.
two words. Malpractice INSURANCE. Why should consumers EAT all the expenses of insurance for care that is malpractice then NOT have the option to SUE the hell out of a Doctor who SHOULD have Malpractice insurance just as a construction contractor should have Liability insurance and be bonded (if they are worth a F*K they WILL )…But you millionaire Docs try to play it off as “victims” when you are quacks. Docs didn’t have these problems before with the rampant incompetence of the past 30 years. Besides the current state of healthcare that revolves around Cholesterol, Diabetes, Heart and Cancer INDUSTRIES do not promote health but all shovel repeated treatments and poisons to guarantee REPEAT CUSTOMERS TO FLEECE rather than providing cures (which the industry suppresses into oblivion) and the stupid expensive poison of chemotherapy that don’t work and create more malignant cancers after “treatments” end, and virtually NONE of the doctors have a lick of NUTRITIONAL training much less Biological science time to understand and promote eating SAFE foods. Not a single doc I have ever seen myself has EVER talked about a diet strictly of whole unmanufactured raw and home cooked foods. they push the “diet” and “lo cal” and “low cholesterol” foods and then shovel Anti cholesterol pills after they push the ever lowering Industry thresholds for “safe” cholesterol levels. If they had a lick of education on how the body actually works with the substances that are in it, they would rail very loudly about how dangerous the fake sugars, complex manufactured sugared soft drinks and highly processed grain flours AND SOY PRODUCTS are all the culprits for the diabetes/stroke/heart disease problems (that and complete lack of real diet portion sizes and exercises (oh my the whole litany of “swear words’ for all their fatty assed snowflake customers begging for pill cures to laziness sloth and gluttony).
F**KING WAAAAHH!! Doctors crying as they are willing INDUSTRY STOOGES getting kickbacks and cry about being sued…F**King quacks.
Never met a doctor that wasn’t an INDUSTRY PILL PUSHER.
Another factor in this: The FDA’s war on dietary fat, which is actually GOOD FOR YOU. Any time you’re buying a “reduced fat” version of something that traditionally would have fat in it, the fat has been replaced by sugar (or worse, CORN SYRUP)!
Libtards can keep their margarine, I’ll take the Kerrygold please!
“6 Reasons Why Hospitals Are A Corporate Scam”
Most of them are free over here in the UK. I don’t need to know how my health insurance works because we have the NHS instead. 🙂
The first three words of the article are “An American hosital.”
Didn’t you read: “over here in the UK” !?
Always jumping on to say something doesn’t do any good!
PS: I lived and worked in the UK for 4+ Years and I can say that the NHS is by far the best & affordable Heath service. It is only that the people started exploiting and misusing the system.
He quoted and italicized the title of the article – which had nothing to do with the UK….and his comment had absolutely nothing to do with the content of the article, or any of the points that the author made
Yeah, you medical system is tops (NOT). Media has repeatedly run stories over the past 10 years or so how easily your system crashes each winter with ‘vomiting bugs” and how quickly your system aborts the lives of people because of scheduling issues and orthodoxy thinking about care leaving patients NO CHOICES at all save to try to go to different doctors all with the same rules of care and hope maybe one of them might “break the rules” and actually give rationed reasoned care, never mind competent advice.
I attended a church cookout a few weeks ago and struck up a conversation with a fellow parishioner about his wife’s troubled pregnancy. Their baby was born prematurely and his wife had to stay in the hospital afterward for what sounded like unspecified reasons. He told me that the bed alone cost $7,000 a day. That’s vulgar.
A few years back I was driving the company truck when an idiot dozed off behind the wheel and sideswiped me. Aside from some minor numbness in my left arm, I was fine. But the ambulance driver who arrived at the scene afterward was insistent that I go to the hospital. The numbness went away during the nearly three hours I was lying there, and the tab for the ambulance ride cost almost $900. Good thing the company I worked for paid it, but again, vulgar.
The numbness could have been a spinal injury. The EMT that receives 6 weeks of schooling was trained that numbness after a car wreck could be a spinal injury. He wasn’t thinking “I’m gonna make a few bucks for the hospital! Yeah!”
A premature baby most certainly ended up in the NICU. That’s intensive care. I agree that $7,000 for a bed alone is insane, but that’s part of it. The baby wasn’t in the nursery bassinet. The baby was most likely in an expensive “isolette” type incubator.
