My sister in law got hurt .... we need to fix health care in this country

[Botany]

She works for a good comapny, she has good "coverage," and she got "hurt" by our system ...

She was in a bike road race today and somebody fell front of her ......
not her fault but she broke her collar bone, her scapula, and her hand
... so what did the hospital do? X-rays and wrap her, tell her to call
an orthopedist monday morning, and sent her home.

Same hospital where she will see the orthopredist tomorrow ......
now my brother and her daughters will have to care for her tonight
and then load her up in the AM and drive her back to the same f***ing
place in the morning.

How about getting her a room where nurses can look after her,
her pain can be taken care of, and her doctors can see her in the AM?

[MissB]

1. I hope they at least sent her home with pain meds

:(

Hope she makes a speedy rcovery.

[Botany]

3. she got the oxy but ......

damn why not get her a bed and have her doctors see her in the AM?

[Maru Kitteh]

20. I know it's very disturbing to see someone you care about in pain

but hospitalization for the injuries you've described really wasn't warranted. Hospitals are for acute care, meaning those who have immediate and dangerous medical issues that require 24 hour monitoring by a professional staff. It's very doubtful she would have been any more comfortable in a noisy hospital room (the noise never stops) with the uncomfortable bed, lousy television, awkward chairs for her loved ones and none of the comforts at home. Also, the truth is, IV pain management for her injuries would be only slightly marginally better at best than the drugs she took home.

Add to this the increased risk of hospital acquired infection like MRSA and It's much better that she went home, in her own bed, with her own food and the people that love her to tend to her.

I hope all goes well and she has a speedy recovery.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

22. Not to be a prick but she doesn't really need a bed.

She is actually likely to be more comfortable at home. Regardless of the healthcare system in place it isn't likely that she would get a bed.

David

[reformedrethug]

24. I agree 100%

Unless I am in need of constant monitoring SEND ME HOME so I can be in familiar and comfortable surroundings.

Leave the beds for those that are critically ill and truly need that type of care.

[REP]

26. Agree. Painful but not life-threatening injuries that require monitoring

Then again, I'm the kind of person who would do ANYTHING to avoid staying in the fucking hospital, even when it was clearly called for.

[Gogi]

2. UGH! And the scapula is the most painfull bone to break...

best wishes to her.

[BlooInBloo]

5. I don't know much about it, but I vividly remember how bad my femur hurt when broken...

and that was 30 years ago.

[Gogi]

16. The scapula moves a lot...I guess that's why it's extremely painful. eom

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

21. Femur fractures are widely considered the most painful and the most dangerous.

[leftstreet]

4. If hospital$ could get away with outpatient brain surgery, they'd do it.

She should be resting in a hospital bed with attendant care.

Hope she'll be okay.

[Botany]

7. She be O.K. but a hospital bed w/ nurses and an I.V. for pain .....

.... makes so much more sense. The test and doctors will all be @ the hospital in
the AM.

For profit insurance systems in health care are the devil.

[REP]

27. She doesn't really need an IV for pain nor does she need to be exposed to hospital-borne pathogens

I've had 2/3 of those injuries, and I know they hurt, but she did get adequate pain relief (oxycontin is adequate pain relief!) and she doesn't need to be monitored over night.

[Cleita]

6. Is there another hospital you can take her to?

Even our little poorly funded hospital here in our rural community used to keep my husband overnight to see a doctor if I had to get him to the ER. It would also be better for her to be transported in an ambulance with that kind of injury. Is it possible that they called your insurance and they wouldn't authorize an overnight stay?

[Botany]

10. her daughter was in the same bike race and drove her to ....

...... the hospital .... she refused an ambulance because she thought
it might take away from somebody who really needs it.

[Avalux]

8. Hospitals don't admit unless a person is in acute crisis (or having planned surgery).

They determined your sister's injuries could 'wait' until morning when the orthopedists get in; she was stabilized in the ER and sent home instead of occupying a bed. If she had required surgical intervention, the orthopedist on call would have performed the surgery and she would have been admitted.

I hate to sound harsh but hospitals aren't for people who can be managed at home. Besides - hospitals are havens for infections; best to be at home.

I'm sorry to hear this happened to your sister and hope she is feeling better soon; hopefully what I've said makes sense. Yes, some of it has to do with insurance co's not authorizing stays but most of it has to do with need.

:hi:

[Botany]

12. "managed at home"

is just another name for cost cutting.

A broken collar bone, a broken scapula, a broken hand, and broken teeth ....
a hospital bed does not seem like a luxury.


