http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6834598Oh my.
The W.C. Fields primitive:
Joe Fields (1000+ posts) Thu Oct-22-09 04:26 PM
Original message
My healthcare horror story for today.
My sister called and woke me up at 6:30 this morning, to tell me that my brother's wife, Iris had to be rushed to the hospital for an appendicitis attack and emergency surgery. Iris is 58 years old.
My wife and I went to the hospital, and this is what my brother told us. First, Iris and my brother had to wait in the jammed full emergency waiting room for three hours, before she was taken care of. The two got to the hospital at 1 a.m. last night. The staff didn't want to wake the surgeon in the moiddle of the night, so my SIL wasn't operated on until 8 a.m.
The hospital was full, no rooms or beds available. (This is St.Lukes Hospital East, the second largest hospital in the Kansas City area.) So, my SIL was sent home directly after she recovered from the anaesthetic.
I hear that in New York, it is normal to wait ten hours or longer in the emergency room, before a patient can be treated.
NO, THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH OUR HEALTHCARE SYSTEM.
Thank God my brother works for GM, and has fairly decent insurance.
And free medical care for all's going to make waiting shorter?
The unfrocked warped primitive:
Warpy (1000+ posts) Thu Oct-22-09 04:36 PM
Response to Original message
1. 1 AM is a bad time, it's the start of the three hour period when the bars are closing and you get the drunks, the punks and the skunks after the fights and car accidents.
Appendicitis is a stable emergency. That means that while an acute attack with a high white blood cell count needs emergency surgery, that surgery doesn't have to be done right then. I had to wait 8 hours for mine, squeezed in at the end of the day. That was 30 years ago when the health care system was supposedly better.
Flu season is starting to cause a hospital bed shortage. Full beds aren't that unusual, although this is a little early for the problem. I was stuck in pediatrics after mine came out, it was the only bed in the house. They were putting beds in the halls a week later that year.
Sending someone home after a laparoscopic appendectomy is not the same as sending one home after an open appendectomy, although I'm sure they're doing that for some patients, too. The incisions are tiny, pain control is not as much of an issue, and recovery is much quicker. In addition, there are fewer infections at home. Patients are given instructions about what to watch out for and if they develop any serious symptoms, to come back. Most do just fine after an outpatient surgery.
The old days of ten days in bed after an appendectomy are over, partly because staying in bed that long prolonged illness and caused complications, partly because the improved surgical technique doesn't require bedrest, and partly because people do better when they go home.
Too bad the defrocked warped primitive didn't do better in staying out of the locked narcotics cabinet at the hospital.
theoldman (1000+ posts) Thu Oct-22-09 04:37 PM
Response to Original message
2. I think the emergency room situation is the same everywhere.
The blame is put on immigrants but they are not the problem. If your doctors office is closed you have no choice except to go to a hospital. I can go to a clinic that is open until 8 PM during the week. It is also open Saturday and Sunday afternoon.
notadmblnd (1000+ posts) Thu Oct-22-09 04:45 PM
Response to Reply #2
5. the last time I walked into a clinic that was open weekends there was no one there. Doors were unlocked and no one at the desk. I hollered to see if there was someone in the back, no answer. I got out my cell phone and called right there in the office. No answer, after about 45 minutes and several people coming in and out, I see a girl pull up with a pizza and walk in the back door. I called out again for some help. She finally came out to the desk and said they couldn't do anything because their computers were down. Then name of this clinic? Concentra.
Barack_America (1000+ posts) Thu Oct-22-09 04:42 PM
Response to Original message
4. She may have had an laparoscopic appendectomy.
Which I'm hoping was the case, considering that would mean her appendix hadn't ruptured.
In any case, laparoscopy is far less invasive than traditional surgery and patients can be released same day, though many surgeons do still keep them longer.
Arkansas Granny (1000+ posts) Thu Oct-22-09 04:55 PM
Response to Reply #4
8. My neice had an emergency laparoscopic appendectomy a couple of weeks ago and was kept less than 24 hours. This really surprised me since she is 5 months pregnant. I supposed they would keep her longer, but mother and baby are both doing fine.
"Mother and baby"--isn't the primitivally-correct term for this "mother and clump of cells"?
barbtries (1000+ posts) Thu Oct-22-09 04:48 PM
Response to Original message
6. gawd that amazes me
how do they determine that the appendix won't burst? back in the '50s my brother very nearly died from a burst appendix. in the '30s my ex-fil's father did die from it. i must be out of touch because i cannot understand an emergency appendectomy being treated like an elective surgery...
Joe Fields (1000+ posts) Thu Oct-22-09 05:12 PM
Response to Reply #6
14. my appendix ruptured when I was 15, and I nearly died.
I too, was amazed.
cbdo2007 (710 posts) Thu Oct-22-09 04:53 PM
Response to Original message
7. While I agree there are many problems with the health care system - it seems the problems in this case is that, 1. she had to wait in line (which is the same anywhere for ER services), 2. didn't get treated as quickly as YOU would have liked even though she was treated in a reasonable time frame, and 3. was sent home to recover just like most people nowadays because it isn't necessary to keep people who don't NEED a bed to fill up the hospital even more.
Next time drive out to Blue Springs. Our typical waiting time in the ER is about 30 minutes...but I'm guessing you'll still find SOMETHING to complain about.
closeupready (1000+ posts) Thu Oct-22-09 04:59 PM
Response to Reply #7
10. Our typical waiting time - are you an ER nurse?
cbdo2007 (710 posts) Thu Oct-22-09 05:03 PM
Response to Reply #10
12. No...we only have 1 hospital so I meant the typical community wait time based on my experience and those of my friends/family/associates, which includes many visits at every time of the day/night.
Joe Fields (1000+ posts) Thu Oct-22-09 05:13 PM
Response to Reply #7
15. reasonable time frame? don't make me laugh.
cbdo2007 (710 posts) Thu Oct-22-09 05:21 PM
Response to Reply #15
17. Oh sorry....are you a doctor?
Because all of the medical professionals in your story (the doctors and nurses at the hospital last night) agreed that she could wait until morning for her surgery. I would consider the opinions of all of the doctors and nurses to be a "reasonable time frame" over that of a family member who is going to post the next day about how this is a HEALTH CARE HORROR story.
Seriously, get over yourself. One of the big problems with the health care system is that people like you think your family emergency is the only one happening in the United States at the given time so you get pissed off if everyone isn't helping you all the time. Your story here, which is definitely reasonable service and care, actually does harm to the health care reform argument because it is just you basically flying off the handle for no reason.
Joe Fields (1000+ posts) Thu Oct-22-09 05:15 PM
Response to Reply #7
16. you sound brainwashed by the insurance companies.
closeupready (1000+ posts) Thu Oct-22-09 04:57 PM
Response to Original message
9. It's been a while since I was in a NY emergency room - the last time
I went (to take my partner) was late 90's. I imagine it's much worse now. But even then, we had to wait - but only an hour, but on the other hand, this was a crappy hospital in a bad part of Brooklyn, so even the poor probably made attempts to NOT go there, if at all possible. (Kind of a funny thought, in a way.)
crispini (1000+ posts) Thu Oct-22-09 05:26 PM
Response to Original message
18. Not a horror story, really.
As the first response to you indicates, there are pretty reasonable explanations for all of this and it appears to have been handled appropriately.
Now, go to the ER at the county hospital near me and you'll wait over 10 hours in the ER. THAT's a horror story.