My wife had a placenta previa with our second – she started bleeding very badly when it tore at 29 weeks. Blood everywhere in the bathroom. It was bad. Once she was in the hospital, they got her stabilized, and then she spent 6 WEEKS there under constant observation. When my son was finally born at 35 weeks, he spent 8 days in the NICU. The bill was astronomical – fortunately, that was before Obongocare and the huge deductibles, and our employer-provided health insurance covered most of the bill.
It’s easy to see how one major health-care incident bankrupts people. I don’t know what the right answer is, but excess government regulations don’t help. A government-payer program like NHS that sucks up huge government expenditures and thus requires excessive taxes and regulates and then rations care, and has well-publicized incidents of neglect and abuse of patients – well, you can keep that.
The same is true with “urgent care” facilities are that popping up all over metro areas in the US like convenience stores. Why are there so many around? They are cash cow’s for the medical industry.
Won’t go into detail but I had a minor health problem. My insurance relies most on using a video conference doctor which I did twice. I knew what the problem was and, using the internet (evil words doctors HATE) was able to find the specific treatment protocol along with drugs and dosages. The video doctor refused to prescribe the proper drugs twice despite me sending him the protocols. So I had to go see an in-person doc. In my area, despite it being a big city, good luck finding a PCP that is accepting patients and will give you a same-day appointment without having to sit around all day. So I go to the local “urgent care”.
Wait about an hour, then see a “nurse” who takes my vitals. Wait another 30 minutes in a room expecting to see a doctor and a PA shows up. I explain my symptoms and that I have suffered this condition before. Hand her a copy of the treatment protocol and the lead study backing it up. She asked me where I got it and and I said I pulled it off a Lexis. Then asked me if I had medical experience. I said, “yes some” (I do). She left the room then came back in about ten minutes later with the “supervising attending physician” who looked like he was about 25. He had never heard of this condition (it really isn’t that rare, uncommon, but not rare). I referred the copies of the study and even showed him some photos on my phone about the condition in a lead medical reference used in med school classes. He got very defensive and told me it was probably just a “blah blah blah” and would resolve in a few days. At this time I got mad and responded “in a few days it is going to resolve into a major infection just like that picture there”. He went outside and finally came back in with the prescriptions I needed for proper treatment.
At the pharmacies the prescriptions with my junky insurance came out to about $20. Got the bill a week later for the urgent care visit. After my insurance covered their share and with the “negotiated group rate” it was still $250 (down from $450 “retail). What a scam. I called and complained basically saying I did all the work and if I hadn’t it would have been bad. Call was “escalated” to some national center and I sent in all my documentation. Got a call another week later saying some specialist had reviewed my file (which I did not request) and found my care was “adequate”. Despite this though I would be given a $20 credit toward my bill. I told them I wasn’t paying and if they put it on my credit report I would sue.
Six months later still not showing up on my credit report and never got a follow up bill.
Urgent care facilities are popping up as a result of 0bastardcare. They’re much cheaper than ER visits. Do you know the percentage of people who end up at hospital after an urgent care visit? Below 5%.
“Cheaper than ER visits” is like saying taking an Uber ride is cheaper then buying a car.
Of course it is….doesn’t mean that the model is still a scam.
Most “urgent care” facilities are staffed by part-time doctors and nurses looking to make an extra buck. Most are under-educated as far as patient needs and are overpriced for the services they provide. A patient shouldn’t have to fight to get proper treatment for what is really just an uncommon condition that can be researched by a knowledgable medical professional in 5 minutes. That wasn’t the first time either…
Doctors categorically hate educated people who in their words “self diagnose” or know more about medications and tests than they do. I confound them every time I have talked to them either about my own care or my kids care..they are blown away that they cannot blow smoke at me about stuff. You’d be surprised how fast they drop their high pressure sales pitches when the patient has an educated clue. I particularly loved winding up psychotherapists and psychiatrists i’ve had to deal with for my kids (all shoved on me by third parties I would add, namely the public school system, don’t believe for a second they blame bullying on the bully they aim all their efforts at the bullied child as the pill target). They rely on patients being desperate and on last wits when they start shoveling pills around, but ask them about drug interactions and drug effect magnification with their toxic cocktails.
Incidentally the mental health “industry” LOOOOVVVVEESS having women bring their kids in to them, because they will instantly accept ALL PILLS shoved at their kids, with no questions asked. GUARANTEED repeat customers. Why, because its all about “FEELZ” and who knows best about living in a world completely ruled by FEELZ and not logic or reason…Women, and the kids that TRUST them to look out for their well being…get sold a bag of bullsh** because its EASY and the pills cure the issue so the “mothers”(sic) can get back on their self absorbed gravy train and entitlement path because their “insurance policies” for child support and freebie benefits will live to pay for another day.
