WTF - Hospitals ?!

[Puddles]

And remember: you wouldn't work without being paid, so why do you think doctors should?

We pay through the nose for our medical insurance which in turn compensates the doctors, the hospital, etc. I don't think anyone expects the doctors to work for free. We just expect them to do the job that's required.

[Bouncer]

And remember: you wouldn't work without being paid, so why do you think doctors should?

i pay these fuckers like crazy with taxes. your in canada bro. please dont speak to me about how it works here in america. you guys took one thing i said about doctors and blew it out of porportion. when i say "doctors" i ment the whole system in general.

[Bouncer]

We pay through the nose for our medical insurance which in turn compensates the doctors, the hospital, etc. I don't think anyone expects the doctors to work for free. We just expect them to do the job that's required.

exactlly what i ment.

[TheStromba]

I dunno about that. We have some of the best healthcare in the world. I would say Germany is one of the few countries that may have us beat. I have worked with the system before.

We have alot of nonprofit hospitals that are not allowed to turn down anyone to service. Most of them are not hurting at all. Yes, there are those few that are not good hospitals, but there are far more good facilities that bad.

The hospital is responsible for certain policies. They can easily prevent this from happening. Our local hospital must have about 8 cardiologists, not including Fellows. We are the major heart facility. I am sure each of them taking call every 6-8 weeks would not kill them. It's like pulling teeth sometimes though.

*rant*
The problem is that no one is going to MAKE the hospitals change policy.
They have a policy that puts human life at risk and goverment does not care.
The government sticks its head in far more trivial matters.

The problem with healthcare in a capitalist system is that

1) You have almost no ability to compare prices and have almost no ability to know the quality of the service you are receiving.

2)The alternative to NOT purchasing their product is sickness and or death.

They know this and have chosen to take maximum advantage of it.
You can make a more informed decision buying a pair of shoes.

[Kayak Jones]

Must be a level 4 hospital. Move her to a level three rating or higher and you will not have that problem again. Unfortunately, the docs will still in all likeleyhood be assholes. And cardioliogists are pretty much the worst of the lot.

[TheStromba]

Must be a level 4 hospital. Move her to a level three rating or higher and you will not have that problem again. Unfortunately, the docs will still in all likeleyhood be assholes. And cardioliogists are pretty much the worst of the lot.

How do you find out what "level" the hospital is ?

[Kayak Jones]

How do you find out what "level" the hospital is ?

You can check online. Don't know the exact address but you should be able to find it by typing in " hospital trauma levels" for your state. or just ask the ER director. An ER charge nurse should know as should any ER doc there. If that fails ask the CEO or hospital head cheese's secretary. Level 4 is the lowest rating. Basically it means nobody on call and not even really required. Level 3 is far better in most states and a level 1 would be )at least in the Houston area a "teaching facility" (Ben Taub or Hermann) that has all the specialties covered 24hrs a day 7 days a week.

[shortz]

You can check online. Don't know the exact address but you should be able to find it by typing in " hospital trauma levels" for your state. or just ask the ER director. An ER charge nurse should know as should any ER doc there. If that fails ask the CEO or hospital head cheese's secretary. Level 4 is the lowest rating. Basically it means nobody on call and not even really required. Level 3 is far better in most states and a level 1 would be )at least in the Houston area a "teaching facility" (Ben Taub or Hermann) that has all the specialties covered 24hrs a day 7 days a week.

Trauma level doesn't always relate to the medical side of things. One of the hospitals in my area is a level 2 trauma center, where my wife and I work(ed), the other has no trauma resources, but is still a good hospital.

As for the "Teaching facilities", that just means they have a resident program and externship program. My hospital is both a trauma center and a teaching facility and the cardiologists still are not there over the weekends.

[Kayak Jones]

My point is simply that the difference between a level IV and even a III can be, and usually are vast in terms of available services, and should not even be mentioned in the same breath as a II or I.. While true that it doesn't always apply to the medical side it usually does, at least here in Texas. Generally speaking, a level 4 is little better equiped to deal with a life threatening medical emergency than a local minor emergency clinic that does nothing but OJI's and drug testing. A patient would be far better off statistically in the back of an MICU ambulance with a decent paramedic (at least for an hour or so) than a level 4. Use the hour to get to a more qualified facility.

[hitmansb]

i pay these fuckers like crazy with taxes. your in canada bro. please dont speak to me about how it works here in america. you guys took one thing i said about doctors and blew it out of porportion. when i say "doctors" i ment the whole system in general.

Ok, the system as a whole makes more sense than just blaming the doctors. I may be in Canada, but I know a lot of doctors here who cross over to work in the US....and it's the same on both sides as far as on-call goes. 99 times out of 100, if the hospital has a policy where it pays doctors to be on call (as in, they get X number of dollars for making themselves available whether they actually get a call or not), doctors are far more willing to put their lives on hold for those days. After all, whether they see a patient or not, they still are tied to home and can't really enjoy themselves. Can't sit out by the pool and have a beer, or enjoy a glass of wine with dinner just in case there's a call. Kids have a sporting event to go to? Tough...you have to miss it, because you're on call and have to be within minutes of the hospital...they page, and you have to drop everything and go. I know just what 'on-call' means for doctors, because my father is a doctor...and most of them work a hell of a lot harder than the general public gives them credit for.

If you're not happy with the coverage your hospital has, the administrator is the one who's ultimately responsible for that shortfall. I live in a relatively small city (w/surrounding area the hospital services maybe 35,000), and there's always an internal medicine specialist or cardiologist on call to deal with serious cases...365 days a year. And it's not the provincial government directly paying the doctors to be on call either...it's paid out by the general hospital budget, a decision made by the board and the administrator.