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My Sudden Trip to Hell

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Re: My Sudden Trip to Hell

#81

Post by majewsky »

bitL wrote: post #61
flr03 wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You really don't want people to have ready to use antibiotics at home. It's already very difficult to contain bacteria resistance to antibiotics. Very soon people would not only die from rare bacteria related decease but any kind of random bacteria infection.

Your points are valid, people are irresponsible with antibiotics, however consider that e.g. 1 hour drive to emergency would cost you an arm, literally, whereas quickly eating 5 pills of wide-spectrum antibiotics would keep the infection at bay and give you time to drive to ER without any adversarial effects on your future life. What would be your choice?

The dichotomy is wrong. If you allow people to have antibiotics at home, enough of them are gonna chew them like vitamins to spread antibiotics resistance even faster. Then when you have your emergency, sure you can eat your pills, but it's not gonna do shit.

The only remotely viable solution is improving access to ERs.

Re: My Sudden Trip to Hell

#82

Post by jwr »

corry wrote: post #48
corry wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's Canadian I believe; so while I'm not sure how his care in NYC would be billed, I think it would be still covered by OHIP (the public health insurance in Ontario Canada) or maybe travel insurance. Certainly all the care he received in Toronto would have been covered, assuming he's Canadian.

Don't want to spark a healthcare debate, but want to mention that I bet NONE of the non-US readers on HN would have given a single thought about the costs involved if this was happening in their countries. It's wild to me that the potential financial impact of this was part of the picture for many of the US people reading it (especially the startup founders who are probably without insurance right now, and this would…

I am from Europe and I can confirm that nobody would even consider the "costs involved". It's just not something you think about.

I am puzzled by why the richest nation in the world prefers to spend 3.1 billions of dollars on arming Israel, or spend $700 billion military budget (even though its territory isn't being threatened in any way), rather than provide universal healtcare and education to its citizens, who live in fear of becoming sick.

I mean, I can understand why if you own a military supplier company, you'd rather have it that way. But I don't get why voters do not want universal healthcare.

Re: My Sudden Trip to Hell

#83

Post by jwr »

gamblor956 wrote: post #70
corry wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't want to spark a healthcare debate, but want to mention that I bet NONE of the non-US readers on HN would have given a single thought about the costs involved if this was happening in their countries. It's wild to me that the potential financial impact of this was part of the picture for many of the US people reading it (especially the startup founders who are probably without insurance right now, and this would…

Universal Healthcare is generally only a thing in Canada and the EU. It's great if you need to wait a few months to see a doctor, but I know plenty of Canadians and Europeans who come to the US for medical care so they don't have to wait.

Not Europeans — while you might have to wait for non-emergency things (depending on the country), emergencies are treated immediately. And I've never heard of anyone from the EU going to the US for medical care, that actually sounds rather amusing :-)

Re: My Sudden Trip to Hell

#84

Post by theseadroid »

close04 wrote: post #49
msie wrote: post #38

I am disturbed that he was almost sent away from the hospital if it weren’t for the persistence of his business partner that it was something that needed further investigation.

It’s a common thing due to the fact that doctors see too many trivial, common cases and apply Occam’s razor. I had the same experience in a big, prestigious hospital. After a surgery went wrong they insisted I’m ok and getting better despite my less and less vigorous protests. When they finally accepted to investigate this more thoroughly they realized the severity. The story repeated itself through multiple surgerie…

Would those cases be considered misdiagnosis and incur reliability to the doctors?

Re: My Sudden Trip to Hell

#85

Post by arthurdenture »

merpnderp wrote: post #72
corry wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't want to spark a healthcare debate, but want to mention that I bet NONE of the non-US readers on HN would have given a single thought about the costs involved if this was happening in their countries. It's wild to me that the potential financial impact of this was part of the picture for many of the US people reading it (especially the startup founders who are probably without insurance right now, and this would…

Before the ACA, I contracted, and only carried catastrophic coverage on myself. I had no coverage until my yearly bills reached $5k, but that was also my max out of pocket. My insurance ran $63/month - which was ridiculously cheap and the worst I could ever be "ruined" was $5k. Keep in mind I live in the backwoods of a small state in the US and could have a catscan in an hour, an MRI tomorrow, would likely only wait…

That's great as long as the insurance company deigns to cover you. Before the ACA, that was not guaranteed.