Typically retarded patient who doesn’t know what the fuck is going on. None of you ever do. Example: You think the nurses have any involvement in your insurance issues or know how much anything actually costs. Nurses look at the doctor’s orders and then carry them out.
Did you see your X-Ray? They most likely wanted to monitor you overnight because you had two possibilities: A, recover totally fine. B, develop pneumonia. Did they explain that to you?
Most likely they did explain that to you, but you, like 98% of patients, don’t actually listen and are too stupid to understand the words that we are speaking anyway. They probably explained that to you five times and you probably responded with “I feel fine, why do I have to stay?”. Then they explained it to you again that fluid in the lungs can sometimes progress into pneumonia, and you probably said the same stupid shit again.
And guess what? A lot of people do develop pneumonia after inhaling water. And if you did develop pneumonia, you’d be on here writing about how he Hospital missed it and didn’t treat you.
Fuck off, moron.
You HAVE to be female…probably a plump man-jawed ER nurse
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That would explain why this article got under your skin – it hit a “little too close” to home
I sincerely hope you drop dead sooner than later, scumbag
I have never seen a doctor or nurse WILLINGLY SHARE OR EXPLAIN the actual test results or xrays…EVER and the TECHNICIANS are instructed to NOT show them or answer questions because they may say something out of what the orthodoxy will allow. To even suggest they show you the actual results or films, makes them crazy and panicky, much less explain them. Oh yeah the light of education is shining brightly on the medical industries lies and self serving deceit, today. No wonder you are triggered so badly.
Great comment!
.
And yes, I had an X ray once and the doctor just put it on a CD for me…he didn’t show the graphic or explain anything
Yes, you are quite correct.You have to remember though that since the year 2000 when computer became cheap and a lot better that the Net is now full of kids and the lower classes. The dummies who believe that they know more than the expert doctor. The sort who worry more about their crappy and replaceable car than their irreplaceable body.
Inhaling water? There have been many cases where some kid for example was drowning and was recused and then seemed alright.Later that night he goes to sleep and is found dead.
As a hospital worker what you say is true. The system is private enterprise which is the problem.
How ever one unethical thing I’ve seen is that whole teams work in the hospital to kick out patients with out insurance
I’m a hospital administrator. None of this is true. In fact many hospitals are on the verge of bankruptcy due to the government. The author should research DRG’s. The hospital wants to get you out as soon as possible because they don’t get paid if you stay longer. Medicare and insurance companies only pay for so many days per procedure. When you go over, you don’t get paid. Point number 2-the nurses and doctors don’t know or give a fuck about the billing. That is retarded. Do some research before you post next time
This guy’s article is on point – and you know it
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The fact that you are offended by it because you work in the industry and are “plugged into the Matrix” does not change that fact
Then you must know that almost all hospitals in the US are Community Hospitals whether it is in the hospital’s name or not. The government lent/gave them money for the hospital and they had to agree to treat patients on a sliding scale. So some low income patient would be charged very little or even 0 if someone had no money. I guess they get the social worker connected with the hospital to sign them up for Medicaid in these instances.
This man speaks the truth. How ever mds will order more tests with out knowing costs.
To discount hospital bills , go here;
https://www.lawfulpath.com
Hey Monty Python, where did you learn how to count? Lol. Good article though. I wouldn’t go to a hospital unless I was bleeding out or had numerous broken bones that needed immediate mending.
But I bet that you’d repair your car if the oil was leaking, assuming that you even have one. You certainly have the right priorities haha
One of the major reasons this type of atmosphere exists can be traced back to medical school & college. The Western educational institution produces extremely highly-specialized individuals who focus solely on getting into medical school after college. Because of this, many students’ only hope is to get into medical school & to do this, they rack up enormous debt because for 4+ years, they have failed to learn basic survival/life skills outside of studying & can only ensure longterm survival in society by becoming a Dr. This is all before they even get into medical school! By the time they get in there, the parasites who run the schools drastically increase yearly tuition, forcing students to take even more debt to “help others”. When they graduate, many students owe half a million in loans. But wait, they still have to wait for at LEAST 3 more years (it typically is 5-10 years if they want to specialize in something decent) before they get paid anything more than $50k. So for at least 11 years, their growing debt has increased in principle AND interest. So when they finally get that $150k or more salary they’ve been duped into believing they’d get ASAP they owe about $600k. This debt will hinder them for a couple more years, limiting their mortgages, mobility, family planning, etc. Thus, what have the medical schools created? Overworked, cutthroat snakes in white coats who are thinking around the clock about paying their loans down. These are wolves & the rest of the public is the prey. They’ll tax every man, woman, & child that makes the mistake of getting sick because they need every dollar. The average American doctor is not too different than the average ghetto child trying to make it off the block, thanks to the greed of the AAMC, medical schools, etc. That’s not the only reason these hospitals are like that, but it is a major reason why Drs. are willing to play that dirty game
Good insight here!