My son was born 4 weeks premature and the insurance company had us out of
the hospital in 48 hours.

[Warpy]

17. I was just about to write what you wrote.

Those overnight comfort admissions are a thing of the past. If someone is medically stable on pain medication, they're sent home and told to come back and consult a specialist the next day.

"Managed at home" means help with dressing and toileting and other things that need to be done if the person can't quite manage themselves.

I know it seems a bit cold, but her reasoning about the ambulance was sound and should be applied to a hospital stay, too. The staff wouldn't do anything for her that she couldn't do at home.

[pacalo]

9. Oh, that's awful!

Besides monitoring her pain, the hospital staff could have ensured that she was positioned in the bed properly.

Please give us updates in how she's doing.

:hug:

[rocktivity]

14. I agree--sending her home with what they KNOW are THREE broken bones

two of which affect a major joint? I think she would have to be positioned properly.

What's a scapula, anyway? (Gets off shiftless lazy ass and does her own research) Oh, it's just a fancy word for shoulder blade.

:headbang:
rocktivity

[Emit]

11. When my friend, who is believed to have MS, broke her knee cap two years ago

they wanted to put her on crutches and send her home to her tiny apartment (accessed only by stairs) where she lives alone. We pleaded with them to keep her overnight, at least, and it wasn't until the nurse tried her on the crutches that they got the clue - that this was a woman who was off balance to begin with, and could not even function with crutches and a broken knee. She stayed a couple of days in the hospital, and even received some much needed neurological testing/diagnostics (her MS is not fully diagnosed yet).

Hope your SIL has a successful recovery - sounds like a nasty fall!

On edit - so much of what is done by the hospital is driven by what is 'allowed' by the insurance - based on averages or some other marker, and individual needs/abilites of the patient are not even taken into consideration.

[Ilsa]

13. If she had broken a long bone (arm or leg bone) they probably would consider

admitting her because of the likelihood of yellow marrow's fat molecules causing pulmonary embolism.

I feel for you. I broke three bones in my foot on Halloween morning, a Friday, and the hospital charged out the waazoo for three x-rays and a very basic splint that didn't hold up very well with the crappy wrap. They told me to see an orthopedic doctor the next day, which made no sense because they were all gone for the weekend except whomever was on call. I couldn't even see one on a Friday. I was extremely frustrated by it. Fortunately, the pain meds helped alot for the next five days while I waited to see a doc.

That's why I don't like going to the docs or to the ER for an emergency: They overcharge for crap and don't help you figure out what to do to take care of yourself before getting the definative diagnosis (no surgery necessary).

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

23. Femur fracture definitely, humerus, tibia fracture maybe, radius, ulna, fibula fracture unlikely.

[Ilsa]

28. Yeah, I guess so, even with the smaller amount of yellow marrow. nt

[KT2000]

15. Stabilize is all they are

required to do now.
Had an elderly neighbor who drove off a cliff. She was examined and sent home to be cared for by her husband who had Alzheimer's. Some values.

[serrano2008]

18. So is the Universal Health Care argument here that...

under Universal Health Care they'll give anyone a hospital bed for any reason?

Really UHC sounds great - anything is fully covered, at any hospital/provider that you want, exactly how you want it done, at no cost to you including meds.

[elleng]

19. NO, NO ONE gets a hospital bed for any reason.

The same issues as discussed above will be present.

We all have to be informed about when and why things happen, in hospitals.

[Cleita]

29. I read about a universal plan that fully funded hospitals for all their expenses

for a year. Every year they would go back to the government to adjust their money grant for present day costs. The purpose behind it was to fill beds without having to worry about costs, so there could be discretion as to whether to keep a patient or not providing there were enough beds to do so since all the beds were paid for in advance. This way the hospital could also be fully staffed and not depending on the vagaries of how many beds they filled for the month to pay them.

[Horse with no Name]

25. Ridiculous, isn't it?

That is "our system".
The same system that the capitalists tout as the "best in the world".
Well I suppose it is the best if you are comparing it to sangomas practicing in a hut in Africa.:eyes:
Sending well wishes to your SIL.

[mod mom]

30. If the hospital so mentioned starts w an "R" remind me to share my horror story

sometime-the one that nearly cost my husband his life.

[Vinca]

31. They sent someone home with broken bones?

I've never heard of such a thing. Agreed she didn't need a bed, but you'd think someone would be on call who could deal with broken bones right away. And they try to paint the Canadian healthcare system as bad. Sheesh! Hope she feels better soon.