Nurse Follies: Another Example of Needed Healthcare Reform

The son of one of my mother's friends, took his girlfriend to Liberty Hospital because she fell ill. Not allergies or some pud thing like that. No, she was full on sick. Debilitating sick. Judging from the symptoms, it smacked of swine flu.

Anyway, they go to Liberty and they run a mono test. Negative. They run a strep test. Also negative. They tell her she's going to be discharged and sent home.

But wait, the boyfriend interjects, you didn't test her for swine flu.

Well, it turns out that the girlfriend didn't have insurance. And the test to diagnose H1N1 was too expensive to do on someone who didn't have insurance, and therefore, they refused to do it.

Have a nice day!

Fuckers. I've always disliked that hospital.

Anyway, last I knew, the boyfriend was going to take her to another hospital, one that actually gave two shits about treating sick people and not about money, and hopefully she won't infect anyone else in her travels to seek care.

But what about the law that says a hospital can't deny treatment because of your ability to pay? That only applies to emergent cases. I'd wager that while Liberty will initially treat the uninsured, they immediately ship them to another hospital once they are stable. I don't have to bet money, I've talked to people who have witnessed this firsthand.

Cock sucking assholes.

I'm happy I work at a hospital where we treat anyone, regardless of their inability to pay. I've never once heard a doctor deny treatment to someone because they were uninsured. I've never heard of a patient get preferential treatment because they had better coverage.

So, here's to you, Liberty Hospital. May you choke on your own self-righteousness and may your entire administrative staff get struck down with the clap. Or better, the swine flu.

And may your insurance plan not cover the cure.