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Dr Shari
Skeptic Friend
135 Posts |
 Posted - 01/23/2002 : 02:39:18
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Tokyodreamer
SFN Regular
USA
1447 Posts |
Posted - 01/23/2002 : 06:26:32 [Permalink]
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You'd think they'd be nice enough to track this, and take whatever they make off your bill...
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Sum Ergo Cogito |
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PhDreamer
SFN Regular
USA
925 Posts |
Posted - 01/23/2002 : 09:33:42 [Permalink]
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I'm not sure I follow, Doc. Is this something we should be concerned about? I just can't seem to care what happens to my body after I die no matter how hard I try and what few things have been removed from my body seem equally unimportant.
Adventure? Excitement? A Jedi craves not these things. - Silent Bob |
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Tokyodreamer
SFN Regular
USA
1447 Posts |
Posted - 01/23/2002 : 10:36:35 [Permalink]
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What I get from this is that not only are you charged obscene amounts of money for all the services, the hospital can make obscene amounts of money from the sale of said items above.
Shouldn't the patient get a cut of the profit, at least, to offset the $10 per aspirin, etc.? (That's not hyperbole, they really do charge $10 per aspirin).
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Sum Ergo Cogito |
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Garrette
SFN Regular
USA
562 Posts |
Posted - 01/23/2002 : 12:18:19 [Permalink]
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I hate to sound like a shill for hospitals because there is certainly waste and abuse within the system. However, hospital margins are, and have been for some time now, pretty darn slim. The cuts in Medicare/Medicaid payments have hit hard.
One could argue that hospitals should not have come to rely on the dole for so much of their income, but that would be overlooking the fact that hospitals cannot turn the indigent away who, because they are indigent, use emergency rooms for primary care to an alarming degree.
My kids still love me. |
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Tokyodreamer
SFN Regular
USA
1447 Posts |
Posted - 01/23/2002 : 14:23:43 [Permalink]
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quote:
hospital margins are, and have been for some time now, pretty darn slim.
Unfortunately, this usually equates to $10 aspirin, rather than the board members and doctors taking a bit of a pay cut (I have more sympathy for the doctors in this regard, but board members who make millions while complaining about funding I do not; the extravagance of the decor in our local hospital makes me ill, no pun intended).
quote:
One could argue that hospitals should not have come to rely on the dole for so much of their income, but that would be overlooking the fact that hospitals cannot turn the indigent away who, because they are indigent, use emergency rooms for primary care to an alarming degree.
Yes, this is a big problem. I've seen some numbers, and I just can't believe people go to the emergency room that much.
My aunt just lost her husband to cancer. Now she is stuck with about $200,000 worth of medical bills. Arguments about life insurance, etc. aside, the thought that while she's worried about keeping her house, the hospital is selling any of the above items aquired from my uncle's stay there for a profit is disgusting.
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Sum Ergo Cogito |
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Trish
SFN Addict
USA
2102 Posts |
Posted - 01/23/2002 : 15:52:17 [Permalink]
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Hmm, I suppose my family were lucky then, my fathers cancer treatments totaled approximately $1500 in total - including medications, the hospital stay, chemo, etc - all without insurance or medicare/medicaid.
I really don't have a problem with hospitals using my former parts for medical research, education, etc. In fact, I would hope they would use what resources they have available to them for this type of stuff. Since I think contraception is a much better way to go than abortion, I have no problem with birth control pills being manufactured. My mother's body is to be donated to the MS Society for medical research into that condition.
Without this avenue for research I would fear that too many times the research area would not have enough material to work with and we'd unfortunately be stuck where we were 30 years ago.
I just can't see where the wrong is. It offsets costs (I've been without insurance you really have no recourse other than to wait until something is severe enough to warrant a hospital visit) and hopefully will lead to better medicine in future. I guess being subject to a medical conversation just doesn't bother me all that much.
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There is no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our world. It underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've known. Sagan |
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Dr Shari
Skeptic Friend
135 Posts |
Posted - 01/24/2002 : 00:47:10 [Permalink]
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Human fetuses are also considered medical waste so if you are concerned about what happens to to fetal tissue after abortion or miscarriage then you need to know hospitals treat it no differently then any other waste or parts they sell. It is amazing to me that because it had the potential to become a human life people react differently in general then they do about what medicine sees as the same as an amputated foot. Medically speaking parts is parts.
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Garrette
SFN Regular
USA
562 Posts |
Posted - 01/24/2002 : 05:09:23 [Permalink]
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quote:
I have more sympathy for the doctors in this regard, but board members who make millions while complaining about funding I do not; the extravagance of the decor in our local hospital makes me ill, no pun intended
Agreed. I would, however, make a distinction between private and public hospitals. I've worked at both. The latest acute care hospital I worked at was county-owned and actually very good and well-respected (Kentucky does do a few things right). However, the CEO made only in the range of $120,000 which isn't chicken feed but compared to private hospital CEO's or his equivalent position in nearly any privately-owned enterprise was a pittance. Moreover, he answered to a Governing Board comprising elected county officials headed by the County Judge Executive--all of whom were wonderful politicians and perhaps even passable businesspeople but certainly knew nothing about hospital issues.
I'm not really disagreeing. There is vast room for improvement in the healthcare system, and there should certainly be ways to make the financial structure more palatable, but in all, I think, they do well.
My kids still love me. |
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Tokyodreamer
SFN Regular
USA
1447 Posts |
Posted - 01/24/2002 : 06:16:48 [Permalink]
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Well, you have much more experience with it than I do. Maybe I just watch too much t.v. 
Maybe I'm just being a stickler, but I look at it this way: if I go to an auto shop to have my tires replaced, and they tell me, "We'll even be nice and dispose of your old tires for you!", then find out that they are selling my old tires to someone for close to what I paid for my new ones, I'd be pissed.
But Trish is probably right, the good that comes out of the research is probably worth a little indignation...
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Sum Ergo Cogito |
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