Spoken like a true ignorant ghetto slumdog.
I went to med school at nymc which has a high attrition rate. It was worse than the prison next store. Ruined my life.
Dr. Do recover emotionally usually a few years after training mid 30s however.
It’s unfortunate that medical “professionals” will lie, cheat, and scare the hell out of you to take your money. Since you can’t trust these professionals in the U.S. anymore, doctors have become like auto mechanics–good ones are hard to find, and it’s best to go to a friend if you can.
Couple of more things
1. Urgent Care centers are crippling hospitals. Most don’t feed patients to the hospital. Most take away business from the hospital-less ER patients
2. Hospital Bills-(I get sick of this one). Those numbers you see $30 toothbrush and hundred thousand dollar bills and so forth, are made up numbers. They never get paid. They might as well say a billion dollar toothbrush. The amount paid is agreed on before you go in. Medicare pays about $60 for your X-ray. Your bill could say $10,000. The hospital only gets $60. Same for your insurance company. Your hospital bill is bundled. If you have heart surgery and it says toothbrush $90-no one pays for that.
I wish the billing was not like this, but the reason it is-the government
The reason the hospital sucks is half of the patients that go in don’t pay anything but they must be taken care of anyway (because of the government)Most of the patients don’t take care of themselves (won’t take their insulin, too lazy to change their bandages etc) and come back again and again. Then these non paying bums sue the hospital.
X-ray costs $5 where I live, and they make a profit from that. The problem in the US is people don’t understand the real costs of medical care and are charged ridiculous prices.
These ‘Urgent Care” places likely have doctors who don’t have hospital privileges which is why they don’t and can’t admit you to one.
And if these places do charge $450 as one commenter claimed then why not just go to a regular doctor, pay the $150 fee for the 1/4 hr, and have someone that you can call in an emergency.
I always believed that these Urgent Care places were for the dumb lower classes who didn’t have a personal physician and that they had to charge high fees because the deadbeats who went there never pay their bills.
Most Western Doctors are drug dealers for the drug companies.
Lemme tell you fellas something about crashing a Gixxer at 120mph on the highway and getting child supported in the same year; woke up in the MRI machine, and had I known what the future held, I might have just gone towards the proverbial light. Got roundhoused by a tremendous bill from the ambulance ride/hospital only to get fucking hammer fisted (if you know what I mean) by some dumb broad I dicked in the backyard. What a foolish young man I was smh. Word of advice: if you wake up in the hospital after a wreck and the cops try to question you, pretend to have serious brain damage. If you’re like me, things might be sort of ok financially after about 10 years.
If you do have to go to the hospital and you get a ridiculous bill in the mail a few days later, JUST IGNORE IT. All they can do is send you letters with big numbers in the amount due box. JUST THROW IT AWAY. Hospital bills won’t affect your credit. And there are no debtor prisons nowadays.
Seriously, only call 911 if you truly believe you are going to die if you don’t get immediate attention.
Hospitals these days are a (((corporate racket))).
And don’t get me started about the cancer industry where they “treat” your cancer by emptying out your bank account. Cancer can be eradicated from your body simply by alkalizing your circulatory system by simply drinking high pH water. Cancer thrives in an acidic (low pH) environment. Cancer cannot survive in an alkaline environment. But no doctor will ever tell you this simple fact.
Wrong
The acidity thing is bullshit, your body has buffers and will compensate for any alkalonic water you drink. But cancer treatment is a largely a scam, preying on desperate people.
This is true. High pH will get rid of cancer. End of story. Done it successfully.
2 points:
1) An American hospital (with an ER) can’t turn you away if you have life threatening injuries (from a car accident, for example). If you have no insurance or don’t want to pay a deductible, have a friend drop you off at the hospital with NO ID, and say you can’t remember your name because you must have been bumped in the head. They must treat you, and they will hound the shit of you for a way to bill you or your family, but don’t answer the questions and get free treatment. I know someone who was run over on a highway while riding his motorcycle in northern Mexico and actually died on the helicopter to PHX. He was revived and ended up losing his leg and getting multiple surgeries on his fractured face and hands. He refused to give financially info, and wasn’t even an American (no green card either) and his (unpaid) bill after 3 months was around $900,000 USD. He left the hospital when he was capable, recovered in Mexico and never looked back. True story.