Re: My Sudden Trip to Hell

#86

Post by libria »

madaxe_again wrote: post #10

I was going to say “I recall when I had sepsis in my teens”, but the truth of it is that I don’t - there’s a six week hole in my memory, that skips straight from lying in a pool of blood and puss on the floor of the kitchen at school, having a mop thrust in my face, to lying in a bed in hospital with tubes snaking out of me. The weird thing is, despite being unconscious for over a month, I woke up feeling like I hadn…

> and the, what, 20g of daily antibiotics

20,000mg, am I reading that right? According to my non-medical background that's a shitload of drugs. Good to be reading this knowing you came out of it ok.

Re: My Sudden Trip to Hell

#87

Post by 10122018 »

merpnderp wrote: post #75
10122018 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Spoken like somebody who has money. Do you have any idea how much pain and suffering a person can endure due to having no money? I don't think it's your place to say that person's life is worth living.

Spoken like someone who's never lost someone they love. Do you have any idea how much pain and suffering a person can endure due to having lost someone? I don't think it's your place to say that a person's life isn't worth the money.

My brother killed himself recently. So yes I do.

And nowhere at all did I suggest "a person's life is not worth the money."

Re: My Sudden Trip to Hell

#88

Post by Ididntdothis »

arisAlexis wrote: post #76
Ididntdothis wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US the cost must have been in the millions. I know people who ran up several million dollar bills during cancer treatment.

do they deny you treatment if you don't have that kind of money?

I really don’t know. They usually say everybody gets treated but I would guess quality will suffer. Or you will get relaxed as quickly as possible.

Re: My Sudden Trip to Hell

#89

Post by SkyBelow »

majewsky wrote: post #81
bitL wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your points are valid, people are irresponsible with antibiotics, however consider that e.g. 1 hour drive to emergency would cost you an arm, literally, whereas quickly eating 5 pills of wide-spectrum antibiotics would keep the infection at bay and give you time to drive to ER without any adversarial effects on your future life. What would be your choice?

The dichotomy is wrong. If you allow people to have antibiotics at home, enough of them are gonna chew them like vitamins to spread antibiotics resistance even faster. Then when you have your emergency, sure you can eat your pills, but it's not gonna do shit. The only remotely viable solution is improving access to ERs.

What about an alternative where any usages have to be reported and measured and incorrect usage has an increasing penalty. It starts small and only ramps up with repeated abuse.

If you don't consent to the rules, that is fine, you aren't allowed the drugs at home (same as today).

Re: My Sudden Trip to Hell

#90

Post by bitexploder »

specialist wrote: post #80
yodsanklai wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I am always happy people share their stories, it helps us all remember our mortality and make good choices every day. Not for me. When confronted to death or intense pain, everything else becomes insignificant and futile. And when things go back to normal, I tend to forget. I suppose that to be fully functional human beings, we need to ignore the harsh reality of life! Is it really possible to "internalize mortalit…

Me too. After every near miss, it takes me a while to trick myself into rejoining the world of the living, where paying rent and doing laundry matters. Being a geek has been an asset. I can lose myself in solving problems. Focusing on those thoughts to push aside the other thoughts. This current cycle, I got a puppy. Total pain in the ass. But he still needs to be walked, so I get up and we walk. Rinse, lather, repea…

I think it comes down to the dichotomy of being human. We have this inevitable end that we know is waiting for us, but we are alive, dammit. For many on HN, that life is full of curiosity, so many things to learn, and so much cool stuff to do and see. Especially for younger people who have not experienced much grief or loss, contemplating this end is especially jarring compared to the vibrancy of life. For others it can be very morbid and bring back bad memories and induce anxiety. I think, ultimately, we should embrace our sometimes unpredictable end and become comfortable with the idea of our end to better celebrate our own lives as we live them. I do think Stoicism is not for everyone and some people just naturally develop a very stoic mindset. Ultimately, a lot of it comes down to controlling what we can and simply accepting the rest as our lot in life as humans (the living and the dying).
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