Its also why we need to fix healthcare.
How twitter helped a technology consultant escape from an evil hospital
31–40 of 90 posts
Re: How twitter helped a technology consultant escape from an evil hospital
#32Oi, that sure was lengthy. Summary: Some hospital in Pennsylvania tries to make money by doing unnecessary procedures on patients with good health insurance and went to great lengths to keep this lady from seeking a second opinion regarding her injury. IMO, this is the incentive of nearly all doctors in America - the dentists I've had span the entire spectrum of opinions about my wisdom teeth. From "if we don't take…
About 15 years ago, the dentist I went to said dire things about the immense pain my wisdom teeth were going to cause in my immediate future. I told him I'd make an appointment right away when that happened, even though his advice was to intervene as soon as possible to 'avoid any future problems'. I still have all of them and aside from the occasional twinge, they are just fine.
Re: How twitter helped a technology consultant escape from an evil hospital
#33Since that time, people on both sides of the health care debate have listened to my story and pointed out it supports their views, both pro and con.
Unsurprising. I think this is more about patients' rights than healthcare funding, though.
Re: How twitter helped a technology consultant escape from an evil hospital
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
Although your comment looks like a vacuous redditesque one-liner, I'll respond: I've jumped from similar heights under similar circumstances, i.e. a spot favored by locals, surrounded by people happily jumping and swimming. It's only in hindsight that what she did was an obviously bad move, and even then it sounds like a slightly different angle would have made it harmless. This aspect is hardly "the ultimate lesson…
Three other people were injured that day from jumping, and the ambulance that was called wasn't even called for the heroine of our story. I don't know what the denominator is, but it doesn't sound good. I do agree though, that jumping or not wasn't the main issue here.
Parents often do silly things for their kids :/ It's sort of beside the point as you say.
Re: How twitter helped a technology consultant escape from an evil hospital
#35It never occurred to me that carrying high-level heath insurance would mark me as a candidate for unnecessary surgery. Perhaps this is exactly why health care costs have gone up so dramatically. We have insurance, so the doctors take advantage of it -- needlessly. We very well could be spending a lot less money for the same amount of health care. I think the solution to the health care problem is for someone to start…
We very well could be spending a lot less money for the same amount of health care. ... not to mention greater actual health. When health care was the leading issue in Canada a few years ago and every politician was going around promising to expand it, I remember wondering if I was the only one thinking we need less of it, not more. It might be helpful if we used a more accurate label than "health care" (perhaps "dis…
Hey, as a Canadian, if you feel you don't want as much health care, just use it less. The system is designed so that people take as much as they need, but not more.
Re: How twitter helped a technology consultant escape from an evil hospital
#36I wonder if the treatment was really all about the "really great health insurance" and not just the doctors at the hospital deciding that they knew better than another doctor many hours away that had not seen the patient or the pictures of her spine.
Upon reading the description of how the accident took place, my first thought was, "Really, is her insurance going to pay for that!?" And according to the last comment on her blog post, apparently the answer is, "No."
I would imagine either hospital would have to have enough familiarity with that type of accident to question whether her insurance would cover it as well.
Re: How twitter helped a technology consultant escape from an evil hospital
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
No accreditation means no funding, means no hospital, means no job. So by your definition, the only way doctors can remain doctors at said hospital is by being evil. Hence, I would blame the short-sighedness of whoever created and approved for the rules of accreditation for hospitals, not the people at the whims of those rules.
If you're right, all it means is that no ethical doctor would remain at said hospital. Ethics only count when they go against one's own interests, otherwise they'd be pointless. I can't believe you're making excuses for doctors who (if the story is true) tried to bully a woman against her will into having major spinal surgery that she clearly didn't need.
Not quite making excuses, just pointing out that the system that necessitates 'evil' behavior is also to blame...
Re: How twitter helped a technology consultant escape from an evil hospital
#38According to the author, the story is being used as fodder by both sides of the healthcare debate. All I can see is the perverse economic incentives on display.
AFAIK Canada gets around this problem by capping the number of billable patients a doctor can see per day (adjusted by specialty of course). Any patients in excess of the cap is only paid by the government at a steeply discounted rate.
This discourages doctors from overworking themselves and offering shoddy care (instead choosing to move patients through like a cattle farm), and also discourages the sort of unnecessary treatment this article talks about.
Re: How twitter helped a technology consultant escape from an evil hospital
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
They are evil because they were thinking of themselves before the patient and using lies to intimidate her into agreeing with them -- when they were wrong. That's evil. Unfortunately, it's a story repeated across the nation every day.
No accreditation means no funding, means no hospital, means no job. So by your definition, the only way doctors can remain doctors at said hospital is by being evil. Hence, I would blame the short-sighedness of whoever created and approved for the rules of accreditation for hospitals, not the people at the whims of those rules.
Don't downmod this, it has a valid point. It's by far better if the rules of the game don't give incentives to being evil. If they do it's as good as guaranteed that sometime somewhere you will get this kind of incident. Whether you choose to also blame the individuals involved is up to you, but it's the rule-makers who created this.
Re: How twitter helped a technology consultant escape from an evil hospital
#40It never occurred to me that carrying high-level heath insurance would mark me as a candidate for unnecessary surgery. Perhaps this is exactly why health care costs have gone up so dramatically. We have insurance, so the doctors take advantage of it -- needlessly. We very well could be spending a lot less money for the same amount of health care. I think the solution to the health care problem is for someone to start…
Another good article which I don't think is getting as much press as the New Yorker article: http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200909/health-care
This is a fascinating read. It's long but worth it.