2) My ex-wife worked in an American ICU department of a large hospital as a nurse for a few years. The shit she told me about was incredible / ridiculous. For example, they always played the “bed game” as overnight in the ICU was much more expensive than other parts of the hospital. When patients were on the verge of dying of heart failure / congestion, but had insurance coverage, a common ploy was to inject them with a single vial of a powerful vasodilator that was “worth” about $60,000 USD — she was told the amount by someone at the hospital. The nurses had to carefully put this vial into an unbreakable and padded container and wheel it to the patient on a cart with a supervisor trailing behind. Of course it never saved any lives, but the hospital and drug companies always got their $$$.
Furthermore, patients in the ICU being killed by inexperienced residents was not that uncommon. Nurses would be ordered by the young Docs to give too much of a drug or the wrong kind of drug which would kill the patient during the night, typically. The nurses who started in the morning would then have to tell the family that their “stabilized” relatives took a mysterious turn for the worse in the night and nothing could be done for them — so sorry! Behind the scenes, everyone would be scrambling and “doctoring” the patient files in efforts to save their asses (or throw others under the bus) in case the family of the deceased patient took legal action — but most didn’t because the patient was in ICU and considered “gravely ill” anyways. But in reality, many patients were shuttled to the ICU who weren’t gravely ill so the hospital could bill more in their name. Sad, but true.
The average hospital profit margin is in the single digits and there were a record number of hospital bankruptcies last year. I don’t want to confuse you with facts.
The profit margin in health care is LESS than the profit margin for a bar or restaurant? Really? And you expect us to believe that as the hospital administrators and doctors drive around in 70 to 100K dollar cars and put their kids in private schools and live in literal mcmansions?
GTFO of here.
Ha!!
According to Glassdoor, the average healthcare administrator salary is $68,000 a year (about what my hospital pays), which is around what teachers make in large cities (minus the 3 months off, job security, and pension). I drive a 12 year old truck by the way.
Socialised healthcare has it’s problems too, make no mistake. I have personally suffered from what any sane and rational person would consider to be abuse and inhumane degrading treatment on the NHS. For every medical professional that means well there is always some nasty old biddy, busybody or incompetent goof that doesn’t know how to do a decent enough job so they try and cover for their mistakes in any nefarious way possible. If you do so much as criticise the most poor treatment under the NHS an angry mob of limp wristed Brits will come after you screaming ‘ungrateful’. Because of the NHS private treatment in the UK is through the roof. No ordinary person can afford it, not even with health insurance. I don’t live in the UK anymore and after the crap I have experienced I will enter an NHS hospital over my dead body.
Socialized “medicine”(sic)…like socialist countries…a shi*hole.
It’s really a shame that the U.S. doesn’t have a really good Medical Program for everyone that has a job and is paying taxes and that all it’s based in Insurances which I never trust. I’m not dick-sizing btw but two of the things that I like where I am from (Mexico), is that as long as one has a job and this job is paying taxes, you get a automatic deductible of like $5.00-$20.00 USD depending of your weekly salary of your check from your payment and your job pays this to the goverment and to the IMSS and you get full medical coverage without paying anything extra if you are enrolled in IMSS (which is the Medical coverage for all workers in this country), which for me has been a really good service.
Yes, you might get a shitty doctor or nurse but as long as you keep frame and you demand your service, they will give it to you without you paying anything extra because that deductible covers their salary and the hospital fees. Sure, one can go to a private hospital and that’s great as well, and as someone above mentioned, they need to put their prices in a chart otherwise they might get fined.
What I’ve noticed also is that elderly US citizens are coming over here very often to buy their medicines and refill their prescriptions which they say are way more expensive in the US and this can be prevented if the US creates a program like this. Idk if Obama Care worked like this, but it’s really shitty for their people that the US Goverment doesn’t create a Medical program where everyone in your immediate family is automatically covered as long as you have a job and you pay your taxes without paying anything extra even for surgery if you or your relatives need it.
Again, I’m not bashing the US, your economy is way superior than ours and you don’t have the amount of violence that our corrupt politicians allow or create themselves in our country but, I think that the US should really have this type of Medical service instead of relying on Medical insurances that can deny the service to people because of their previous conditions, that’s just really shitty for the land of the free.
