Letter from emergency room doctor to white house

[Philobeado]

Dear Mr. President:

During my shift in the Emergency Room last night, I had the pleasure of evaluating a patient whose smile revealed an expensive shiny gold tooth, whose body was adorned with a wide assortment of elaborate and costly tattoos, who wore a very expensive brand of tennis shoes and who chatted on a new cellular telephone equipped with a popular R&B ringtone.

While glancing over her patient chart, I happened to notice that her payer status was listed as "Medicaid"! During my examination of her, the patient informed me that she smokes more than one costly pack of cigarettes every day and somehow still has money to buy pretzels and beer.

And, you and our Congress expect me to pay for this woman's health care? I contend that o our nation's "health care crisis" is not the result of a shortage of quality hospitals, doctors or nurses. Rather, it is the result of a "crisis of culture", a culture in which it is perfectly acceptable to spend money on luxuries and vices while refusing to take care of one's self or, heaven forbid, purchase health insurance. It is a culture based in the irresponsible credo that "I can do whatever I want to because someone else will always take care of me".

Once you fix this "culture crisis" that rewards irresponsibility and dependency, you'll be amazed at how quickly our nation's health care difficulties will disappear.

Respectfully,

STARNER JONES, MD

snopes.com: Dr. Starner Jones

 

[Old Rocks]

Of course, everyone that comes into the emergency room has such a history, correct?

From the letter, I judge that Dr. Starner Jones is an asshole, and question the truth of his statements.

So here is what I know of an emergency room incident my wife and I witnessed when I went in for cracked cartilage in my ribcage.

A mother brought in a little girl, about three or four years old with a cut on her ankle about two inches long and quite deep.

The admitting nurse first asked her is she had $1200 cash, or that much in a checking account, then when the answer was negative, asked her if she was a member of a Kaiser plan. Again the answer was negative. The mother was then told to go to another hospital because they only treated members of the plan here.

Then why the question first concerning the $1200? And, second, in any sane society, the health of that child would have taken first priority.

And there are a hell of a lot more scenes like this in the emergency room than the type that so called docter described.

 

[genatnite]

This is a response to a post by Old Rocks. The situation you described is completely illegal. In the United States, there is something called EMTALA. EMTALA (under the Federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act) requires hospitals to provide an examination and needed stabilizing treatment, without consideration of insurance coverage or ability to pay, when a patient presents to an emergency room for attention to an emergency medical condition.

What happened to that person is criminal. If I were her, I'd get myself a lawyer.

I've been working in emergency medicine for four years. The same thing has happened to me that the doctor describes in his letter. I have people coming in seeking treatment who have desinger clothes and handbags, trick out cell phones, and smoke 2 packs of cigarettes a day but are on welfare and section 8 housing.

I believe that the services should be there for people who need it. I want to help people. That is why I went into this field. However, welfare was designed to give people a hand when they are going through a rough time. Everyday, I see people completely abusing the system. They go on welfare and spend money on drugs. When they run out, they go to the ER or closest crisis center looking for meds. They fein physical symptoms or claim to be suicidal.... If I don't admit them, they threaten to go out and kill themselves. When I run them through the system, they have medical assistance. Great, my taxes bought them the drugs and are now paying for their 'treatment' because they have state insurance. To stay one day in a psych hospital, it costs about $1000 and that is not including medication, tests, or any extras