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How NYU’s Emergency Room Favors the Rich

nytimes.com

21–30 of 38 posts

Re: How NYU’s Emergency Room Favors the Rich

#21

I’ve seen a similar thing happen at another well known NY hospital. My wife was waiting to give birth with all beds taken up. A couple walks in, very unhappy that there is a wait, and we exchanged some conversation with them. It was quite apparent they were from wealthy families. She had requested to be induced, after being a couple of days past her due date (extremely normal for a first pregnancy). A nurse told us p…

> they were there for a voluntary c-section. This is the key to understanding this incident. A voluntary c-section is scheduled surgery. There is already an operating room reserved for it and staff. As with other scheduled surgeries, the patients and their families often have a pre-op waiting area where they wait for the surgery, so that there can be minimal delay getting them back to the operating room when it is re…

Now that I recall more clearly, I got this part wrong… they had requested an early induction (not a scheduled c-section). Unsure if that changes things, but they weren’t going straight to an operating room.

Re: How NYU’s Emergency Room Favors the Rich

#23
post #7

How many people do you think the hospital can treat with the $3 billion (yes, with a B) that Langone helped raise? Or even just the $200M he personally donated? Which is better for the individual people who might (and I stress "might," since the hospital denies it) have to wait slightly longer on a day he needs care? To wait slightly longer there, or to wait slightly longer because they had to route to a different ho…

The US government, which only provides treatment for its own employees, retirees (including veterans), the poor, and the old spends more per capita on healthcare than the UK government, which covers everyone. On top of that employers and employees spend trillions a year. Why do we need billions in donations on top of that? Where is all the money going? Let’s ask NYU Langone executives that.

[deleted]

Re: How NYU’s Emergency Room Favors the Rich

#24
post #7

How many people do you think the hospital can treat with the $3 billion (yes, with a B) that Langone helped raise? Or even just the $200M he personally donated? Which is better for the individual people who might (and I stress "might," since the hospital denies it) have to wait slightly longer on a day he needs care? To wait slightly longer there, or to wait slightly longer because they had to route to a different ho…

The US government, which only provides treatment for its own employees, retirees (including veterans), the poor, and the old spends more per capita on healthcare than the UK government, which covers everyone. On top of that employers and employees spend trillions a year. Why do we need billions in donations on top of that? Where is all the money going? Let’s ask NYU Langone executives that.

Seems logical if you disproportionately treat poor and old/retired people you have to spend more per capita than a healthcare system that treats much younger and therefore healthier people.

Re: How NYU’s Emergency Room Favors the Rich

#25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> they were there for a voluntary c-section. This is the key to understanding this incident. A voluntary c-section is scheduled surgery. There is already an operating room reserved for it and staff. As with other scheduled surgeries, the patients and their families often have a pre-op waiting area where they wait for the surgery, so that there can be minimal delay getting them back to the operating room when it is re…

Now that I recall more clearly, I got this part wrong… they had requested an early induction (not a scheduled c-section). Unsure if that changes things, but they weren’t going straight to an operating room.

Usually inductions are scheduled too. At least in my family’s case it was.

Re: How NYU’s Emergency Room Favors the Rich

#26
Receiving VIP care sounds like an unalloyed good, but it’s more complicated.

Mortality for some conditions is higher on VIP floors because nursing is geared towards hospitality over clinical specialization/acting without deference to patient convenience.

VIPs often want to access new/off-label treatments, which can go quite poorly. VIP get all sorts of inadvisable care (“the best”; “access to experimental treatments”).

I’ve always thought about quality of care as an upside down U shaped curve: if you’re poor it’s bad, but if you’re a VIP it can also be bad. To be clear, the U isn’t symmetric, but weird things happen at the high end.

The ideal state is building a human bond with your caregiver, and in general, it will be returned with appropriate attentiveness. This is just harder when you’re poor or have complex stressors, but it also seems hard for many VIPs.

Re: How NYU’s Emergency Room Favors the Rich

#27
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US government, which only provides treatment for its own employees, retirees (including veterans), the poor, and the old spends more per capita on healthcare than the UK government, which covers everyone. On top of that employers and employees spend trillions a year. Why do we need billions in donations on top of that? Where is all the money going? Let’s ask NYU Langone executives that.

Seems logical if you disproportionately treat poor and old/retired people you have to spend more per capita than a healthcare system that treats much younger and therefore healthier people.

That’s per capita over the entire population.

Re: How NYU’s Emergency Room Favors the Rich

#28
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you took longer to treat him after he raised that money, he can’t then go back in time and stop himself from raising that money. Presumably the argument should be around his future actions not his past ones. As to the hospital, “The octogenarian had stomach pain, and Room 20 was kept empty for him, medical workers said.” “One doctor was surprised to find an orthopedic specialist in the room awaiting a senior hospi…

It doesn’t just influence his future actions, but rather the future actions of all possible large donors . Further, I can’t imagine that the premise of this prioritization did not come up in discussions with the development staff as they were finalizing the details of a 10-figure donation. In that regard, this policy probably did influence his past actions as well.

Detailed arrangements would likely be tax fraud on a tax deductible donation, so I doubt they made such things explicit.

Just because something is called a donation doesn’t mean it qualifies as one.

Re: How NYU’s Emergency Room Favors the Rich

#29
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn’t just influence his future actions, but rather the future actions of all possible large donors . Further, I can’t imagine that the premise of this prioritization did not come up in discussions with the development staff as they were finalizing the details of a 10-figure donation. In that regard, this policy probably did influence his past actions as well.

Detailed arrangements would likely be tax fraud on a tax deductible donation, so I doubt they made such things explicit. Just because something is called a donation doesn’t mean it qualifies as one.

The amount which is tax-deductible is the amount donated, minus the fair market value of any goods and services and received. If Foo donates $3B for a non-profit hospital in exchange for a promise to slightly bump the priority and treatment Foo and Foo's family, I'd estimate that at least $2.999B of that was tax-deductible. (Is the promise of better treatment worth more than $1M of NPV? I don't think so.)

Re: How NYU’s Emergency Room Favors the Rich

#30
post #14
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it was in a non-medical setting I would agree but in medicine a patient's financial contribution or political status should not be a factor of consideration. even if they have been threatened they can hire protection after all and the government can add extra protection as needed. All patients should be safe and secure equally, women who are threatened by an abusive spouse or people injured/targeted by gang shooti…

>... women who are threatened by an abusive spouse or people injured/targeted by gang shootings don't get that treatment now do they? Despite your snarky confidence at the end of that comment, this is incredibly untrue. >Every doctor and nurse is seriously educated on this. Yes, every doctor and nurse is seriously educated to protect abused spouses and people whose safety is at risk.

What is snarky? I don't disagree with anything you said, I am confused.
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