Trauma Unit

No room at the inn...

The economics of health care laid bare…

Remembering a trauma-care nurse and the story she related to me.

She worked at a specialized unit for trauma patients in Indianapolis...a facility for acute accident victims who were life-flighted in. But the unit had no room for actual trauma patients because all the beds were filled with end-of-life patients.

This is what she shared...and how it unfolded. This was a specialty unit that could hold 16 patients. It was incredibly expensive to build and to maintain. The problem for the facility was its high vacancy rates.

So after some debate, they decided to release a few of the empty beds to short term end-of-life patients. That would help offset expenses. Seems like a good idea, right?

Here's where it went waaayyy wrong.

Although these patients were not expected to get better or to leave hospital care, they were given…and billed for…every possible procedure, medication and 'treatment'.

It became 24-hour intensive care for the dying…a trend I had already been observing. It was a highly lucrative solution to the unit's loss of revenues. Twenty-four hour around-the-clock billing with little oversight.

It seemed more like a needless and cruel prolonging of dying than making the patient comfortable in their last days. They did not heed the expressed wishes of the patients or their families.

When family questioned the necessity of feeding tubes and things such as physical therapy (!?), etc. even when a do-not-resuscitate order was in place, the doctors had a strategy.

The doctor and his head nurse (the woman who blew the whistle for me) would single out the most vulnerable of the family members and take them into a side room for 'consultation'. Typically that family member would be the smallest female and someone who appeared to be least educated and most easily manipulated. They were actually profiled!

The doctor and his nurse would tower over her in an intimidating stance…ganging up on her, essentially. She would then be made to appear ignorant and her reasoning was called into question.

If she balked or argued and more pressure was required, she would be told that she could be charged with criminal neglect if she didn't go along with their plan.

The nurse began to weep as she described the bullying tactics they used and the lies that were told. She also had no choice in the matter if she wanted to keep her job…bullied as well.

The unit became such a money-maker that, over time, they released more and more beds. Finally, all 16 beds were filled with dying patients. It was a great scheme!

When patients who legitimatedly needed those beds, having been life-flighted or helicoptered in, they were refused beds and turned away.

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Would a doctor lie to his patient or their family? Yes… Blatantly and unreservedly.

A patient and their families are deeply stressed in these situations. I have nothing but contempt for those who take advantage of them. I have watched oncology doctors lie to their patients, emergency room doctors let a healthy patient die and lie to their mother so they could harvest their organs. It’s shocking…

If you find yourself in a similar situation, brush up on the laws regarding patient’s rights and be prepared to disagree, advocate intelligently, and, if need be, to do battle. Do NOT assume you are being told the truth.

There was a time… This is not that time.

Use your intuition, enlist help and trust your impressions.

We can no longer afford to remain trusting or passive…

.As always, thanks for reading. Feel free to share and restack…