Tuesday, September 07, 2004

More Socialized Medicine

Ain’t it great? 

Mr. Roberts recalled driving to the hospital with his niece about 4 p.m. on Aug 25. Ms. Peace was a drug addict who was trying to break her habit. They were talking in the car, but then at a red light close to the hospital she stopped talking. It looked like she was not breathing.

He rushed into the emergency room, saying his niece had stopped breathing and that he needed help immediately. He said he was told to phone an ambulance. When he suggested that was not appropriate, ER staff dialed the number and gave him the phone.

A paramedic from the hospital came out to assist only after he returned to the car and stood there, shouting: “Help, she’s not breathing,” Mr. Roberts said. They rushed Ms. Peace into the hospital but were unsuccessful in reviving her.

David Plug, a spokesman for the Fraser Health Authority, which runs the hospital, said hospital staff would normally help if they were not busy with emergency patients.

If you go read the whole story, you’ll see that this hospital seems to have a policy of calling 911 for Paramedics to bring patients into the hospital if they drive themselves in.  In this case, there was a person who had stopped breathing sitting in the driveway and the hospital personnel demanded that 911 be called for Paramedics to bring the patient in.  The patient died. 

Let’s be like Canada, eh?

(Thanks, Lord Ben, for the link.)

(6) Comments
Posted by Owen at 0907 hrs
Culture

  1. Maybe they’ll have to negotiate their union contract to include carrying people in from the car?

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on September 07, 2004 at 1035 hrs


  2. Lovely.

    Surgeon: Clamp!
    Nurse: Just a sec (dialing 911 for clamp delivery).
    Surgeon: Clamp DAMMIT!
    Nurse: Stop yelling, I called already. It’s not like the patient’s gonna bleed to…oh.  Uh-oh.

    Posted by Bruce on September 07, 2004 at 1528 hrs


  3. You think the problem is that Canada has universal health coverage? Do you think the US has no ER problems?? ERs in the US are sometimes so busy that they close to ambulances for a period of time.

    When an emergency room cannot help people having emergencies, it is due to a lack of resources. Plain and simple. Not enough staff, not enough beds. And the US has plenty of problems with ER resources.

    Posted by hope on September 08, 2004 at 1357 hrs


  4. ER’s have to admit anyone that comes in, so in a way gov’t rules interfering with the operation of ER’s are causing the problems. 

    Besides, there are lots of stories about similiar things happening in Canada because unions dictate who does what.  IE, a patient vomiting doesn’t mean the nurse grabs a mop to clean it ASAP it means page the janitor who may or may not be on his union mandated break.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on September 08, 2004 at 1408 hrs


  5. For those who, like hope, have missed the point:
    It’s about No Choice becomes No Competition becomes scr** the customer/patient. 
    This creates the mindset where what Ben points out is commonplace, and how these “Health Care Professionals” murdered this woman through negligence is both acceptable and, in their minds, justifiable.  No cause for concern.

    If I read correctly, this Peace woman died at this “Peace” Hospital, her namesake.  Shameful.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on September 10, 2004 at 0859 hrs


  6. Missed the point? I don’t think so. The point is ensuring that people having emergencies receive timely care. Just having private players pay for care doesn’t ensure that. To be fair, neither does just having a government entity pay for care. The equation is more complex than just who pays.

    This notion that the market is the perfect solution for every problem is so simplistic, and ludicrous. The market doesn’t care whether people die or not. The market doesn’t care whether your local ER has the capacity to serve everyone in your neighborhood who happens to come in one night. In fact, sometimes the market would dictate that the ER closest to you shut down.

    Read a little about health economics. Health care has a pesky way of not following accepted economic principles in many ways.

    Posted by hope on September 10, 2004 at 0910 hrs


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