21 thoughts on “Hospitals Suck”

  2. Whenever I take one of the kids into hospital, looking around at how the staff piss about mostly socializing and ignoring the waiting queues, I’m sickened by the inefficiencies. “Service” just isn’t a word that could be applied.

    1. The variation between hospitals is amazing. Here in Springerville they responded to a call button in about two minutes. After transferring to Mesa (near Phoenix) it was hardly ever less than 30 minutes (even after docs had words with staff.)

  3. Don’t think that having to fill out paperwork your first visit to a new doctor is a legitimate gripe. Your doctors may appear to be connected because they work closely with each other but probably aren’t.

    Does he want them to hand out iPads or something? Does he know hospitals are where the sick people go?

    His tests probably were all important, even if no one there knew their price much less cost. We don’t want a system that discourages doctors from doing tests.

    He is absolutely right that patients are cut out and disassociated from the decision making process. Even if you try to engage the system, no one can provide the information needed to make decisions.

    The good news is that cancer treatments are better than ever before and the people treating him will be more personable when he starts his treatments.

    1. Does he want them to hand out iPads or something?

      A dog tag (medical chip with complete history in a standard format) would do the trick.

      1. For your first visit, you will still have to fill out forms and then make changes as time goes on.

        The device you describe does sound like it could help but would it be voluntary? The challenge would be standardization and interfacing with different hospitals software. Could be a good product to develop though.

      2. I hate the idea of electronic medical records.
        I would rather have to say my complete medical history every time I see a doctor. Why? Because its not their goddamn business to know my entire life. Information is provided on a need to know basis. Better for me and better for them because they have to wade through less irrelevant clinical information to be able to treat me.

        I agree that you should be able to have a card with information which is useful in an emergency (blood type, diseases which require constant medication so you survive, etc). But everything else should be in the hands of the patient and the private files of the doctor handling the case.

  4. Damn! The patient recovered! That’s not supposed to happen! If we can’t report someone in urgent care our government checks will fall victim to lower priority than to those establishments that are actively treating patients! Call out the ambulance to run him down in the street and get him back here!

  5. Markets work when buyer and seller deal directly with each other. That doesn’t happen in hospitals.

    No kidding. But if the only way to get hospital care was for the patient to pay for it out of pocket, most people who get lung cancer (or many other serious illnesses) wouldn’t get care at all. Nearly half of Americans say they’d have to borrow money to pay an unexpected $400 expense — and they’re going to pay for chemotherapy?

      1. Stossel even touches on that, if only barely. Procedures like boob jobs or lasik that insurance won’t cover used to cost huge amounts of money, and while they’re still not cheap, they’re fractions of what they used to cost–because there _is_ a market in them.

    2. I don’t know the details of how it’s supposed to work in the US, but if you’re going to have public health care, the best method I would have thought was to have the government shopping between multiple private providers in a given area, getting the best deals across several providers, but still letting the customer/patient choose between those providers.

      That’s not what we’ve got, but how does that compare to what you’ve got there?

      1. I had a look at the US system – the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, on wiki, and WTF, are you guys nuts?

          1. It is nuts, compared to what most rich countries have. But its notably better than what came immediately before. Path dependence is a cruel reality.

          2. Jim,

            Care to pay my friend the 5 grand that you, the democrat party and Obama stole from him when the ACA decimated his health care?

            He makes $15.00 an hour and now he’s 5 grand in debt. Thanks to you.

          3. It is nuts

            That is not what you’ve been saying for the past 6 years. You’ve been saying just how wonderful it is.

          4. Jim ignores my question.

            Easier to cover your eyes and ears than to know you’ve ruined peoples lives.

    3. But if the only way to get hospital care was for the patient to pay for it out of pocket

      Millions and millions of people with their Obamacare policies still pay out of pocket and they have to pay a monthly insurance tax. Turns out that just because you have insurance, doesn’t mean it helps with anything except making Democrat donors rich.

      1. Out of pocket costs and premiums are substantial expenses, but thanks to the ACA they’re now capped. That’s a big improvement.

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