The Reality of Managed "Care"

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la...522,full.story

The 43-year-old mother of three had been released from the emergency room hours earlier, her third visit in three days for abdominal pain. She'd been given prescription medication and a doctor's appointment.

Turning to Rodriguez, the nurse said, "You have already been seen, and there is nothing we can do," according to a report by the county office of public safety, which provides security at the hospital.

Parked in the emergency room lobby in a wheelchair after police left, she fell to the floor. She lay on the linoleum, writhing in pain, for 45 minutes, as staffers worked at their desks and numerous patients looked on.

Aside from one patient who briefly checked on her condition, no one helped her. A janitor cleaned the floor around her as if she were a piece of furniture. A closed-circuit camera captured everyone's apparent indifference.

Arriving to find Rodriguez on the floor, her boyfriend unsuccessfully tried to enlist help from the medical staff and county police — even a 911 dispatcher, who balked at sending rescuers to a hospital.

Alerted to the "disturbance" in the lobby, police stepped in — by running Rodriguez's record. They found an outstanding warrant and prepared to take her to jail. She died before she could be put into a squad car.

My wife worked in this industry. The truth is that many hospitals don't manage their own emergency rooms. The management is farmed out to "professional managed care companies" that intentionally keep them understaffed.
Our local one is like that. I now travel 45min to the next town to the next hospital when I am in need of emergency care and am much happier with the service, even though they do not have a trauma center. I have a "deal" with both of the local EMS services (they FULLY understand), they will take me to the other hospital.
The last time I was taken to the ER with cardiac problems, to their trauma center I was "forgotten" and sat unattended for three hours. Had I not stabilized on my own from what the ambulance professionals had done for me, I would be dead now.
Most emergency rooms and many of the staffs are a joke.
What is really sad, this did not phase me. My wife has told me as bad or worse, and her's was a brand new ER with state of the art facilities.
I hope there is a good Samaritan law in that area.