Hospitals in America

[Triple_7]

Say you were having a heart attack, would you opt for the hospital 30 miles away because its a thousand bucks cheaper, or would you take the one 5 miles away and get the same treatment for more money.  Unless something happens in the middle of the day when your local clinic is open then your stuck with the ER.  And even the clinic usually ends up sending you on to the ER so why not go strait there and not waist the time.  As for cost, its high, simple as that.  When theres no where else to go and you don't have insurance your stuck with huge bills, they charge you for everything and things you didn't even get.  Charges for a box of band aids when you only received one, bottle of pain killers when you only got one, $8 charge because the nurse washed her hands...and yes...those have shown up on bills.  If thats not stealing from your customers I don't know what it is.  They get reimbursed for a box of band aids 50 times over  What else do you buy that has a markup like that and you only get 1/50th of it.  

Its a joke because what else are you going to do...boycott the ER???...they have you by the balls no matter what.

[bok269]

Its not just LA.  Here in NY at one of the finest hospitals in the world (Colombia-Presbyterian) some of the nurses don't know what they are doing.  My mom and I have both recently had surgery there (albeit at different divisions and at different times).  If you were incapacitated and you didn't have someone there, it is scary what they would have mistakenly given you.  We have a family friend who is a nurse and she said the same thing.  

[ozzy72]

Having a mum who was a career nurse for over 4 decades in the UK I have to say a couple of things;
a) if I needed an organ transplant I'd always go NHS as they get first dibs on any "parts" the private hospitals are a poor second.
b) if I needed good care I'd go NHS rather than private 'cos the private hospitals employ the cheapest workers so you get someone from some Third World country who knows less about medicine and health care than my left buttock.
c) if I was looking to meet pretty nurses I'd go with the Hungarian hospitals inspite of the they're dire as all the nurses seem to be crumpet (I teach a couple of them)

[Chris_F]

[quote]Say you were having a heart attack, would you opt for the hospital 30 miles away because its a thousand bucks cheaper, or would you take the one 5 miles away and get the same treatment for more money.

[TacitBlue]

I've only needed an ER once, when I broke my arm. The nearest hospital was in a small town called Cameron, Missouri. You would think that a small hospital would not be as good as a bigger one, but I was pretty impressed. There was no one else in the ER, and the doctor was sitting around reading the newspaper just waiting for something to do, so I was seen to immediately. And the pain meds were fun. :D I was 17 when it happened, so I didn't see the bill but I'm sure my Dad's insurance picked up most of it.

On the subject of insurance. It's such a b*tch to get it some times. I had been haggling with my employers benefits people and my boss. Apparently I'm in the system as a person who works less than 20 hours a week and therefore not eligible for insurance. However, I put in over 40 most of the time. My boss is such a scatterbrain numbnuts dimwitted moron that every time I bring it up, he forgets within five minutes, and never changes my status. And then low and behold I come down with chicken pox right in the middle of this mess, and guess what. Still no insurance.  >:(

I can't wait to get better, just to kick my boss in the... well, never mind.

[dcunning30]

This is not a matter of the competence of the hospital staff.

[Woodlouse2002]

[quote]Having been to an emergency room twice in the past year it truly is a screwed up mess.

[murjax]

[quote]Its not just LA.