You know the US is doomed when Americans would rather attack those who defend freedom instead of criticizing the government that is enslaving them.
Good article.
Not just hospitals will try to hustle you, dentists too. They will try to scare you into getting all sorts of treatments which may be more harmful than beneficial to you, like root canal treatments.
This is why men died way younger. Maybe there was something to that after all…
It is all such a scam…especially the new ObamaCare…
Imagine new graduates with untenable college loans, must get the corporate job to pay back the loans, and obtain (mostly useless)insurance. – that is the real trap – pure slavery…
I’ve been to hospitals all over the world.
USA is by far the worst (except Jamaica).
Thailand is best, closely followed by NZ…
One has hot-affordable-pussy, other has none…
Umm, no. I’ll take the word of a doctor over someone who can’t even count (1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 6). This is the kind of quack who think vaccines cause autism. Probably a failed pre-med who didn’t make the cut.
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Last year I had to visit the ER after breaking my hand in a drunken bar fight. ER doc took an x-ray, told me what I already knew (broken), injected me with a local anesthetic, moved the bone around by hand, and told me to see a hand surgeon when I get back to my country of residence – I was visiting home from abroad at the time. Then she wrapped me in a partial cast, kicked me to billing. They show me the bill, I give them insurance card, and I’m out the door 15 mins later.
Since then I’ve had surgery to correct 90 degree angulation, and now a year later I’m receiving letters from a collection agency. What the hospital neglected to tell me was that I paid only for the hospital room, and that the ER doc, x-ray and anesthetic all had a separate bill. THEY NEVER TOLD ME. One year later and they’ve sold the debt to a collector and the collector is reaching out to me for payment.
What kind of bullshit is this? Still working on it to see if my insurance will cover this over a year after the fact, and if not I’ll be responsible for $3000 of ER bills that should’ve been submitted to my insurance the day I visited the ER.
So, it’s been pointed out already (and down voted to hell), but the author was being observed for development of pneumonia. You know, that thing that can kill you? Twenty bucks says if you’d come back hacking up a lung, satting at 85% with rales in all lung fields this article would be “Six Reasons Hospitals Won’t Do Shit To Help You.”
So let’s break this down:
You inhaled fluid. Fluid turns to pneumonia in your lungs. This can kill you. Quickly.
Urgent Care did an X-RAY. Said lungs look rough. This is a sign of possible pneumonia. I’m willing to bet the “oxygen test” was a pulse oximeter on your finger. But you’re at the limit of what UC can do, get sent to hospital.
UC told ED what they saw. ED established IV line, probably at the same time that they drew the required blood. This way, you get spared TWO needle sticks (and two charges, hur durr) given if you have pneumonia it’s best to administer the antibiotics IV as they’ll help you faster. You probably weren’t given O2 or any “breathing treatment” as your oxygen saturation was north of 94%, lung sounds were clear, and you had a patent airway. Saving you money, again.
Tests probably came back negative but they still couldn’t rule out pneumonia, hence the observation, because again, you could die, and if you didn’t, you’re looking at an ambulance bill, etc. Potentially saving you money, AND your life. How about that.
Cherry on top? The “dramatic nurse” yanked the IV because the quicker you pull a tegaderm, the better it is on the patient.
For those of you getting ready to down vote, if I was living in the same make-believe world where I make commission for each procedure to pay back my “mountain of debt”, I’d have given the author the albuterol and ipatropium he was likely expecting via neb mask, methylprednisolone for good measure, and then after I convinced him he was dying, pumped him full of etomidate and succinylcholine, put an ET tube down his throat and put him on a ventilator. Every bit unnecessary, but hell, he was in the ED expecting some grand treatment and got pissed when it didn’t happen apparently. Let him bitch about THAT bill.
P.S. I don’t hate “informed patients”. I hate dumb fucks that think their half hour on Google and Medscape makes them more knowledgeable than my years of schooling and experience, as well as the multiple tools I have for definitive diagnosis. I’m not going to toss all that because you have a print-out from WebMD be saying I need to do X. Get the fuck outta here with that shit.
I’m a nurse, I have worked in the ER. As you well know the American Society is very litigious and they love to sue doctors. Therefore almost half of medicine practiced is cover your behind medicine. The doctor knows that most likely you’ll be fine but there’s a small chance that you might have complications and they already picture themselves in a courthouse having to explain why they didn’t follow guidelines. I agree though working with female nurses is terrible.