did i do the right thing?

[nobody067]

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this may be a long post,but i wanted to post this so that everyone could understand how our health system works. i am a 28 year old male who has no family and lives all alone. i have very low income and no health insurance.

last week,i woke up with extreme shortness of breath and my blood pressure was very elevated. the symptoms did not go away,so i went to my local emergency department. this is a big private hospital. i was triaged and my vital signs were astonishing. my b/p was 255/172 pulse was 165 RR was 34 and spO2 was 88.
i got a bed and saw a dr. fast. after a lot of testing and a chest x-ray,it was determind that i had pulmonary edema. my ekg also showed a RBBB.i ended up getting oxygen and diuretics and stayed in the room for 5 hours.


now,this is where the bad part is. after finding out that i had low income and no insurace,the doctors told me that i would get an all expense paid transfer to a public hospital in the downtown area. it is very far from where i live and it is not as highly acclaimed as the hospital that i was in. so,i decided to use my patient rights and i told the doctors that either i get admitted here or to get discharged. the doctors were very reluctant and begged me to transfer but i told them the same thing again and they ended up discharging me. they said that i could ge in danger and that i probably have cor pulmonale. at least i got an rx for beta blockers and diuretics.


now,a week later,i still have the pulmonary edema,though i do not feel as bad as that day,but i cough and spit blood alot. i dont think any of you have seen a patient get treated this way,but i am living proof that if you do not have insurance and are poor,then you are out of luck.

 

[danzman]

Nonsense. Take your butt to the local community hospital and get in the system. This ain't the place to ask for help.

 

[Hamhock]

this may be a long post,but i wanted to post this so that everyone could understand how our health system works. i am a 28 year old male who has no family and lives all alone. i have very low income and no health insurance.

last week,i woke up with extreme shortness of breath and my blood pressure was very elevated. the symptoms did not go away,so i went to my local emergency department. this is a big private hospital. i was triaged and my vital signs were astonishing. my b/p was 255/172 pulse was 165 RR was 34 and spO2 was 88.
i got a bed and saw a dr. fast. after a lot of testing and a chest x-ray,it was determind that i had pulmonary edema. my ekg also showed a RBBB.i ended up getting oxygen and diuretics and stayed in the room for 5 hours.


now,this is where the bad part is. after finding out that i had low income and no insurace,the doctors told me that i would get an all expense paid transfer to a public hospital in the downtown area. it is very far from where i live and it is not as highly acclaimed as the hospital that i was in. so,i decided to use my patient rights and i told the doctors that either i get admitted here or to get discharged. the doctors were very reluctant and begged me to transfer but i told them the same thing again and they ended up discharging me. they said that i could ge in danger and that i probably have cor pulmonale. at least i got an rx for beta blockers and diuretics.


now,a week later,i still have the pulmonary edema,though i do not feel as bad as that day,but i cough and spit blood alot. i dont think any of you have seen a patient get treated this way,but i am living proof that if you do not have insurance and are poor,then you are out of luck.

OP: done.

Moderators: Please moderate.

HH

 

[nobody067]

i am not asking for advice,i am just telling you guys how our health care system really works.

 

[EM_Rebuilder]

i am not asking for advice,i am just telling you guys how our health care system really works.

I will comment only on the system aspects of this..

I HIGHLY doubt they wanted to transfer the patient because of payor status.

Chances are, the patient was at a podunk hospital or a private hospital that maybe did not have the specialists needed. The true 'experts' are usually at the large tertiary care center, which typically is the 'public hospital downtown'....

I think the system was working appropiately, but sounds like the patient was being difficult and did not follow the advice of the medical professionals...

 

[DeadCactus]

So we're supposed to all fall to our knees in weeping disgust because the guy who won't be paying for any of his care is upset that Dr. Cooley won't be the one checking out his heart?

 

[theseeker4]

So we're supposed to all fall to our knees in weeping disgust because the guy who won't be paying for any of his care is upset that Dr. Cooley won't be the one checking out his heart?

I think that is the point, yeah. Remember, when you become a doctor, you are a slave to anyone and everyone who wants you to care for them, and if you even ask about ability to pay or being compensated for your service, you are an evil, money-grubbing bastard who is the epitome of everything wrong with medicine 🙄

 

[EctopicFetus]

Sounds like the nice well acclaimed hospital didnt have cardiology or Pulmonary or an echo or something that was needed.

I work in a highly acclaimed "fancy" hospital, we are lucky that we have resources.

What doesnt make sense from the system aspect is EMTALA.. No one wants to get this fat ass fine. 25k to provider and 25k to the hospital. These numbers would be much much less than the cost of admission. Something doesnt make sense.

 

[pinipig523]

OP -

You have no idea about how the hospital works nor do you have any idea about the proper treatment methods to your complaint. Perhaps the public hospital (more than likely) has the proper specialties to get to the bottom of your issue? Usually a public hospital (like the one I work at) has more access to various specialties than community hospitals do. What if you needed a bronch? What if you have some sort of cancer that you need a biopsy? What if you need the help of oncology or hematology or rad onc?

What parameters did you have in determining that the hospital you were at is better than the public hospital you were to be transferred to? Do you know ALL the services offered at your hospital of choice? Do they have a pulmonologist on staff? Cancer care on staff? Do they have access to rad onc? Do they have echo? Do they have cardiology? Or are you just saying that the hospital of your choice is better because you saw an ad on tv or your family say so?

The health system is designed so no one goes without some treatment or evaluation regardless of ability to pay. If you have no insurance and the ER doc determines that you will have more BARRIERS to getting proper healthcare as an inpatient in his/her hospital - then perhaps a transfer to another hospital where you have NO barriers is a better method to getting to the bottom of your issue.

You have a very limited idea of medicine and how to properly care for patients. You have a very focused view on how things should work when you have not even taken a course in medical school.

And to answer your question - did you do the right thing? No. You did the wrong thing. You wasted tax dollars getting evaluated when you did not even want definitive care - now you'll probably end up going back to an ER just to get the same work up and same request for transfer.

 

[DrMom]

nobody067

SDN is a site for those in medical training to discuss their training and practice. It is not a place for patient advice or questions/complaints about the healthcare system.

Closing.